Blender Secrets - Easy hard surface details using Floaters

“Floaters” are small details that are placed on top of a 3D object, in such a way that it seems like they are connected to that object. They can create the illusion of depth in the object they are placed on, without having to do any boolean operations or anything like that.
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Written by / voice: Jan van den Hemel
Video edited by: Tushar Ganesh

[@BlenderSecrets]

⇨ My Hard Surface sculpting course: blender-secrets-school.teachable.com/p/hard-surface-blender

[@Clyman974]

This is crazy helpful, it also works wonders with decals, especially when in Cycles where everything has a reflection and ambient occlusion.

[@fullyleaded]

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THIS IS WHAT IVE BEEN LOOKING FOR!!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU!!!!

[@rafeed2719]

What an interesting technique!

[@GinoZump]

"Easy hard surface" I love oxymorons 😄

[@BlenderSecrets]

Haha well... it gets easier? :-)

[@aiksi5605]

Surface

[@RomboutVersluijs]

Kinda baffled it's actually pretty far off from the mesh, bizarre this looks good.

[@gustavoalvarez3335]

Hola una vez más disfruto de tus conocimientos compartidos pasarías horas viendo tus videos, muchas gracias. Saludos desde Argentina

[@Slickstaff_Stainpants]

Penfinity link here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nn_VhYJ5ibp2oJY

[@BlenderSecrets]

Oh yeah, thanks!!

[@Slickstaff_Stainpants]

@@BlenderSecrets :) Thanks for all the excellent tips

[@ElektronikGirlEpic]

Revolutionary!!

[@ratus69]

Love it, thanks !

[@grahamthomas9319]

This is so freaking 😎 cool!! Can it do holes as well? Can you bake holes in a normal map?

[@BlenderSecrets]

You can create depth, like shown in the video. But not through-and-through holes, of course.

[@ecstasy6913]

wow thank you, very useful

[@abdullamasud4278]

though why when I try to do it, the floating object seem to be changing position on the cube surface?

[@pile333]

Nice. In Eevee you see the edge?

[@TheQMartinez]

Do floaters bake in low poly meshes?

[@BlenderSecrets]

The new video answers your question. kzbin.info/www/bejne/qqO6hn-tg8aJsLs

[@fankerry1217]

With HDRi map lighting only, I made a point light source that showed the boundary

[@BlenderSecrets]

In that case I would recommend baking it to a Normal map, then it will work with any lighting.

[@fankerry1217]

@@BlenderSecrets That's a solution, thank you very much

[@commandojoe123]

Would the effect not fall apart when viewed close up at a very shallow angle?

[@Samael2824]

Well, yeah, but this is mostly for things that your players aren't going to be looking at to closely or can't look at that closely

[@fadhil4008]

​@@Samael2824the term "player", is this even used in games?

[@LeGaLiZeDOOMz]

@@fadhil4008 i don't think so, if its in cycles no

[@BestMods168]

Does this take effect on export or is it just a render trick?

[@BlenderSecrets]

It is a render trick which can be baked, after which you can export it as a Normal map. I'll show that next week ;-)

[@lootgodamn5721]

It's just a render trick, even tho there's a chance that if the place you exported to will support blackface culling, it'd look off if you use it in games and such

[@BlenderSecrets]

You can export (bake) it as a Normal map, which is easy to use in game engines.

[@DigitalGreenTea]

@@BlenderSecrets You're doing god's work

[@BestMods168]

Thanks. Probably wont be useful if one exports to substance painter for baking.

[@RomboutVersluijs]

Wonder why, even when placed a bit above the mesh, we don't see it casting a shadow?

[@Renkkin]

you can disable the shadow of a mesh in the object properties

[@BlenderSecrets]

@@Renkkin Not necessary! The material takes care of it. You can download the Blend file and check for yourself: www.blendersecrets.org/secrets/easy-hard-surface-details-using-floaters

[@RomboutVersluijs]

@@Renkkin Yes, but that was shown nor said i believe. the tricks was in the material, yet that should not mean we dont see the shadow. 1 sided material is simply visible from one side. It still casts a shadow

[@Jacinth760]

is this how Decal machine works??

[@wanderinglord8164]

Same with Maya + Substance. Better workflow than making a graph I guess.

[@LeGaLiZeDOOMz]

you mean nodes? you can import all the premade node in 1 click

[@afrosymphony8207]

can you do this in eevee???

[@BlenderSecrets]

Yes, you can!

[@NicCrimson]

@@BlenderSecrets How? please do a video! I can't even get it to work in cycles.

[@CherylynnLima]

when i try it the floater sticks straight to the mesh instead of hovering above it, why?

[@CherylynnLima]

for those wondering, just lift a bit more in edit mode to avoid this

[@mouurusai]

Can it cause z-fighting?

[@BlenderSecrets]

No, since they are floating above the surface.

[@drumboarder1]

@@BlenderSecrets but the bottom face you snap to the mesh seems to be touching, not floating?

[@ramonsohal2404]

@@drumboarder1 There actually is z-fighting happening for me with the touching face and i had to lift it up ever so slightly...

[@BlenderSecrets]

Download the Blend file with Floaters and material here: www.blendersecrets.org/secrets/easy-hard-surface-details-using-floaters

[@corvette724]

Rivets, my airplane got`s rivets, thy

[@diarrealord]

mom, can i buy decal machine? no, we had decal machine at home decal machine at home:

[@vorrdegard2176]

Ahhhhhh

[@onjofilms]

Looks like Machin3's secrets are slowly being revealed.

[@tomo3601]

saide est-trois

[@Arthr0]

The floater is seen if it is seen through side view ☹️

[@BlenderSecrets]

Of course, but if you bake it you will have a perfect Normal map. I'll show this next week.

[@Arthr0]

@@BlenderSecrets It will be better if blender adds displacement map baker. Normal map sucks and so unrealistic

[@piorism]

@@Arthr0 Well, except for 100% of the games they are used in :) Floaters like shown in this video are used extremely frequently in game art production as they save a tremendous amount of time for baked assets.

[@BlenderSecrets]

@@Arthr0 You can bake displacement maps? kzbin.info/www/bejne/hanHmJZtlpymaqc It's two very different things for different goals, nothing wrong with normal maps. Not really comparable - you often need to use both.

[@Arthr0]

@@BlenderSecrets we can only bake displacement from multires. There should be option to bake it anytime like others

[@Dina_tankar_mina_ord]

You just put kitops an decalmacine out of buissenes lol

[@Heykkamo]

is there anyone who can tell me how to extrude from circle line?😅

[@Heykkamo]

and I was trying to put details, but the floater is not fully absorbed when rendered. Is there any certain condition that it works?

[@khalatelomara]

Pretty cool but useless 😅

[@BlenderSecrets]

Why is it useless? It's a superfast way to add detail you can then bake to a Normal map?

[@khalatelomara]

@@BlenderSecrets it is a trick that only works in cycles and the parallax effect does make it shift wrongfully specially on tight angles 😅

[@lsscpp]

Not useless. Perfect for led spots on the ceiling, for example.

[@khalatelomara]

@@lsscpp did you try it ? 🤔

[@lsscpp]

Sure. Not recommended for close ups, but priceless for many kind of surface details