Subdivide

Subdivide mesh geometry into smaller faces for a smoother surface.

What it does

Subdivide adds detail by splitting every segment or face, and adapts to its input:

Shapes (2D paths): each curve segment is split in half, doubling the anchor count while preserving the exact curve. More points to edit, deform, or animate, with no change to the silhouette.
Geometry (3D meshes): each triangle becomes four. With Smooth on, the new vertices are repositioned for a rounder surface (Loop subdivision); with it off, the mesh keeps its faceted shape at higher resolution.

Each pass roughly doubles the point or face count.

A smoother render surface from a low-poly mesh: turn Smooth on
More anchors on a path before deforming, warping, or driving per-point attributes
Geometry prepared for a boolean, simulation, or export that wants clean triangles: turn Triangulate on

Iterations are exponential, each pass doubling the count. Two passes is ~4×, four passes is ~16×. Raise it one step at a time and watch performance.

Smooth only affects 3D geometry. On a 2D path, subdividing preserves the curve exactly, so there is nothing to smooth and the toggle is ignored.

Subdivide is the increase-detail direction. For fewer anchors on a path, or a decimated mesh, use Resample.

Add a Sphere at a low resolution, so the facets are visible.
Add Subdivide after it and set Iterations to 2.
Turn Smooth on. The sphere rounds out.
Turn Triangulate on to feed the result into a boolean or the simulation solver.