10 Hard surface tricks for Blender

[@mohamed-amenyussuf1185]

That ring trick saved me a ton of time.

[@designator7402]

Another tip: Each time you hear "don't move your mouse" in this tutorial, you can substitute that with "click the right mouse button" (on new controls). This apply whatever tool you have started working with (extrusion, loop cuts, etc) in its default position, undoing any mouse movement. Much easier than "don't move".

[@AllThingsFilm1]

Thank you. :)

[@TruthSurge]

I've been learning blender for about 6 weeks and I have yet to try the spin tool. That is so cool, how have I not tried it yet? Making perfect circles and arches and curves is for some reason mysterious but I guess it's so common that's why they put a tool in to do that.. thx for the tips.

[@OmarDoesStuffIGuess]

this channel is literally what I needed to feel confident about blender for a beginner. Thanks!

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

So happy to hear that! Work your way through my blender playlist and youll be on a great start

[@patricenegros3982]

So many tutorial on YT ... it took me a while to find you! Everyone as a different mindset and I guess yours is close to mine! As a photographer and a maths passionate, your videos find path to my crazy brain much more than other. Thank you very much for sharing your precious knowledge.

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

Thank you so much for saying so! I appreciate the encouragement and glad to hear that you are enjoying my content!

[@ishaqyunus4066]

The last tip was a new one for me....Thanks fpr thr added knowledge

[@michaelscofield4524]

On the cylinder ring trick, you can scale along the normals by using Alt + S, which saves you from having to change the origin to individual origins. You can shorten this even more by using Alt + E and clicking on extrude along normals option, which will extrude and scale on the normals in one swoop.

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

Oh great tips! Thanks I didn't know about those commands.

[@minipj6732]

13:22 you can do that by pressing shift + R. This hotkey repeats the action you previously did. So, you can repeat anything infinitely.

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

Oh I love that trick but at the time of this recording I thought I had to press enter before moving between commands which killed the usefulness of shift R. But I learned otherwise and am happy someone pointed that out!

[@dripkofi]

This has got to be one of the most helpful and straightforward videos I've ever seen 😭 thank you so much, been struggling making my meshes as a beginner and this really just opened a new door for me ❤️

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

Thank you so much for saying so! That's always my goal and you're not the first to say so which makes me know I'm doing the right thing. Keep blending! Check out my other hard surface videos on here, loads of gems.

[@aydinj3894]

thank you...top notch quality, excellent narrative, very well put together.

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

Thank you! This is one of my most popular videos. I have a part 2 and 3 as I love hard surface modeling. Find them in my Blender playlist and subscribe for future video!

[@aydinj3894]

@@DanielGrovePhoto Absolutely! Cheers.

[@pumedace6700]

you are making the best blender videos !! thank you so much !

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

Thank you so much! I'd have to agree lol nah there are some geniuses out there that blow my mind every week! I'm just zeroing in on the few things I'm good at and have gotten some great feedback!

[@jademoth1626]

Currently modelling something I was dreading to rig, but in the last min of the video you dropped a gem 👌🏾👌🏾

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

Yeah that one is great for me since I don't do organic stuff and hate bones! Thanks for watching and don't miss part 2! kzbin.info/www/bejne/Zmaai5uEqrN5bcU

[@GameSOUL008]

Can use shift + r to repeat the action for the bolt thing :)

[@eliascgi]

I think about that too))

[@aleks_ivanov]

also you don't have to press Enter after Alt+D - you can press R+the desired degree and then Enter

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

Yes thanks! Learn something new every day/video.

[@r6scrubs126]

I did this by just using the array modifier and using the "offset object" option to make it use an empty object at the 3D cursor as the central point

[@znefas]

@@r6scrubs126 yeah was thinking the same, it's just easier to use an empty

[@andrewleighton9000]

Great video, this should be compulsory viewing for all Blender beginners (like me!)

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

Agreed! Haha who needs the donut tutorial anymore!?

[@patihgenixscoding6914]

Bless you man, simple and effective

[@janthummler3548]

All tips are very solid and helpful for beginners, but the last one about parenting, I totally didn't know about even with some experience. I will absolutely integrate this into my workflow :D All in all a useful compilation, thanks for sharing!

