Boolean Theory for Blender - Why it matters

Having a look at how the order of booleans can make a difference and the positive and negatives of each choice.
If you like this you may also find this video interesting: Designing complex panel lines - • How to create complex ...
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[@Remowylliams]

Be proud of being called a Blender Nerd. The nuances of handling Boolean operations are important to ensure manifold structure of your final object. Using a boolean to characterize a cutter makes a lot of sense if you want a clean topology. Thanks for the pedantic details that make this more understandable.

[@ArtisansofVaul]

@Remowylliams Thanks so much 😁👍🏻 Totally agree on being proud about being a Blender nerd, it just seemed such an odd comment.l 😅

[@eitantal726]

On the topic of clean topology: Booleans can (and often do) create horrible topology, namely: adjacent sharp, thin and long triangles. But, clean topology is important only for subdivision surface workflow. In hardops workflow you can get away with it.

[@ArtisansofVaul]

@@eitantal726 Totally agree. And for 3D printing it really isn't an issue.

[@theunorthodoxhawk]

Even though I wouldn't consider myself a beginner anymore- I love these back to basics tutorials. It really reinforces the fundamentals and serves as not only a good learning tool but an excellent refresher!

[@ArtisansofVaul]

Thanks so much! I agree, its great to discuss fundamentals like this and see how other people do things/their thought process.

[@ArcangelZero7]

Thank you so much for this video! I've been getting familiar with HardOps again because I'm working on a commission that will be 3D printed. Even though I've mostly got the idea down, I tend to go by instinct, so I REALLY appreciate your breakdown of the effects each order can have! (Especially because trial and error starts to suck once things start getting computationally expensive in a big project!) I think my style does tend to be like "Example 3" mostly also. It feels really advanced, but gets more intuitive to "model your cutters" before cutting them out of the main object. :) Awesome video, awesome channel! 👍👍

[@ArtisansofVaul]

@ArcangelZero7 totally agree that the third example is the way to go. A bit more complex at first but once you're used to it much more effective/natural as a thought process to me too

[@minimimicmakers5290]

You are a Blender nerd lol! Thank God though. You have helped me in leaps and strides learning blender. Especially for 3d printing seeing as there are few I find that talk 3d printing with blender. Most are all about rendering and I'm not interested in that. So Thank you ya big nerd. We luv ya all the more for it lol. PS. I want to add that your tutorials are perfect. Recently, I had to try learning a different software and there are zero people out there like you that are direct, give good and multiple examples, and just over all know how to communicate effectively when it comes to that other software. It drove me nuts looking for that software's version of you. Never found one and still understand very little about it. Meanwhile, you teach me something new every video even when I've been using the feature you're talking about. A million times thank you.

[@ArtisansofVaul]

@minimimicmakers5290 Such kind words 😁 Thanks so so much. It's great to hear the tutorials are hitting the right spot and that really helps. It's very hard to know if you're "getting it right" as someone making tutorials. I wish you luck finding the same for other software!

[@mind_of_a_darkhorse]

Food for thought! Nothing wrong with being a nerd! Nerds get shyte done!

[@ArtisansofVaul]

Haha, totally agree! It just seemed like a very odd comment.

[@emmamarx9284]

I would hate to see the person who called you a blender nerds topology **shudders** lol, thanks again for the excellent advice! These videos are always S+ tier and I couldn’t imagine using blender for 3D printing without them. Appreciate your hard work!!

[@ArtisansofVaul]

@emmamarx9284 Thanks so much as always Emma. I really appreciate you always taking the time to drop a comment after you've watched, it's awesome 👌🏼

[@mlbpbloody5583]

I was going through your back catalogue ,always worth while, you did "Creating perfect trim on complex objects in Blender" about 11 months ago I think you should put a link to it here as it leads nicely into what your doing here and it was a great tutorial also

[@ArtisansofVaul]

@mlbpbloody5583 that's a good call. I can add that when I have access to my computer 👍🏻 Thanks.

[@k4x4map46]

great tutorial!! I see a liberty bell in there!!

[@ArtisansofVaul]

@@k4x4map46 Thanks so much. And I guess it could be used for that, yeah. 😁👍🏻

[@k4x4map46]

@@ArtisansofVaul You're welcome!!

[@patwood7745]

Just discovered your videos. From the few that I have just watched, your videos are really helpful. I use Blender to make STL files to run on a CNC. The problem I have with blender is that it is not happy with small detail i.e. accurate dimensions. I change the Units to millimeters but I leave the unit scale at 1. I know that some folks change the unit scale to 0.001 but when doing a lot of booleans, I find that I run into major problems. You mention that you are into 3D printing and from what little I know of 3D printing, the models have to be pretty good. So, finally to my question. Do you leave your scale at 1 and when you are working with objects where 0.5mm is important, how do you deal with it in Blender? Thanks for your answer and most importantly, for your videos.

[@ArtisansofVaul]

@patwood7745 Great question. I can't say I'm certain for CNC machines but for 3D printing setting to mm is a mistake. It may say "1" but Blender is in the background still working in metres so it's doing math to tiny decimal places and therefore rounds. Instead don't set the units at all. Keep it as the Blender units and just use that as 1=1mm. Interestingly for 3D printing this then converts correctly as I export everything out without any tinkering. I've got a video on it here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nobJgal-hcmaiJY

[@patwood7745]

Thank you ArtisansofVaul for your videos and reply!!! I just watched the video and have decided I will now try and use the Blender 'none' Unit System. That will make Blender more accurate than what I need but hopefully it will perform more gracefully. Your videos are clear and to the point!

