A Beginner Tutorial for Using Blender to Create a Simple Box for 3D Printing

[@athenagardner1456]

I use blender quite a bit & having been following tutorials on and off for years! and yet, this is by far the most comprehensive basics tutorial I've ever followed. Changing the dimensions to be mm & downsizing the grid is a game changer for 3d printing & something I didn't really know I could do! This video is full of little nuggets of wisdom like that (and I'm writing this as I'm only halfway through!). 10/10 would recommend to anyone learning blender! Thank you so much!

[@GreylightMay]

Wow, Athena, thank you! Someone must have reposted this somewhere, as I'm getting a lot of views of it suddenly. It is so nice to hear it has found an audience, and it's helping people. Thank you!!

[@rosly_yt]

This is perfect for me, as someone who knows Blender reasonably well but is new to designing for 3D printing. I would use different actual keystrokes to get the same result, but the overview of the thought process was incredibly valuable to me. I just finished making my own box, let's see how it prints! (Well, my printer is pretty loud, so the printing will have to wait until tomorrow)

[@GreylightMay]

Thanks for letting me know it was helpful, I really appreciate it !

[@rosly_yt]

@@GreylightMay absolutely!!

[@Alex82pd]

this is a perfect way to get introduced to this tool IMHO. I know we can extrude and do a lot of stuff, and then without being an expert you realize you created a weird polygon with a lot of vertexes... While there are more professional ways to achieve things, starting with baby steps helps Thanks!

[@GreylightMay]

Thanks, Alex, I'm glad it was helpful!

[@stevenladich428]

I've searched for hours trying to get an easy to understand tutorial for creating a simple shape using dimensions.. This is by far the easiest to understand and covers ALL the basics !! TY so much!!

[@GreylightMay]

Steven, I'm so glad to hear you found it! Blender is much harder than it needs to be, and videos for beginners are hard to find. I just spent a couple of days fighting my way through sculpting, and I'll do a similar video for that sometime in the next couple of months. I had hoped to do sculpting right after this video, but life intervened! Sculpting is such a powerful tool though, I'm glad I got back to it. Well worth learning!!

[@LanchburyConsultingLLC]

Thank you! I've been 3D printing for 8 months and decided to try and make an enclosure for a computer part and I was looking for some simple software to construct a box with a few holes in the correct position. I downloaded FreeCAD and encountered the most user-unfriendly interface I've ever seen (however the last time I used CAD software was on the Amiga in the 80s and 90s). Your guide to Blender is perfect. :)

[@GreylightMay]

What a nice comment! I'm so glad it was helpful, thanks for letting me know!!

[@samwellfoden]

literally the best tutorial I've found! thank you so much for teaching me how to do this

[@GreylightMay]

Oh Sam, that is so nice to hear, thank you!!

[@samwellfoden]

@@GreylightMay I was really struggling with every other tutorial I’ve been watching over the past couple of days but yours is so down to earth. Not complicated and easy to follow :)

[@GreylightMay]

Sam, I really appreciate you letting me know that. Blender is complicated, and hard for me to learn, so I'm glad I've been able to make it easier for you!

[@aerouge4492]

The tutorial I've been waiting for! Thank you!

[@GreylightMay]

Thanks, Sandra! I'm really looking forward to exploring the sculpting side of Blender. It looks amazing in the tutorials I've been watching. Hopefully I'll be able to turn out something interesting.........

[@aerouge4492]

@@GreylightMay Oh even the basic tutorial was already really helpfull for me. I've been looking for a nice regiment tray for my Oathmark kavallery and I basically just had to follow your tutorial step-by-step, flatten your box, adjust a few dimensions and will print it on my AC Zero tonight. All commercialy available trays are either too expensive or of such low quality that they've been more trouble than help. Now I can make perfect fits at the cost of 50grams of filament. And I am really looking forward to your sculpting tutorial.

[@GreylightMay]

Sandra, this makes my day, thank you!!

[@usafa1987]

Very nice! I look forward to following along your future tutorials.

[@GreylightMay]

Thank you, usafa, I'm glad to have you!

[@ahmadziq]

Thank you for the simple instructions, it was easy to comprehend, I truly appreciate your effort.

[@GreylightMay]

Ahmad, I am so glad this was helpful to you! Thank you for letting me know, I really appreciate it.

[@JohnnyBeatmann]

Now that's a good tutorial. Cheers!

[@GreylightMay]

Thanks, Johnny!!

