Blender - Connecting Cylinders - #15 Subdivision Surface Modelling in Blender

Learn more about Sub-D modelling www.hardvertex...
Hard surface modelling with Booleans is a bad idea if you hope to have lightweight, controllable, easy to texture models which may need deformation, transparency, sub surface scattering and the ability to be understood by any other 3d and 2d software.
Connecting curved surfaces like two cylinders is best done as a subdivision surface modelling task
The shrinkwrap modifier is your best bet for a good topology.
It takes ages to make these!! Please consider supporting me!
ko-fi.com/ianm...

[@xenofrost69]

This guy puts all other so called "hot shot" Blender tutorial makers to rest. Real deal.

[@Chronolich]

It's so beautiful I want to cry. Way better than any other youtube tutorial. Some people here on youtube just teaches you the quick and dirty way of doing things. I've used your tutorials in some of my work. Especially the cone, cylinder and sphere shapes and man did my topology game increase by just following these simple basic and correct topology rules. Thank you so much for teaching us the correct way and not the easy way.

[@ianmcglasham]

Thanks Chronolich22! It is really good to hear someone is using some of it.

[@alexarievich]

same feeling here much love...

[@omagro8267]

Outstanding. Instantly subscribed. Engaging voice over and high level expertise. Please continue these topology gems.

[@ianmcglasham]

Thanks so much. I've got lots more great stuff coming!

[@alexarievich]

yep 88

[@ashy49592]

​@@ianmcglasham Hi i want one of the cylinders to be bigger when i scale it up and applied that messed up the topology

[@Jez2008UK]

Ian, you should be on 602k subscribers (not 6.02k as of December 2023). I've just come from another tutorial on how to do this from another channel and their solution is, in a word...... crap. Yours is professional. Big, big difference. Subscribed and I bow to you Sir. Thank you very much!

[@BlenderBob]

Oh wow! Never thought of using shrink modifier for something like that! It's always nice to learn new technics. Ian, you need more publicity.

[@ianmcglasham]

Thanks Bob! So do you! You should be the biggest channel out there. I love your stuff!

[@jamesgodspower7734]

Wow best topology tutorial ❤

[@philippschafer4142]

1 new Video from Ian = at least 10 new things learned! I love it!

[@ianmcglasham]

Cheers!

[@Markoz87]

That is just mind blowing. That kind of work is so obvious when you watch it. I don't know any other KZbin tutorial maker who learn that way. All other guys show how to use modifiers and later how to fix issues they make, but you show how to build from start to end good topology. Can't wait for more!

[@ianmcglasham]

Thank you so much. Do you think the lessons are too basic? Too advanced? or is it a good level?

[@Markoz87]

@@ianmcglasham In my opinion lessons are on good level. You're explaining simple things but those simple things may be the hardest to understand :) I watched lot of KZbin tutorials, but its a first time when I see something like that. If I can suggest something, I would like to see how to build some more complex with all that rules of good topology.

[@ianmcglasham]

@Markoz87 thank you. Good advice. I have a few more overall principles to put out there and then I will show how to tackle something complex. Cheers!

[@Markoz87]

@@ianmcglasham I wish I could give you 2 thumbs up! Now I tried to make this exercise but with cube and cylinder... and result are fantastic. Only thing need to be remember is the same number of vertices to connect to achieve only quads after using a bridge tool. On the beginning I forgot about this and finally I finished with couple quads and couple triangles :) But, this is what I talked about, simplest thing can make huge problem for the beginners.

[@samuelpope7798]

Like most of us I have watched hundreds of Blender tutorials spanning several years. I always manage to learn something. But these hard surface / topology tutorials of yours.... Wow! You really have set a new standard. Thank you so much.

[@ianmcglasham]

Thanks so much Samuel. It really means a lot to hear it.

[@dirkeisner4551]

I rarely comment on stuff but this is next level, thank you so much I learned a lot. I'm definitely will use this technique.

[@TheWeirdSide1]

Problem...now I have all this free time you saved me from longer renders and countless hours of dealing with "rubbish' mesh. Guess I'll watch more of these amazing solutions!

