by Orange Turbine·Modeling
Images © Orange Turbine. Used for product review; image policy.
Earns its place in the Blender Extensions library for tackling a specific, familiar roadblock — applying modifiers when shape keys are present — while preserving the drivers and animation data attached to the shapes.
Blender normally blocks you from applying a modifier to a mesh that has shape keys, returning the error "Modifier cannot be applied to a mesh with shape keys." Apply modifier with shape keys, developed by Orange Turbine, works around this. You pick which modifiers to apply, and the add-on restores all settings, drivers, and animation data on the shapes afterward.
Under the hood, it duplicates the original mesh, removes the shape keys, and applies the selected modifiers. It then loops through each shape key, duplicating the mesh, evaluating it with that single shape key and the chosen modifiers active, and merging the result back as a shape key. It avoids the apply-modifier operator throughout. Once every shape key is processed, it restores the original shape key values, animation data, and drivers, working one shape key at a time to reduce memory load on high-density meshes with many shape keys.
The add-on is available for Mesh objects in Object Mode, reachable from the Shape Key context menu or through F3 search. Activating it opens a popup dialog with checkboxes for choosing which modifiers to apply.
Apply modifier with shape keys is best for blender artists who need to apply modifiers to meshes that already have shape keys while keeping their animation data and drivers intact.
Apply modifier with shape keys is completely free to download and use.
Apply modifier with shape keys is compatible with Blender 4.3.2 and newer, according to its listing. It runs on Mesh objects in Object Mode, so you'll want a mesh that has shape keys before reaching for it. You can install it from the Blender Extensions platform through Edit > Preferences > Get Extensions, or manually by downloading the .zip file and installing it via Edit > Preferences > Add-ons. For the current supported Blender range, check the developer's page, since compatibility can shift with new releases.
Apply modifier with shape keys appears only for Mesh objects in Object Mode. You can reach it from the Shape Key context menu, or press F3 in the 3D Viewport and type "Apply Modifiers with Shape Keys" to search for it. Once activated, a popup dialog opens with checkboxes so you can select which modifiers to apply, then click OK. If it doesn't show up, confirm the add-on is enabled in Edit > Preferences and that you have a mesh object selected in Object Mode.
Apply modifier with shape keys can, in theory, handle any modifier as long as the base shape and all shape keys keep the same vertex count. Some Blender modifiers change vertex counts — Subdivision Surface, Mirror with Bisect or Merge, and Geometry Nodes among them — which can cause problems, since Blender can only join meshes with shape keys when their vertex counts match. If an operation fails, undo it and try applying modifiers one at a time, changing their order, or removing a troublesome shape key. For Geometry Nodes, make sure the output is a mesh object.
Apply modifier with shape keys is listed as free here. It's released under the GNU General Public License v3.0 or later, and its listing notes that the extension does not require special permissions. For current licensing and any terms attached to using, modifying, or distributing the code, check the developer's page and repository, where the add-on is available through the Blender Extensions platform or as a downloadable .zip file.
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