[@josephtannenbaum8696]

This was great, but I'm old and can't register as fast. Would have like your clicks to be slower so I could actually have time to know which click it was. Had to go back and forth many times before my box was designed. One problem, at least on my machine, the wheel button is not always recognized, so moving around in blender is terrible compared to other programs.

[@GreylightMay]

Joseph, I totally know what you mean. My son showed me that there is a way to change the speed of a youtube video, and now I always watch software videos at a slower speed for the same reason, and even then I have to rewatch sections. Look at settings options to find the speed settings. It doesn't seem to affect the sound, just the visuals. Hopefully that helps!

[@archerswamp]

Hi there! Thanks for this straightforward tutorial! I went looking for the one you mention where you do a sculpted top for the box, which is closer to the project I want to try, but I don't see it. Would you mind dropping a link? Thanks!! 🖤🖤

[@GreylightMay]

Katenik, I am so sorry! I had completely forgotten that I made that reference at the end of this video. While that was, in fact, my intention, life intervened and I never made it. I took a year off, and when I returned 3 months ago, I had moved to a new state and bought my own laser cutter, and have done laser cutting vdeos since. So I have no link to share, but I will add the sculpted box project back on my future project list. I don't like having unfulfilled promises on my channel!!

[@archerswamp]

@@GreylightMay life happens! I just wanted to make sure I hadn't missed that video if it was out. If you still want to do it, I look forward to seeing it!

[@lonzito8410]

Very good your work!!! Where can I download these wonderful projects of yours ??

[@GreylightMay]

Thank you, Lonzito! What is it, though, you would like to download? A 3D model? An Illustrator drawing for laser cutting?

[@lonzito8410]

@@GreylightMay An Illustrator drawing for laser cutting.

[@GreylightMay]

Lonzito, the drawings that are available are on my website at www.greylightmay.com If you see something you are interested in, request a coupon so you can get it for free.

[@aerouge4492]

Hy May ...no update for 4 months? I hope you are fine and this is just a creative hiatus. I'm still waiting for more of your Blender tutorial :-)

[@GreylightMay]

Aerouge, it's very nice that you noticed! Yes, taking a bit of a break here because I've been doing some work on my Greylight Games channel and trying to procure my own laser cutter so I can do laser cutting again. I've really been missing that since the pandemic started. Too many interests and not enough time!

[@aerouge4492]

@@GreylightMay Heh it's good to know that you are just takeing a creative break. Hope you enjoy your timeout. Cant wait to see your next endavours :-)

[@NatasaGavranov]

THANK YOU!!!!!!

[@GreylightMay]

You are welcome, Natasa!

[@ktrazz]

Ha! When you were tilting your llama, your perspective was off. Then when you switched to direct front view, he looked over-tilted. Did you go back and adjust? Great job as usual. I just went through a semester learning AutoCAD, SketchUp, and Maya. I'm realizing that having different tools in my arsenal is a good thing, so adding Blender may be on the horizon.

[@GreylightMay]

Randolph, sharp eyes as usual! Actually, it was a little off in real life, and I adjusted it and printed it and it is good, but I redo everything for the screencam and I didn't do as good a job as the first time. I thought, who's going to notice?? Thanks for watching, and for paying such close attention. I have a wonderful, large tablet that I plan on using for sculpting. Hopefully, I'll be more adept at Blender when I get used to working with it on that instead of a mouse.

[@kiryukazuma6078]

Pogchampionship

[@GreylightMay]

Thank you ( I think??)

[@woodahkillah5583]

Your are dope

[@GreylightMay]

Woo, is that dope in a good way or a bad way??

[@mjorr3081]

I've never ever been able to get into blender for many many years - had used lightwave, benson even the old autocad in the past yet i can never get past blenders interface it frustrates me to exasperation and so i again delete blender - simple "logical" "intuitive" "mouse" beginner interface please please please. I only want to do simple things don't need rendering movement lighting etc etc etc

[@GreylightMay]

Clint, I'm feeling it!! I'm working on sculpting now and it is incredibly frustrating. It's okay if you start with a sphere and sculpt a character, but I want to start with a cube and sculpt a box lid and it's shockingly difficult because I'm not doing the expected. There are also zero examples of what I want to do, so I have to figure it out myself, but I refuse to be defeated!!

[@TheChuckwagonLite]

And you know blender?? Can we chat on Reddit?

[@GreylightMay]

Chuckwagon, is there a chat function on Reddit? I've never used it. I'd be game to give it a try. ****** Ah, yes, I see now that the way I've been thanking people when they give me awards is actually chat. I'm Greylightmay on Reddit too. Want to chat sometime this week?