[@ianmcglasham]

Ha! Cheers weird. I hope you like them! If you do have any problems let me know and I'll do my best to sort them out for you!

[@TheWeirdSide1]

​@@ianmcglasham​@ianmcglasham Your videos are top quality all around, great narrating and all the usual that makes for quality content, but the depth of logical thinking you bring to solutions is incredibly rare and what I'm most grateful for. And you present in a teaching style that's much easier to absorb with just enough repetitition and a base of humor that takes the stress off an otherwise technical tutorial/software, which is also rare to find. If you don't have many more subscribers than the guru soon something is very wrong with the general population or youtube's algorithm or both! Thanks for great tutorials

[@ianmcglasham]

@TheWeirdSide1 Thanks again Weird. I worry a lot about how much detail to put in! Helps me to hear positive feedback like that. Makes it all worthwhile!

[@tonyennis1787]

Dang this is a resilient method. I'm a beginner and boolean is all I know.

[@soy_farm]

I saw all the other videos using booleans, and I almost gave up, thank to this video now I'm motivated again, many thanks from the south of this planet!

[@ianmcglasham]

Thank you Felipe! Delighted to hear you enjoyed it.

[@andyedwardson9710]

I struggled with sub div and nearly gave up. Then I found your channel and the fog is clearing. Wonderful. Now all we need now is how you come up with these insights! I would pay for a course on this.

[@ianmcglasham]

Thanks so much. I am going to try to show it all! 30 years worth of mistakes you don't have to make!! Lol

[@andyedwardson9710]

@@ianmcglasham Craftmanship at its finest. I just finished a major part of one of my characters because of you. Have a great weekend.

[@mczerwinski90]

These videos give me butterflief in my stomach

[@nicolasderanieri1456]

Hands down the best tutorial I've seen for such things. Maybe I'm just tired of Boolean Modeling "N-Gons aren't actually bad as long as you don't do anything with the mesh" cultists, but everything here is very easy to understand thank you

[@ColleteralProject]

How can I miss such an explanation? After years of working with 3d software, you never stop learning. Thanks a lot for sharing your knowledge... 👍🏻

[@ianmcglasham]

Thank you ColleteralProject. I stumble across things all the time which I did not know and I've been doing it a fair few years myself!

[@AutoPotato]

This is so good, i think i just found a gem in this sea of tutorials.

[@fortissimoX]

Wow, after searching and watching a fair amount of ridiculous tutorials that didn't have a clue how to properly solve this, I've found your tutorial! Absolutely amazing! Thank you very much and I sincerely wish you all the best! Although indeed it's a blessing that nowadays we have internet that provides so much information, unfortunately there are a lot of bad informations out there. Thank you, you really helped me today!

[@ruslankazimov622]

I love this tutorial. Making connections between different sized cylinders was tedious work for me. I had to union boolean carefully, then move vertices around, use knife and stuff.... for a result that was far more inaccurate and ... did i say tedious and boring? This? This now takes like a minute, no hassle! You are one great lad and I hope you are doing fine! There are a far more inferior channels with more subs, but damn KZbin, doesn't even help with finding this video! I had to dig deeper than necessary to come across your channel.

[@ianmcglasham]

Hey thanks Ruslin. It keeps me going getting good feedback. Cheers mate.

[@Tiki_Media]

Where have you been all my Blender life?!? I recently reviewed a cylinder fusion tutorial by another Blender teacher and his solution was to just align the cylinders as well as possible before the boolean and merge a few verts. This was very disappointing as the exact position of the cylinder could not be chosen by the creator, one had to simply pick a spot that worked the best. Your tutorial is golden! Thank you for giving the Blender community the REAL solution!!😊

[@ianmcglasham]

Yeah. Booleans are next to useless really. I am really surprised they have become so popular. There are some good sales people out there!