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

Thanks so much! Yeah the parenting thing happened out of necessity.. or laziness once I started trying to learn rigging and bones. I found they are more geared to organic models and it didn't make sense why a multi piece hard surface model like a robot should be joined as one mesh! I like having control over objects and not joining them. So I found parenting a good easy route for animating robotic type stuff. be sure to put the pivot or origin points where the joint is AND lock / limit rotations for the object so it will only move the way you want.

[@janthummler3548]

@@DanielGrovePhoto Best things develope out of laziness :D But i totally agree, I am also more interested in mechanical stuff, like mechas and such, but rigging seemed always kind of overwhelming. So your tipp will be massively usefull!

[@cyberwar5579]

Some of the best tutorial iv ever seen

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

Thank you so much!!! Check out the part 2 where I built a whole hall way and the top 10 hard surface modeling tricks too. Great stuff.

[@cyberwar5579]

@@DanielGrovePhoto sure i will check that out too

[@kimopuppy]

It would be great to see all the small details to add-in and I just can't think of them all! Cutting out the panel was fantastic

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

Thanks! I will do more videos on this topic maybe a detailed panel / greeble one.

[@javadahmadi]

Some of the best useful Blender tips for every day use. Thank you for this video. 💐🎯

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

Thank you for those kind words! That's my goal.

[@Yurup]

For the bolt around a circle use an array modifier.

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

That plus a rotated empty can make the circular array, you're right. I think I'll do a modifiers video sometime soon.

[@LordoftheFleas]

@@DanielGrovePhoto for added bonus, use a driver to link the array count in the modifier to the rotation of the empty.

[@stichtingyimak9695]

Just what i was gonna say my man XD

[@BobSmith-pn5mo]

An array would work, but I think the linked duplicate (instance) is more efficient on memory and performance. Also once you create and rotate the first instance (alt-d rz-60) you can quickly create more instances by using shift-r to repeat the last task. much faster.

[@Tignite91]

You could as well use Shift+R to repeat the duplication+rotation (:

[@fredypeter3348]

Thank you so much for making this video! It's really helpful, especially the robot arm posing part in the end.

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

You're welcome how did you find it and what else would you like to see me cover?

[@gartersnake1919]

These videos are so useful and well expained. Many thanks man.

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

Thanks for watching! Be sure to check out part 2! kzbin.info/www/bejne/Zmaai5uEqrN5bcU

[@kamana6435]

Many useful tips in one video 👍 A great help for beginners and more experienced users too

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

Thanks so much I try to appeal to both sides! Any suggestions for future videos?

[@zeropointfusion7679]

@@DanielGrovePhoto Well, I have a suggestion, if you've got a way to do it. I am currently working on a sci-fi ship, but am having a hard time making the hull look detailed. I feel like I could do better if I knew how to make my own hull textures, and apply them with UV wrapping, etc. However, most of the ways I'm seeing are either too complicated, or don't actually explain the full process.

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

Not sure if it will help but check out my recent video where I talk about hull and texturing. I didn't go super deep in to detail in that one (maybe a future video) but maybe it will help. kzbin.info/www/bejne/faKlhqt-jayHZpI

[@vijaykumara7400]

The best teaching from best teacher gave awesome lesson. Thank you. God Bless You.........

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

You are very welcome

[@jean-michelsmith4581]

Nice tutorial. Was still able to do about 70% of it in 3.2 (gave up on the final cutout part due to time, but expect to figure it out on 3.2 soon). Thanks for a great tutorial, still good even 2 years later.

[@jeffcrist2977]

Thanks for these tips. Very practical and useful. Admire your work too. Big fan of the Tron and sci-fi modular stuff.

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

Thank you so much! Be sure to check out part 2 of Hard Surface Modeling Tricks. And thanks I love making it, it's a nerds dream come true!

[@absentzz347]

Here's a bit of a shortcut for duplicating and rotating those bolts: After pressing Alt+D, you can instantly press R+Z+60 before hitting enter so it'll just snap into that position. Then you can press Shift+R and it'll just do that same operation again for as many times as you press Shift+R. (Note that Shift+R only copies the last operation you do, so if you did anything in between duplicating the bolt and pressing Shift+R, it won't work.) Edit: Also you can use the scroll wheel to increase or decrease the amount of loop cuts you want to add instead of the plus or minus keys

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

Yes thank you for that tip! I hadn't tried those two commands as one without enter in the middle. And I use a trackpad / stylus so no scroll wheel for me!

[@brunomariz7480]

Very useful, especially the robotic arm and the panel trick

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

Thanks and glad to hear that. Any suggestions for future videos?

