# RetopoFlow: the compatibility table stops at 3.4.0 while the tags reach 3.4.10 > A sketch-based retopology add-on for Blender, sold through the Blender Market and funded by those sales, with the code released under GPL 3.0 and the assets excluded from it. Three download paths are offered, GitHub's automatic zip is explicitly rejected, and the build Makefile points at a hardcoded local Blender path and a Linux-only add-ons directory. **CGCookie/retopoflow** — A suite of retopology tools for Blender - Repository: https://github.com/CGCookie/retopoflow - Stars: 3,266 · Forks: 291 - Language: Python - License: not declared - Published: 2026-09-24 · Updated: 2026-09-24 · Language: en - Canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/cgcookie-retopoflow ## Three download paths, one of which is a symlink Updates are funded by Blender Market purchases, and priority support is sold the same way, through a message sent from the Blender Market inbox once a copy is owned. Alongside that, the add-on is kept accessible on its GitHub page, named as being for students, teachers and educational use. That gives three ways in. The account dashboard on the Blender Market serves the build you have purchased. The GitHub Releases Page serves the other option. And for what the text calls the more techie crowd, you can symlink a clone of the repository into your add-ons folder. RetopoFlow is described as a suite of sketch-based retopology tools that generate geometry which snaps to your high poly objects as you draw on the surface, sold on the vendor's own site and through the Superhive Market as well. It is also sold twice over, on the vendor site and on Superhive, for the same code. ## The zip GitHub builds with the Code button is explicitly rejected There is a warning that stands apart from the rest of the file: Blender has issues with the zip files GitHub automatically packages with the green Code button, and those files should not be used. The instruction is to use the officially packaged versions from the Blender Market or from the Releases Page instead. The install step repeats it, telling you to navigate to your zip file and not to unzip it. The build system explains why two archives exist at all. Near the top of the Makefile: ``` ZIP_GH = $(NAME)_$(ZIP_VERSION)-GitHub.zip ZIP_BM = $(NAME)_$(ZIP_VERSION)-BlenderMarket.zip ``` One artifact is named for GitHub distribution and one for the Blender Market, so the archive you want is the one the project's own build produced. An archive that GitHub generated from the source tree is a different thing from either. ## The compatibility table stops at 3.4.0 and nothing mentions a version 4 A table maps RetopoFlow versions to Blender versions, and it has four rows: 3.4.0 against Blender 3.6 or later, 3.3.0 against 2.93 to 3.5, 3.2.4 against the 2.8x and 2.9x lines, and 2.0.3 against 2.79 or before. The tags tell a different story. The three most recent releases are 3.4.10 from January 2026, 3.4.9 from November 2025 and 3.4.8 from August 2025, so the shipped line is three patch releases past the newest row in the table. A reader on 3.4.10 has to assume the 3.4.0 row still applies. There is also no version 4 anywhere in the file or the tree, while questions about retopoflow 4 and its differences from version 3 are among the things people search for. The last push on the default branch is dated 2026-09-16. ## Code is GPL 3.0, the assets are not, and the metadata records no license The licensing statement has three parts and they do not line up with each other. The code is open source under GPL 3.0. The non-code assets in the repository are not. And the license field carried alongside the project is empty, while the tree does hold a license file named RetopoFlow.LICENSE at the top level. So there are two separate answers depending on what you are looking at, and a third if you go by the empty field. Nothing in the file names which files count as assets, and the tree gives a reasonable guess at the candidates: an icons directory, a matcaps directory and a help directory. Anyone planning to redistribute needs to settle that question themselves, because the code licence and the asset licence are stated as different things and the boundary between them is not drawn anywhere. ## The Makefile hardcodes a Blender path and a Linux add-ons directory The build is driven by a Makefile that resolves its own settings before doing anything: ``` BLENDER = ~/software/blender/blender BUILD_DIR = $(shell pwd)/../retopoflow_release INSTALL_DIR = ~/.config/blender/addons ``` The Blender executable is a path on somebody's home directory rather than a name found on PATH. The install directory is the Linux location for add-ons, with no branch for the macOS or Windows equivalents, even though the add-on itself is stated to work on any operating system