Blender BOOLEAN MODIFIER Tutorial - Cut Holes, Combine Objects, and More!

[@TheCGEssentials]

Hi everyone! Let me know if you have any questions about the Boolean Modifier in the comments below! :)

[@shondelb5175]

Can you make some archviz tutorials please

[@lazenbytim]

Anyone know how to cut a staircase through a floor in archipack, I'm stumped??

[@mixturadu1408]

THERES NO APPLY IN LAST VERSION

[@HarrisonBorbarrison]

The object I want to cut with is showing up in the stl export. Wait! I found I needed to click apply…

[@count23all]

Is there a way to make the boolean modifier act like knife project? Where it simply overlays the intersecting edges/vertices between two objects as a cutout on the base object i want to put the cutout on? I am looking for a way of creating solid shapes on an object that's not aligned to any particular orthographic view, but knife projecting from orthos creates distortion and boolean deletes/replaces geo where it overlaps

[@sciforms]

Your “What’s Up Guys” intro alone would make me watch every single one of your videos, but I’m gonna do that anyway, cuz YOU’RE THE BEST at explaining Blender..!!! A BIG THANKS for sharing all your knowledge..!!!

[@multiengineer9199]

I Don't know why this guy is so underrated....having less number of subscribers....He is a magacian and great skill of teaching. THANKS SIR.

[@re5o28]

When I first stated 3D Modeling, I would use this method in AutoCAD all the time. When I switched over to Blender, I was mad because Boolean was bad initially. Glad it's gotten better. I had to always find long drawn-out processes to do what I wanted & had to learn an entirely different way of editing which slowed me down tremendously. I pretty much abandoned ever using Boolean as it would never yield the result I was going for. Now, that it's working better, this is going to speed things up for me tremendously. Thx.

[@matthews135]

Fantastic. I've watched a few of your videos and have yet to fail to learn what I'm looking for, and then some. Thank you!

[@davidthompson1087]

Just getting started with 3D Modeling in Blender and this video was extremely helpful in explaining how to easily remove material from an object. One of the best tutorials I have seen. Thank you for sharing this!

[@TheCGEssentials]

Glad it helped! :)

[@ManoliTsigonakis]

I dont know if youve heard this enough times already, but just wanted to let you know you have one of the best blender tutrials on youtube

[@Jtake39]

Still works great in 2024, thank you!

[@basitrehan9763]

very much useful and easy to clear all my doubts about using of Boolean

[@josephvanwyk2088]

The CG Essentials - best tutorial channel for all the nitty gritty basics. Well done man. I'm following each and everyone.

[@TheCGEssentials]

Awesome - glad the videos are helpful!

[@pauldavison7858]

Great - I picked up some neat tricks that I had never heard before!

[@raetheonmitchell8386]

I am just getting into to Blender. I like your smooth, clear manner. Thanks, I'll be back.

[@TheCGEssentials]

Glad I could help!

[@carlrotebrink]

Thanks for all your content Justin!

[@lylewyant3356]

Good information. I'm a 60 year old noob and I've been working in edit mode using bevel, scale and extrude

[@daleanderson1727]

Very glad to have found your help. This tutorial is a tiny bit out of date (I'm on Blender 3.0) but it's 99.5% the same so this helped me a lot. Thanks for sharing, keep it up!

[@toddspeck9415]

Really like your tutorial's, They are so helpful, Thanks Justin. Always amazes me, if you miss one step it won't work. I go back and follow along step by step. And then it works. So stoked.

[@SukeMan-]

Thank you alot, people like you realy help out new developers and modelers. Keep up the good work!

[@TheCGEssentials]

Glad to help! :)

[@cloudyvids8873]

walter

[@roguepaul]

You just changed my game.. I have watched so many videos on Bol and I have only been shown the caveman way of using it.. I have been given wings!!! ;)

[@TheCGEssentials]

Great to hear!