[@markokovacevic3225]

Thank you so much for making these videos Ian! The amount of information and value in each of your videos is truly amazing. Your style of videos comes across as though you had enough of other people teaching bad workflows and practices , and you just feel you need to write the wrongs - I LOVE IT!!! Speaking of booleans, as you time and time demonstrate that a better workflow can be accomplished without using them, I would still like to see how you would use them, and where you feel that they fit in a 3d workflow. Your channel is a hidden gem, and I hope your subscriber count goes way up soon! Please keep doing what you're doing! Cheers, sir Ian! :)

[@ianmcglasham]

Thank you Marko!

[@nullref0]

technique: amazing. tutorialization: amazing. editing and organization: amazing. 1k thumbs up is too few

[@ianmcglasham]

Thank you Aaron. Much appreciated.

[@roberthagstrom259]

Fantastic tutorial. I have seen some tutorials on this problem, and this one really nails it. I tried to weld pipes using metaballs 😂

[@ianmcglasham]

You know what? I like the idea of doing it with meatballs. Never considered it. Did you get any good results?

[@roberthagstrom259]

@@ianmcglasham Hi! I will email you my file so you can have a look 🙂

[@ianmcglasham]

@@roberthagstrom259 I'd love to see it!

[@super_lito]

I've been looking for this for ages. I wanted to make a bicycle and the tubes always where a challenge. Thank you very much sir!

[@sniqe]

Every single new video you put out blows my mind. Keep up the good work!

[@ianmcglasham]

Thanks V42!

[@ZettXXII]

I watched many tutorials on countless channels and wanted to thank you. This is much more of a foundation for my future projects than anything I found so far.

[@ianmcglasham]

Thank you. Good luck making stuff; it's really good fun! Id love to see whatever you end up doing and if you get stuck, send me a message and maybe I can help out. Cheers. Ian.

[@xtermin8er1]

You good Sir are a Champion you've had me laughing within the first minutes i love the way you describe it

[@lorincinar]

Excellent tutorial! Thank you very much. As a beginner, thanks to your tutorial I had answers to my modelling questions. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us.

[@ianmcglasham]

Cheers Lorin!

[@dazecm]

I can't wait to see more of these 'subd surface solutions' Ian mentions towards the end of this demonstration. This is the best 13 minutes on KZbin I've spent so far trying to grokk the concept of good surface topology as a beginner in 3D modelling.

[@ianmcglasham]

Grokk is a good word. Cheers Darren.

[@castletransport]

WOW!!! that is genius. Thank you so much Ian

[@ianmcglasham]

Cheers castletransport!!

[@andywilson5677]

Your sheer contempt for booleans made me laugh. Great video.

[@lumencg]

This is exactly what I needed but so much more than I expected!

[@ianmcglasham]

That is a really kind thing to say! Thank you.

[@adeptusprintorium]

Amazing. Even after years with Blender ... this was mindblowing. Thank you so much.

[@seankelly5318]

One of the best tutorials I've seen on Blender, another level from most of the KZbinrs. Thanks Ian, subbed.

[@NoahPaessel]

Ian you are a freekin' 🧙 wizard! Looking forward to more wisdom from you.

[@ianmcglasham]

Cheers Noah!

[@ashishhembrom3905]

This is THE truest cleanest way to join shapes.

[@kazimierzg9280]

that is very cool work. I've been looking for proper subd technique for ages - and surprisingly, there are very few tutorials

[@javadahmadi]

Incredibly useful video. It allows you to break free from addons and have total control. This is one of the best Blender videos I have seen in many years. Highly recommend for beginners, because this is the biggest problem 99% beginners face. Looking forward to see more.

[@caelhanwood6402]

Beautiful, thanks Ian!

[@punkeasy]

Once again you have amazed me.

[@ianmcglasham]

Thanks punkeasy!

[@mediaman1346]

I love the way all of your models have such perfect edge flow and topology so clean and water tight!!

[@asthalis]

Just one word : wow !!!! A thousand thanks for this precious knowledge !

[@ianmcglasham]

Thanks asthalis.