[@RB-GameDesign]

These are fantastic tips for a new user. Coming from Maya, this helped me big-time. Thank you!

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

That awesome to hear! Welcome to the free side :D check out my other videos they'll give you a good foundation for more advanced things later.

[@StonemonkeyTube]

The thumbnail scared me into thinking this was going to be super advanced but these are real useful tips for me, thanks.

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

Oops! Just eye candy but I did use all of these techniques on those models.

[@Hashimo]

Thanks for the one with the pipe! I often tried to achieve that but always ended up with something ugly, for I may not have used the right technique. This one's really easy and works!

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

Thanks! That trick comes in handy a lot for all kinds of cylindrical shapes like hydraulics, lightsabers, pipes, and it works for other shapes too! Ridges can add a good level of fine detail when used in the right place. Don't forget to add a small amount of bevel though so that the edges are not impossibly sharp.

[@wladislawshamin5447]

You sir just told me everythin i needed to know since i want to model a sci fi gun but the different faces and edges are showing and i needed some parts smooth and some parts sharp. Thank you very much

[@dieterkalt4281]

you are a beast tutor ! big props

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

Thank you!!

[@Zuneku13]

6:29 It might help to give a bit more control by using shift+z (or whichever axis you are using) to not scale that axis as you would still be scaling that axis even if you choose individual origins.

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

I did not know that thanks! I had always wondered if there was such a command. Thanks.

[@ugoangeletti3556]

Great job on this video! Just at the moment where I thought Blender couldn't offer more shortcuts to certain functions. This was really well done. Perhaps in the future, I suggest turning on Screencast Keys. This just shows what keys you're clicking at the moment. Otherwise, great video!

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

Thank you so much and thanks for the suggestion I tried to get it some time back but couldn't find it as an add on! I need to look again.

[@luisf4355]

Woah, great video mate!

[@chrisgamer9955]

Great video! For the loopcuts you can press escape or right click to cancel the mouse movement after the first enter

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

I just press it a second time as my finger was already there for the first press but ya those work too!

[@ChrisAllenMusic]

Cool, useful tips, with clear presentation. Thanks!

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

Thank you! That's my goal. More to come soon!

[@CosmicComputer]

With the bolt you can alt+d and rotate it into place then press shift + R to repeat the action as many times as you want!

[@rollon1181]

You saved me some typing

[@thesteaksaignant]

@@rollon1181 also : the array modifier can be helpful when you have 180 bolts instead of 6

[@fishtail_6740]

Good work！Expect more tutorials

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

Thanks! More on the way. How did you find me?

[@Spludgeroo]

Thanks. One pedantic thing on Tip 1: You need to drag the spin centre away from the cylinder a bit. You would never get a pipe bend with zero internal diameter in real life.

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

Oh thank you! I appreciate details like that and didn't know.

[@parkerbelholland1037]

Great tips and I've bookmarked and liked this. Other comments echo mine such as rotating that bolt around an empty+array mod, also at the first pipe I thought why not use a mirror mod on that, but you got to it on the next tip.

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

Thanks for watching!

[@Fragsteady]

So your a photographer filmographer who uses blender to create the fantasy of your client! Cool!

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

That's me! I've made props, backgrounds, ships, and vfx using Blender to use in my photographs and it's so much fun! Sometimes clients present a concept to me and I have to go find out a way to make it happen. Check out my creative work at Danielgrovephoto.com/category/creative

[@proudlove]

Shift - R is a super handy shortcut to repeat an action or series of actions. So copying the bolts around the base of your pipe would be- (Alt-D, R, Z, 60, enter. Shift-R x 4)

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

Ya I use to think I had to do enter after shift D and so that rendered shift R useless. But I was wrong! Thanks for this tip though it's great.

[@AmoghSrivastava]

Best blender tutorial. Subscribed ❤️

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

Thanks for watching! Be sure to check out part 2! kzbin.info/www/bejne/Zmaai5uEqrN5bcU

[@YelhsarNas]

This is actually really helpful

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

That is my goal for my whole channel! Thanks for watching and be sure to check out parts 2 and 3 of this as well as my other Blender videos.

[@AmolBhangare]

Last one is saver... I had hard time turning motorcycle handle with entire front subassembly to be rotated along with handlebar 😄🙌 thanks

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

Glad it helped!