[@mattmeade983]

Fantastic explanation…subscribed!

[@CO-ZEntertainment]

Your a life saver. Hide how did I not know :)

[@maddestmike5791]

Thanks, this has been really helpful for me when dealing with Booleans. ^^

[@ralphalberti6851]

Very clear explanation. Thanks.

[@TheCGEssentials]

Thanks for watching!

[@ecanimations8997]

thank you so much i literally only needed like 3-4 mins of the video the understand thanks

[@TheCGEssentials]

Glad it helped!

[@meismetheanimationthing404]

I actually cant believe it was that easy.

[@TheCGEssentials]

Now you know :)

[@leodonlan2228]

your vids are amazing dude!

[@TheCGEssentials]

Glad you like them!

[@danimillistudio]

thanks awesome explanation

[@pmg1180]

Great tutorial however, Ian struggling to understand why. Any time I do a boolean object, and completed it, Export to STL and it showed all boolean objects from original, not the final object? How do i fix that? I do not want to see that when I exported it. Did I miss the steps?

[@DonDuck23]

Your tut is Clear enough. My computer is just slow. hehehe

[@TheCGEssentials]

Lol

[@boxbox4885]

Thanks show how to make holes i have watch 11 vid about make holes i didnt understand but when i saw your video i finally know how to cut holes with boolean thank you very mutch Btw i from holland so my english is not excellent

[@TheCGEssentials]

Glad I could help!

[@hiabex]

Hi Justin, looking at this video to Boolean a section of a sphere using a sideways cylinder (end result should look like a crescent moon if seen from the side) However, even before the modifier is applied, the edges of the sphere closest to the cut have horrible shading, which looks rough. Is there a way of fixing this for a cleaner had surface model? Thanks

[@seanchoy236]

Hi, I was wondering, is there a rule of thumb on when to use join (ctrl j) or boolean union when joining stuff together? From what I understand, "join" would be for separate wearable stuff like armor and accessories while boolean would be for things that would be joint together naturally like limbs. Is there a case where you would not use boolean to combine limbs to a body?

[@Aronmasonarts]

thank you for talking slower and easy to follow for us older farts who dont learn fast any more :)

[@rp7372]

this is gold!

[@morocoolive589]

i have a big probleme when i do render i dont see anthing i mean effect or bool mood plz answer me

[@rileybezooyen4165]

Thanks for making this video :)

[@raddityaindra]

Hello, I already use this for cutting my object to the final form that I want to, but when I'm exporting the final object, the final object not cut and the second object I use for cutting is displayed. how to fix this? can we use a boolean modifier just to cut the object and delete the 2nd object and not hide it? sorry for bad English

[@TheCaptKankles]

You have to apply the modifier. There is a little arrow pointing down next to the render (camera) button within the boolean modifier. Click it and pick apply. That worked for me.

[@RaisinJuiceCom]

thank you this was very usefull

[@GarciaDorelion]

Great. Thank you

[@fractilians7]

Another great tutorial thank you for this:)

[@windbarioth]

Using difference to cut things and then putting the subdivision above the boolean works as shown but if I shade-smooth the object I get a strange issue with shading/lighting on the edges of the cut area. Anyone have any advice or ideas?. Great tutorial anyhow, learnt a lot of useful stuff.

[@chukwudiebite7775]

This is brilliant

[@TheCGEssentials]

Glad you liked it!

[@testtest1art]

thanks it is amazing

[@jwl2011]

Isn't the wireframed object still there even though the boolean cut is made? how do i delete the object making the cut and still leave the cut?

[@bettertwl]

Thank you :D

[@keenefx321]

How would you get a second color to be applied when the object is differenced?

[@abdelrahmanelmiligy4683]

Huge thanks! 👏👏

[@thesquirrelchase-exploreph5635]

Thank you!!

[@TheCGEssentials]

Thanks for watching!

[@Cyp_Cyp]

This works great but when I save my file as an Stl. it loses the cuts. What should I do to fix this?