[@vaclavdefender6103]

Video suggestion: CAD sketcher blender addon for non-destructive parametric modeling. It can be great for creating complex shapes that would normally require SubD, and it’s easy to change the shape at any time.

[@ArtisansofVaul]

I do need to look more into CAD sketcher. To be honest the videos I have seen put it in a workflow category that just isnt my normal thought process so I have avoided it a bit. But I should have a look and be more open minded. I will say for some CAD like elements (more Sketchup like in style really) I do love Construction Lines: kzbin.info/www/bejne/anXNo5uga5meiZo

[@jordenc8417]

fantastic explination as always, i cut from my cutters, just make things way easier to control, could you do a video on a highly complex object and best practices to bool them together if its a larger part with alot of parts coming togther, i sometimes still struggle because a previous bool has messed up geomatry in the object and has caused an error i then need to go in and fix, also i dont understand why some of my bools will work as inteded and others will look like theyve workd but then when you look inside the mesh you then end up finding the resh of that bool as been left inside the mesh, usually i can find these quickly using select - select by trait - internal faces but that doesnt always work, i do have a tip if found out though im not sure youve mentioned it before but after youve finished booling a complex object togther and applied the modifers, sometimes just moving the object around causes a bit of lag and in extreme cases its almost impossible to move, ive found to fix this, Shift D the object after applyng the modifers and deleting the ond on and now it'll move around smooth as butter, my theory as to why this happens is blenders still holding all the bool information as part of the Shift Z (undo) action attached to that onject and by duplicating youve removed those undo options in the new object, food for though or possible next topic in a future video, love your content as always!!

[@ArtisansofVaul]

I thought I had replied to you so apologies for the delay. I actually made a video on how to consider the ordering of booleans based on your comment. You can find it here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jqXImYxmqNCChqs Interesting idea on duplicating the object. I will have to look into that.

[@jordenc8417]

@@ArtisansofVaul awesome ill check it out!! glad i could help inspire a video for the channel! Let me know what you find on the duplicating trick!

[@chrissoohoo5465]

Thanks for the lesson! I have a question -- my bool tool removes the Cutter from my collection and places it into a Cutters Collection. For you it seems to just hide the cutter. This has been frustrating to my organization -- any tips?

[@richardconway6425]

He's using addons, so be aware of that. What you mention is something that hardops may do. I think he has machine tools and hardops activated during this tutorial.

[@ArtisansofVaul]

@chrissoohoo5465 That may be because I have Machin3 Tools on but I thought I had Hard Ops deactivated. If not that's my fault and apologies for any confusion.

[@kurisugameing5909]

Thanks Jedi Master

[@ArtisansofVaul]

@kurisugameing5909 😁👍🏻 my pleasure Padawan 😉

[@pedrokayzergarcia6932]

i would love to ask you.. could you do a tutorial on how to add a (geometric pattern) texture on a non uniform object( lets say a skull ). i create jewelry and still have problems creating this effect

[@ArtisansofVaul]

@@pedrokayzergarcia6932 that's tricky on some curved objects. Is it to cover the whole of the object or part of it?

[@eitantal726]

Welcome to the fascinating world of UV mapping, friend

[@pedrokayzergarcia6932]

@@ArtisansofVaul it wouldnt have to be 360.. but "nearly" would be great.. the "seam" i can hide in the design of the ring ..thank you for replying

[@pedrokayzergarcia6932]

@@ArtisansofVaul and its not only curves of a ring.. imagine a skull.. it has divots etc

[@ArtisansofVaul]

@@pedrokayzergarcia6932 From what you're saying I think this is the addon that is most likely to work for this I think: blendermarket.com/products/mesh-materializer/?ref=834 Let me know how it goes if you decide to give it a try.

[@FullCaber]

pssst dude do u know how i could prevent weird wonkey square corners when doing insert faces

[@ArtisansofVaul]

@FullCaber I might need to see the issue to be sure. But if they are squares without bevels I would guess that either you need to apply the scale of the object (ctrl+a then Apply Scale) or there are overlapping verts (in edit mode press "a" to select all then "m" and select merge by distance). If you mean with a bevel let me know and I can point you to some videos 😁👍🏻

[@FullCaber]

@@ArtisansofVaul hmmm okidoki

[@TitusKrakenDesigns]

-Nice, :)

[@ArtisansofVaul]

Cheers Titus.

[@Vladislavaklyma]

It is great, but what happens to the topology with buleans? Well, I know, that it is for print and we dont use game ready topology, but if you are goint ot make a trim- it will be a massive pain, remembering, that blender has no remesh with creases saved as zBrush does.

[@ArtisansofVaul]

@Vladislavaklyma Sorry, whan you say trim you mean in terms of edging?

[@Vladislavaklyma]

@@ArtisansofVaul well, the trim decorations eg on chaos marine armor plates

[@ArtisansofVaul]

@@Vladislavaklyma Oh thats an easy process on something like this. Firstly the booleans are all non-destructive so on the top edges you can just use an edge look and extrude. Anywhere else draw it in with a knife and extrude or use one of a million ways of making trims. Id normally use Hard Ops (or now ND can do) to make them easily even without applying the booleans.

[@Vladislavaklyma]

@@ArtisansofVaul huh, actually yeah, makes sense, never thought of makin trim BEFORE applying boolean and remeshing the result ! Thanx a lot, it revolted my world a bit right now^^-^