[@RaPL123]

Auto Smooth is a killer feature. I wish I had known before. I would save a ton of time. (Subsurf, crease, supports etc.)

[@MorganDesigns182]

I love your blender videos! Huge fan

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

Thank you so much! More on the way be sure to subscribe!

[@bronwyn2nd]

This is very helpful, thanks my dude

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

Glad to hear it thanks for writing!

[@carlosleo4485]

The smooth trick, the amount of time this would have saved if i'd known

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

Right!? It's a real power saver depending on how close you are to object you can get away with a lot of lower poly shapes.

[@eliascgi]

I didn't know about first technic with spin tool! Thanks!

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

Thanks for watching! Be sure to check out part 2! kzbin.info/www/bejne/Zmaai5uEqrN5bcU

[@robestey5628]

Great video and great instructions. Thank you. I have subscribed.

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

Thanks! What would you like to see more of on my channel?

[@crashoverwrite5196]

best video! absolutly great

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

Thank you!! Check out part 3 it's got some gems in it too and a compositing trick that can do wonders to renders.

[@fragma81]

I want to share tip too..tip from me: use empty (for mirror, array (include circular) etc etc...). Make it a parent. So we can move it..scale it etc etc..the children will follow. Non destructive. Empty is powerful feature. Love all your videos. Thank you. Cheers!

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

Thanks! Yea that's a great trick for abstract stuff and fun animations. I'll make a modifier video soon and be sure to include that.

[@film8ker]

Awesome. Thank you for the tutorial.

[@adrianconete1864]

Very useful video, thanks!

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

Thanks for watching and enjoying it.

[@spencershade5070]

thank you need these kind of tutorials! week 2 in blender :)

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

Great to hear! That's exciting. Check out my other videos like intro to Blender 2.8 and how to make a lightsaber. Great for beginners. Any questions just ask.

[@spencershade5070]

@@DanielGrovePhoto will do ty

[@DanRickmanMedia]

Great video, any tips regarding larger bends on the pipes to add a bit more variation to a complex pipe over constant tight 90 degree bends.

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

Well they don't have to be 90° and moving the 3d cursor farther away will make the bend radius larger.

[@ZEDCorbett]

You could also use curves to create pipes.

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

@@ZEDCorbett True you can and they are handy but there are some downsides to it. 1. If you use curves in 2D mode all pipes must be on the same plane such as X and Y, no Z for example. 2. If you use curves in 3D mode there is an odd pinching effect near the bends if in vector joint mode for harsh angles like 45 and 90 degree turns. I have not yet found how to avoid this pinching. I hope someone has and can help me! 3. If you use either mode you can't add rings, width changes etc. to add character and style to the pipes. There is a way to use another curve to change the thickness of the main curve but it's a hastle. But with some cleverness use curves mixed with mesh objects for joints and other style pieces for a good outcome.

[@EdKidgell]

@@DanielGrovePhoto You can use the Add Pipes addon - ships with Blender, just select it in Preferences

[@lucasmantovani3400]

Awesome video, thanks mate

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

Thank you! Check out part 2 and 3 too!

[@creativekamhako6179]

This is very awesome video. You earned my subscription 👌

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

Thanks!

[@Michael57Coghill]

Awsome tips great help to me as I continue down the road to learning Blender...Thank you, Daniel.

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

Great to hear thank you!

[@darrenberkey7017]

8:50 - Extruding is one cool thing you can do at this point, but I sometimes will scale out those inset faces instead of extruding, which will give them a tapered look. All personal preference, of course.

[@hichamwarryor3547]

Nice work

[@tresdimatop8603]

Nice tips man!

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

Thanks! How did you find it?

[@blenderbd2410]

This is so cool thank you for this video..❤️

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

Thanks! Check out part 2 and my other blender videos. Lots of gems there and some free downloads. I have some awesome and cheap kitbashes and materials as well if you google Daniel Grove Designs I'm on gumroad and blendermarket.

[@unnero1]

This is really cool

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

Thank you! Part 2 is in the works!

[@ZEDCorbett]

Checkered deselect is also useful for gears.

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

I did that once by accident lol. How is it done?

[@criddycriddy]

Great paced learning highly enjoyable cheers new sub for sure

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

Thank you very much! How did you find me and what would you like to see more of?