[@ricks3754]

Thank you! I'm coming from fusion 360 and this way is more interesting!

[@TheCGEssentials]

Lol - there's a place for both - I LOVE Fusion 360 for shop, precision or small project modeling - really great system. There's definitely a lot of different features in Blender that are fun too :)

[@ali.alherz]

By geometry node, How to select new edges on one side, and then separate it

[@xayzer]

Something to keep in mind - unlike with Sketchup, in Blender objects don't necessarily have to be solid in order to be Booleaned. So far I haven't experience any problems intersecting non-solid objects in Blender 2.8 and 2.82. Also, since Blender 2.82, there's the additional Bool Tool, which for me does an even better job than the Boolean modifier. The Bool Tool needs to be activated from the addon window in the preferences, and will then be available on the side menu under Edit - Bool Tool.

[@TheCGEssentials]

Interesting - will have to try this

[@lazenbytim]

I'm trying to cut a hole in a 'wall' from the archipack add on and having no luck. I know how to add doors and windows, but I have a wall i just need to take a square chunk out of and using boolean it just makes a dent in the wall the shape of the cube and doesn't cleanly go right through the wall. Any help would be very gratefully received.

[@xayzer]

@@lazenbytim Does the cube that you are using to cut the hole go all the way through the "wall" and onto the other side before you perform the boolean operation? Also check if the wall is a solid (watertight) object.

[@94RS]

Why does my "cutter" object disapear/delete itself when I apply the boolean yet it doesnt seem sto cut the main object? Cant find a fix for this

[@askopedia3763]

Nice

[@MichaelFlynn0]

Hi Justin - How do you use a Boolean in Blender and not have any geometry of the cutter object left behind ? I want to use one object to simply cut the mesh of another - without any remainder from the cutter object. It seems impossible in Blender .. and hard opps simply cuts with shapes.

[@TheHobbit28]

Amazing Tutorial! Thanks a lot

[@TheCGEssentials]

You're welcome!

[@dakshgupta8805]

When rendering the the objects which i boolean are also showing in the rendered image? How to fix it ?

[@zuzek9925]

What if there's a yellow triangle warning sign appears at the bottom, saying the selection of the object failed? It happened to me, and idk what went wrong..

[@tankycatcool63]

how do i export it where the holes still there but the object that cuts it isnt

[@TheCGEssentials]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/jYbFmGCMlNuFg5I

[@201crunt6]

exporting obj didnt work unfortunately

[@newkfromrotterdam]

did they removed the 'apply' and 'copy' options in 3.1.2 ? edit: ah no it's now in the little drop-down menu

[@3dartistguy]

Hi im relatively new to Blender. How do you add a modifier?

[@13thnotehifireviews7]

thanks for the video. Im new to blender and am trying to work out how you use the modifier to create vertices in the other object. i want to insert a usb socket shape into another shape using the rounded outline of the shape, to create vertices, then essentially turn the shape I used to cut the hole (the socket) back on. I get loads of shading issues and I dont know how to sort this.

[@pownder]

This is a notorious issue of boolean modifier and why beginners should not use boolean. I think you are having shading issues because the final surfaces the Boolean gave you are n-gons ( faces with more than 4 vertices). Shading only works properly on faces with three and four vertices (quads and tris). There are many ways to resolve this issue, but most of them are just stressful and time consuming, it's better to just go back to your model before you used the boolean and try to model what you want manually

[@ironheadrondo5596]

I'm newer than you but have similar goals of producing adapters and extensions. I wish you luck, do you have a Git-hub and are you into sharing? I'd be happy to take a crack at it if your a FOSS guy. If your going proprietary I don't want to hear any more lol. (Kinda joking, I want to know of your success, but not have my potential successive success stolen)

[@naeembabakheil]

hi how to cut through Plane i tried but bolean not work with plane.. is there any method in which cut through simple plane or geaomaetry by not subdividing it ?