[@TheSuperzdog]

“ This is disgusting” Love the visceral reaction to terrible polygons

[@fullyleaded]

I’ve seen many videos trying to explain how to do this. KZbin needs to add a warning ⚠️ to the other videos informing people to watch for entertainment purposes only. If they want to learn to do this properly they should come here. This is the correct way to do it. Thank you a million times.

[@ianmcglasham]

Thank you a million times Fully Leaded. There are certainly some strange attempts at it out there! Lol

[@LeeDanielsART]

This is fantastic. Thank you 🙏

[@blendercgiart]

Amazing...I don't have any words to describe your magic.

[@covbloke511]

Brilliant !!! Best method by FAR for joining pipes I've ever seen. Great job !

[@Andy_Shust]

This method is insanely elegant! Never seen it before!

[@Motioneric]

clear, followable, amazing tutorial!

[@mopozuJIko]

This one is the most mind blowing of your videos! And I've had my jaw dropped for the all of the previous turorials:)

[@v.s.8693]

Thank you so much Mr. McGlasham! Your tutorial is like magic, fast, smart and very useful!

[@phantompainter6010]

You are an amazing teacher. I really love your style. I truly hope all is well and you will continue making these type of blender tutorial video's.

[@Invert3148]

woah, this is so useful. It's so much simpler than some other boolean type workflows I've seen. No excess merging or cleaning, Nice!

[@timharris7973]

The best hands down!

[@ianmcglasham]

Cheers Tim.

[@mjmuftah271]

It's so awesome 👌, nice Technique and Not boring to watch ❤️❤️ Nice man ...

[@jmoconcept6672]

Brilliant video I wish I had seen long ago... Thank you so much Ian for this master piece of information and your efficient way to share it.

[@ianmcglasham]

Cheers jmo!

[@ayushvardhan1567]

thank you so much that was so easy to understand and such a simple method

[@user-tk1jj1cp9x4]

Wow. This is an extraordinarily dense amount of useful information. Thanks so much!

[@satishgoda]

Ian, thank you very much for creating and sharing these tutorials.

[@ianmcglasham]

Thank you Satich. Glad you like. them. I love making them!

[@tutorials6315]

Thank you for your great video! I hope you keep continuing these subdivision surface modeling series! 🙏

[@r81a112]

Thank you very much

[@tajmgambler]

Finally!!! Thank you Ian. I'm a newbie and for whatever reason KZbin never brought up your channel in my searches, nor other excellent modelers like yourself. That's why I'm commenting, beside thanking you for putting an end to weeks of frustration with exactly the kind of boolean disasters you are talking about here. Of course booleans have their merits but I find learning proper subd modeling from scratch is incomparably better. I found your channel only via a comment of yours to a John Dickinson video that I have been directed to in a forum where I was asking how to properly model some mesh of mine. Though who's this guy who gives advices to John??? :) So the two of you are my start into learning proper modeling. Excellent explanations, good tempo, pleasant voice, right problems and right answers. Still don't get it why youtube isn't putting such channels higher in the hierarchy. Thanks again and all the best :)

[@the_devil_1230]

why I didn't find this sooner . Thnx for the amazing video.

[@ianmcglasham]

Thank you!!!

[@johanweiss1137]

Oh my lord, this is perfect

[@Spekplant]

Thank you very much, brilliant video and explained like a pro teacher :). It would be great if you could also make a video on T-joining two cylinders. I tried but get stuck.

[@ianmcglasham]

I can do that. It is much simpler so I have not bothered but I guess showing the correct way could be useful. I'll make one!

[@Wanpeld1]

Thanks for your tutorials, hope more people will discover your content, it's very helpful! Greetings from Ukraine!

[@ianmcglasham]

Thank you so much. Slava Ukraini.

[@relaxationmusic7623]

You are just great man!! Thanks!

[@ericdumoulin2190]

realy smart solution

[@holyspirit8355]

Really outstanding video, love it. Thanks Lan.