Blender supports. The build directory is a sibling of the repository rather than a directory inside it, so a build leaves the tree it was run from. Running make with no target prints an information block instead of building anything, because the default goal is set to info. A comment above the settings block reads TODO: warn if profiling is enabled. ## Version, name and release channel all come out of hive.json Nothing in the Makefile hardcodes the version. The name, the version and the release channel are each pulled from hive.json by a script in the scripts directory, then combined: ``` NAME = "$(shell $(HIVE_VAL) name)" VERSION = "$(shell $(HIVE_VAL) version)" RELEASE = "$(shell $(HIVE_VAL) release)" ``` The release channel then changes the archive name. When the release value is official, the zip is named for the version alone. Any other value appends the channel to it, which is how a test build ends up distinguishable from a shipped one. The commit message for a tag is generated the same way, from the same three values. The file that holds those three values, hive.json, is at the top of the tree, next to a second build file called Makefile_excludes and to __init__.py, which is the module Blender loads when it starts the add-on. Pull requests are welcome, and the file says the project is quite strict on what it allows in, with open issues named as the place to find the current to-dos. ## Installing ends with a checkbox next to 3D View: RetopoFlow The shortest path runs inside Blender. Edit, then Preferences, then Add-ons, then Install opens a File Browser where you pick the zip, and you press Install from file. One caveat comes first: if your browser extracted the archive while downloading, you have to re-compress the RetopoFlow folder or use Save As to write the zip without extracting it. Once installed, Blender filters the add-on list down to RetopoFlow on its own, and you enable it with the checkbox next to the entry named 3D View: RetopoFlow. When that goes wrong, a ten-step procedure is given, and two of its steps are the interesting ones. You expand the entry with the triangle and press Remove, and then you close Blender, because that is what completely clears out the previous version. Reopening, reinstalling the unzipped-as-zip file and ticking the checkbox finishes it. ## Conclusion RetopoFlow is a mature commercial add-on with a real build system behind it, and it suits a Blender artist who draws retopology by hand and wants geometry that snaps to an existing high poly surface. Two things to settle before you install anything. First, work out which RetopoFlow version matches your Blender, because the published table has no row past 3.4.0 even though the tags run to 3.4.10 and nothing in the repository mentions a version 4. Second, take the packaging warning seriously and install an officially built zip from the Blender Market or the Releases Page, never the archive GitHub generates from the green Code button, because Blender is stated to have trouble with those. And if you plan to contribute, know that pull requests are welcome but the project says it is strict about what it accepts. ## FAQ ### Is there a free version of retopoflow? The code is open source under GPL 3.0, and the add-on is kept accessible on its GitHub page, named as being for students, teachers and educational use. The non-code assets are not covered by that licence, and updates are funded by Blender Market purchases, which also carry the priority support. ### What is retopoflow Blender? It is a suite of sketch-based retopology tools for Blender that generate geometry which snaps to your high poly objects as you draw on the surface. It is sold on the vendor's site and on the Superhive Market, and the feature documentation lives on a separate documentation site. ### how to install retopoflow Inside Blender go to Edit, Preferences, Add-ons, then Install, which opens a File Browser; select the downloaded zip and press Install from file. Do not let your browser extract the archive. After installing, enable the checkbox next to the entry named 3D View: RetopoFlow. ### how to use retopoflow The repository does not contain usage instructions. It points brand new users to a Quick Start page and everyone else to a table of contents, both on the documentation site, and it notes that the features are also described on the vendor's website. ## Sources - [CGCookie/retopoflow on GitHub](https://github.com/CGCookie/retopoflow) - [Issues](https://github.com/CGCookie/retopoflow/issues) - [README](https://github.com/CGCookie/retopoflow/blob/master/README.md) - [Releases](https://github.com/CGCookie/retopoflow/releases) --- Hysen Labs editorial analysis, written from the project's own repository and release notes. Cite the canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/cgcookie-retopoflow