[@MadnessMatrix]

Thanks Bro

[@carlosmiret35]

when I hide the small object, can't see de difference effect. What am I missing? 2.93.7 I think is beacuse the small mesh is the same than original, but smaller and it had few changes in edit mode before I copy it.

[@mango_wm]

Top!

[@TruthScopeTV]

I follow the guidelines for boolean precisely, but when I select the boolean modifier the 'apply' option never appears no matter what I do (select object etc.). Boolean has become the most frustrating part of using Blender.

[@MarkandSandieInMotion]

You have to remember to Cntrl + A to set your rotation and scale before each boolean.

[@TheCGEssentials]

I don't think you have to do it after each boolean - just if you scale or rotate an object in object mode

[@MarkandSandieInMotion]

Yea, it’s just that I’ve seen a lot of vids on Booleans etc. that don’t mention it, and it’s something you have to do when creating any modifier. Thanks for the vid.

[@rattus1575]

Not working for me for some reason... Even tried to make sure I didn't have duplicates under each other. The boolean modifier just won't cut my mesh for some reason. Edit: Nvm figured it out... Whenever I would make double loop cuts, I'd place them, then scale then after I had already placed them to separate them. Resulting in creating faces over the current mesh.

[@MooChimp]

Hey man, not sure if you can help me but im using the boolean modifier as displayed but when i move the second object away again, boolean hasnt cut through and it just leaves edges and vertices on the face where it was meant to cut through? so it basically leaves an outline on the face of the first object where it is meant to cut through?

[@Vertexvoyager]

how come your cube is solid?

[@evanhickam]

When I use the object field to select the cutting shape, I get an error: Failed to Set Value

[@mr.lunatic3157]

Its because you haven't separated those objects... Try separating that Object

[@stevesculptor1]

Tried to combine two objects, did not work, this tut is as clear as mud.

[@SwitchedDreams]

I can't see the "Apply" Button!!!

[@flowerslovepower8614]

Thank you

[@TheCGEssentials]

Welcome!

[@chrissyoutubechannel8679]

Still trying to learn how to extend the box new to blender lol

[@arnaudwurm-munoz1325]

I tried just what you did with the bevel but thats strange. My Boolean cubes seem to not been considered by the bevel.

[@TheCGEssentials]

You need to make sure your bevel is after the boolean modifier in the stack, not before

[@moritz_r]

i dont know why, but sometimes the boolean modifier do not work.:!.!:1..1.1.11.

[@youkuya]

I don't get an apply button. How do I apply the boolean? v2.90. I had joined a cylinder and cube shapes to form the cutting object to cut the required hole in another object

[@TheCGEssentials]

Are you in object mode?

[@ColtsWrathh]

@@TheCGEssentials same thing happened to me. I dont have an apply button

[@oliverlemley9343]

@youkuya the apply button still exists in the in the modifier tab the bar that has the render button has a check mark that is the apply tho if you are trying to export the model to stl i cant get the model to show up without the subtracted object without deleting the subtracted object after the modifier is applied

[@davidcottam7967]

Hi can you help with the this

[@garystanullwich5574]

Apparently the Boolean tool doesn't work in version 3.4. In fact, the Boolean tool never came with version 3.4. And I don''t see where to download and install this addon.

[@plainsaw3771]

Merci 🙌🏾

[@TheCGEssentials]

:)

[@MrAlexanderP3]

does this work with obj or stl files?

[@ruskracing]

This would be great if boolean was in my add modifier box

[@TheCGEssentials]

Your modifiers doesn't have boolean? Even in object mode?

[@ruskracing]

@@TheCGEssentials I figured it out. New 2.91 load I had to go to add on in prefs and activate it. ;)

[@jamesweb38]

Note - @ 1:28, you don't hit apply. I hit apply and couldn't figure out why any modifications weren't "applying". I believe apply completes the modifier, so don't do that until you have final cut. You can also see by seeing properties icon goes away when you hit apply.

