Kent Trammell shares a technique for using Shape Keys in Blender which will provide a workflow for nondestructive modeling in Blender. Kent uses the Shape Key System in Blender much like a Photohsop layer system.
For a modeler the shape key system can be used like a layer system because each new key is additive. Assuming that we won’t be changing our mesh’s topology, we can make as many shape changes that we want while maintaining the original basis
This provides a great way to fundamentally change the form of the model while still maintaining the same vertex or face count, as they are topology dependent. By using Blender’s Shape Key system, it makes it easy to keep your model tweaks around and built upon them allowing you to revert back to previous states. Check out the tutorial for Non-Destructive Modeling with Shape Keys in Blender over at Blender Cookie here. [via BlenderNation]