[@criddycriddy]

@@DanielGrovePhoto I am a photographer, musician, 3d modeler (all for hobbies not work) and searched for 'blender photography hard surface' and your thumbnail stood out so I watched, I was a technology teacher myself until redundancy came along and found your production and teaching style top notch, you can certainly go far on this here platform I think. I would like to see more hard surface stuff if possible and also Animation if you are into that side of things. By the way an absolutely amazing new plugin I found yesterday is the 'Cad style precision movement' kzbin.info/www/bejne/rJnQkJVjjruXgZY - precision snapping at last, It has changed my whole creation method, its a free or donation plug in at the moment, thanks again pal ... cheers

[@TheHighpotinuse]

If you are looking to make a car air filter, I made one on accident yesterday messing with the spin tool. All you do is spin a cube a bunch of times and it will make a cylinder with the edges of the cubes being the outside face.

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

That is a good way to make that shape! I'd prefer though to make a cylinder with maybe 64-120 vertices, select all the outward facing faces, do an individual inset on all faces at once, and then extrude inward and bevel those new edges. May need a top and bottom cap shape to complete it.

[@shipster9085]

In order to use the mirror modifier you could use the "automirror" add on (comes with blender). Activate it, and in edit mode press N to get the menu. Click on "edit" and automirror. It will split the geometry for you, adds a mirror modifier and activates clipping. Next up: for the rings around your cylinder use "extrude around normals": select the faces and press alt-E. Then extrude along normals. Saves you time there.

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

Awesome trick thank you! I've often thought "why do I have to do these steps myself over and over? I wish there were an addon!"

[@snoke_iv5419]

Some helpful stuff thank you.

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

Thanks! What would you like to see me cover next?

[@snoke_iv5419]

@@DanielGrovePhoto Booleans would be a good one I think...

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

@@snoke_iv5419 thanks!

[@damaryusuf1624]

thank you, Sir, this video tells me that my whole life was such a primitive.

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

Haha yep.

[@pelecyphora1]

Handy,fun info.

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

Thanks for watching! Be sure to check out part 2! kzbin.info/www/bejne/Zmaai5uEqrN5bcU

[@ХареКришнаПсков]

very nice and good. Thank you.

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

Thanks for watching! Be sure to check out part 2! kzbin.info/www/bejne/Zmaai5uEqrN5bcU

[@JohnGetchel]

Great stuff! Keep 'em comin!

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

Thanks! Any suggestions for future videos?

[@JohnGetchel]

@@DanielGrovePhoto I'm the same guy from fb. Sadly no....

[@shishir0kumar]

Can you make any videos for people who r somewhat familiar to blender regarding hard surface modelling

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

Will do!

[@elijahsmall5873]

For the animation without a rig, can I create an animation and export the animation to unity without a rig? And another question, since the pieces are all separated does that mean when I export, my model will come in pieces?

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

I don't have any experience with unity sorry. But maybe the object data could still be used. And yes it will export as separate meshes unless you join them.

[@elijahsmall5873]

@@DanielGrovePhoto Oh ok. Thanks for answering my question :)

[@yves_jotres]

13:34 alt+D but don't press enter immediately, press r and then z immediately instead then press enter, press Shift+R to re do the alt+d and rotation thing, u can spam shift R

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

Thank you for clarifying that, I learn it after the video. Ooops!

[@CelestialxPanda]

Can you use this instead of catia, autocad and pro E? For modeling?

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

I'm not familiar with those programs so I guess I'd have to ask what is your end goal? What are you trying to achieve and what features make those programs so good? But Blender is definitely a versatile modeling program.

[@roytrembath]

Awesome! Thank you.

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

You're welcome! What kind of videos would you like to see in the future?

[@coreys2686]

there's an included addon called "auto mirror" that automates the mirroring process you can use an array modifier to make a bunch bolts on a flange or something, so you can move them around after the fact.

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

I discovered it not long after this video publishing and I use it all the time now!!

[@pattyluss]

I love your intro so much!

[@dhaloh]

Now I will never have to suffer making pipes or arches lmao

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

Glad to hear the video helped! Check out the others on hard surface and hallway modeling they have some cool tricks in them too.

[@Thatsmahnut]

If you want more organic pipes or tubes you can just use curves and use a thickness

[@ChristinaMcKay]

@@Thatsmahnut agree and that also works for the pipes he shows. And indeed it is much quicker, more flexible when it comes to the shape of the pipes (make them longer, add corners etc) and of course the profile. Not only can you use the curve geometry options but also other curves as profile, which you can change very easily. Pipes, ceiling molding, beams or picture frames, all made very easy and quick with curves.