[@TheCGEssentials]

I don't understand - at 1:28, I didn't click apply so...yeah - don't apply it unless you want to complete it...

[@workingTchr]

This doesn't work in version 3.5. After selecting the main object, then Modify > Boolean >Difference and then (with the eyedropper) the "cutting" object, nothing happens. Obviously there is another step that's supposed to be executed, but what that is is something I have yet to find.

[@TheCGEssentials]

As far as I know there were no major changes to this functionality in version 3.5. Are you sure it's not cutting the object and you just don't see it because you have the object set as a solid object rather than a wireframe?

[@workingTchr]

Thanks for the reply. I found the "error". Somehow in my installation of Blender for Windows, after selecting the Boolean modification and selecting the object to use as the "cutter", I have to open the drop down and click on "Apply" (even though it is already checked), and then move the cutter object away from the object that was cut and delete it. In all the demos I've read and seen trying to figure this out, as soon as the cutter object is selected, it: 1) does its cutting work, and 2) is deleted from the viewport. My installation (first 3.5 and then, today, 3.6) doesn't work that way and I have to go through these extra steps.

[@chilzyhalo7475]

bro looks and sounds like he translates the closed captions to a budget documentaries about local cereal rapists

[@TheCGEssentials]

I'm sure this was somehow supposed to be rude, but instead it's just confusing

[@chilzyhalo7475]

@@TheCGEssentials i just had to point it out, no hate to you personally

[@TheCGEssentials]

@@chilzyhalo7475 Seems like you could have just...not commented, or said something constructive. You know...for next time

[@applianceguy9375]

I have been using booleans, the object used to create the bore shows up when I create an STL, how do I get rid of it?

[@TheCGEssentials]

Did you apply the boolean modifier?

[@applianceguy9375]

@@TheCGEssentials yes, and click the eye to hide it. I had success with it before, but cannot remember what I did.

[@applianceguy9375]

If you delete the part used as the difference, your modification goes away

[@TheCGEssentials]

@@applianceguy9375 If it goes away, you haven't applied it...

[@applianceguy9375]

I was using the latest Beta version, and it was a bug. 2.82 produced great results.

[@ceciliac6163]

What make u think only having 480 was a good idea

[@TheCGEssentials]

480 what?

[@ceciliac6163]

@@TheCGEssentials p. 480p

[@TheCGEssentials]

@@ceciliac6163 It's not - it was uploaded in 1080p, and I can select both 1080 and 720 when I watch the video...

[@CutePablo]

The best part is hoo whts up guyys

[@johnmekites7701]

You confuse things on purpose , so we continue to watch your videos. You make simple things complicate ....

[@repeppe]

for some weird reason the union mode doesnt union the parts i want to weld

[@TheCGEssentials]

Are they solids?

[@hasanaamir1020]

💖💖💖

[@jcg7127]

my bigger object just disappears

[@redamz5936]

It's true

[@kuro7103]

how do I export it tho?

[@TheCGEssentials]

Export it to what?

[@kuro7103]

@@TheCGEssentials Roblox

[@pyrotechnick420]

dammit, I created a gas flap for my 3d car using booleans but I can't recreate it. I used one cube to remove the car mesh then inside that cube I used another to fill in the gas flap door. It's not working in Blender 2.93 EDIT: Nevermind the trick was to put the second boolean on the first boolean cube lol

[@birdiewithabanana]

maybe actually tell us how to fix problems as well like when it says "modifier disabled skipping apply" and it doesnt do shit

[@tahacanszoglu9737]

I can't use boolean even with the most basic objects like a cube in a cube. Don't know what to do. ! hour of research and ntohing...

[@TheCGEssentials]

Sounds like you might have your target objects backwards or something

[@jonasmortensen1252]

this just leaves me a bunch of nasty ngons hanging behind