[@WektorGH]

BEST TUTORIAL EVER

[@supaflykai]

This is pretty neat, but putting it in practice it seems to not work as well for connecting two cylinders in a capital T formation (especially if they are the same size). It still seems to work relatively well, but if you make the intersection directly halfway into the other, you get 2 triangles on either side(4 triangles total). The gap around the cylinder connection also is not uniform on either side where the triangles are. It's possible there's a way to fix this but I'm tired and couldn't figure it out. Still much more elegant than the boolean approach. Thanks for sharing!

[@ruslankazimov622]

I don't know if I get your question, but cross or T sectioning same size pipes doesn't leave much of space for smooth transitioning. The key is to make one of them smaller... even a tiny bit helps. Otherwise, you are stuck with just union Boolean and sharp edges / or welds. In my case, this works well if they are same size and works great if they are not. This is my go-to method for like 90% times, for T-intersections. If you are trying to connect two different sized cylinders, trick is to reduce numbers of verts on smaller cylinder and keep edge flow smooth. You can sub'd your initial result and then trim the half of the edges and have more "organic" intersection.

[@ianmcglasham]

You are correct. A different method is used for T junctions for exactly the reasons you mention. I'll make a video about it!!!

[@leeanimator5021]

I love it. Thankyou sir!

[@anissar7301]

please continue of what you are doing. great job

[@johnnychunli]

the smartest way ever!

[@Frits_Mulder]

Thank you for this great lesson! Definitely improved my topology and shading by a lot.

[@serhii7998]

Cool! Thank you!

[@drottningu]

I love this channel!! Thanks for all the awesome info.

[@ianmcglasham]

Thank you so much!

[@anissar7301]

Thank you so much

[@LucidDream1967]

fantastic result

[@samanthagerber4027]

this was so satisfying

[@engelbrecht777]

Love your tutorials, thank you so much sir.

[@abidinhidayanto2831]

this is mindblowing

[@tendividedbysix4835]

Fantastic! Damn I have seen some crappy ways of doing this, but this method takes the cake :D

[@PieterHanja]

Àmazing! I tried it, and it works so nice, thank you.

[@sulacographics]

Fantastic workaround!

[@Mr.McWatson]

Well. Thats kind of a game changer.

[@snarkbucham4077]

Very, very good tutorial, thank you very much.

[@nikz000]

It was so good I started crying 😅🥹

[@nikz000]

I just decided I want to enter the 3d world. So fascinating 😍

[@ianmcglasham]

@@nikz000 Amazing! It is a really fun world. Especially if you like puzzles. It's like playing the best game there is for me!

[@hzzzvv6671]

Excellent method and presentation! Thank you very much 🙂

[@jcsekinger]

Thank you !!

[@ianmcglasham]

You're welcome! Cheers Jean-Christophe!

[@Schaumler]

nice finaly what i was looking for👌

[@maurofuentes8076]

Excellent!

[@ianmcglasham]

Cheers Mauro!

[@Nadiustheone]

Absolutely amazing, instant subscribe.

[@D4mations]

Absolutely brilliant

[@yoana2636]

Such a simple and smart solution. Thank you! this shrinkwrap modifier seems to be quite strong, you used it for the bishop, I didnt quite understood the logic behind, i understand that it takes an object and it wraps it around another but you have an object with a hole in and you can keep the hole. Dunno if it make sense...

[@ianmcglasham]

Hi yoana. Yes The shrinkwrap is incredibly powerful. I will expand on it a lot in upcoming tutorials. You can have holes and even just shrinkwrap small sections of a mesh onto another one. It is more that it pushes the points of a mesh towards the points of another mesh. it is better to think of it this way rather than imagining it wrapping round a mesh!

[@yoana2636]

@@ianmcglasham thank you for the replay, I`ll think of it this way from now on

[@joe_fabricator]

Very nice job! Great tutorial, thank you. Subbed...

[@aftereffects00]

Nice totorial.. :)

[@ErikMKeller]

Brilliant solution! Thank you so much!

[@maelstromsonic]

Really good tutorial, thank you 😊

[@ianmcglasham]

Thank you sonic_maelstrom. Really means a lot to hear it.