[@mirhammendoza]

That was fun! But I have a question, whenever I extrude, right click to cancel and scale (like inset) then extrude, my bevel modifier when added does not work.

[@anophyte]

Try disabling clamp overlap in modifier settings (though it may cause artifacts) and be sure to apply scale in object mode

[@maciejklasa6783]

Great video, thank you for sharing. Needs more moths though. They add realism to everything... ;)

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

haha. SPACE MOTHS!

[@darthplagueistheaverage2708]

> 3650 faces >" low poly" :)))))) great video man I learned so many useful stuff... was just about to look up how to pipes.

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

Thanks for watching! Be sure to check out part 2! kzbin.info/www/bejne/Zmaai5uEqrN5bcU

[@rotce07]

Very well done. I subscribed for more

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

Thanks for watching! Be sure to check out part 2! kzbin.info/www/bejne/Zmaai5uEqrN5bcU

[@DiggoryJiggory]

13:25 shouldn't Shift + R be faster than this?

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

Yes but it only repeats the single previous key press. I think I learned that I don't have to press enter inbetween certain key commands though so you're right. If I did ALT+D R Z 60 without enter inbetween the D and R I can then use Shift R to repeat it multiple times. I guess I was being too proper haha but lesson learned from another commenter.

[@DiggoryJiggory]

@@DanielGrovePhoto haha no worries, thanks for the response! Also thanks for the great tips, can't wait to get home and try these out!

[@jochem_m]

For the flat panel with depth, there's an easier and I think better way. When you bevel and delete faces, you end up with gaps that light might leak through, or that you might be able to see through at some camera angles, which I don't think is what you want for most panels. Instead, select the edges like in the example, then hit V. It'll rip the selected faces, but keep them in place. The three parts of the plane will be touching, but not connected. Then, add the solidify modifier for your desired thickness, and after that add the bevel modifier, and play with the distance and number of segments. That bevel modifier will pull the edges apart near the surface, but leave them touching lower down so you get that well fitted panel look, without being able to see through the gaps. You can use the shade smooth + autosmooth trick from earlier to keep the number of segments on your bevel lower, without the edges looking sharp too!

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

Thanks that is a great tip and I've never learned rip. When I have tried it didn't work so I've just avoided it. Thanks again.

[@EeVeE3D]

Great tips.. Thank you... 👍

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

Thanks!

[@talat2k4]

Did you model this spaceship in the thumbnail?

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

I did! My first covid lock down project.

[@talat2k4]

@@DanielGrovePhoto Can you make a tutorial to make something like that spaceship?

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

Sure! I've been brain storming how I could make one.

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

Hope you enjoyed the new video! :D

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

If I can embed the texture files in the Blend file and it not be super huge I'll make it available for download.

[@ulus2109]

Does the auto smooth keeps its smoothness when exported to something like substance painter ?

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

I'm not sure sorry! I don't use SP.

[@EdKidgell]

As far as I know it doesn’t. You have to use subsurf modifier + edge split (I think), apply the modifiers then export.

[@thomandy]

Oh wow, I wish I knew that first trick when I spent 2 hours making a drain pipe for a house back in Des... :)

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

Now there's a number of free geometry node pipe makers that make the process even better! You can also use bezier curves too.

[@thomandy]

@@DanielGrovePhoto I see. I havent jumped on geo nodes yet, just starting to understand the basics of shaders. Ill look into it, thanks.

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

@@thomandy I don't plan on actually learning geonodes. They are very complex and a whole new language. I've finally wrapped my head around texture nodes and starting to get vector/math nodes. I just don't have the time to invest in geonodes unfortunately with all that I do professionally. But thankfully many generous creators have made setups that are easy to use and play with. I suggest looking on github for the free ones.

[@thomandy]

@@DanielGrovePhoto Ah, nice, Ill look into it. Yeah, blender for sure has a huge and generous community!:)

[@Cyber_Kriss]

I thumbed up for your nice "voilà" at 03:15

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

Haha that's about the extent of my French.

[@AuxenceF]

first day of blender : cool, there are on screen buttons, i won't need to learn all of these shortcuts after a year : i still don't know where the shortcut are but my hands do (also when you ctrl + r, you can press esc instead of enter to not take your mouse movements into account)

[@kalebsmith4746]

Thought I'd mention you can right click off the object too.

[@professordeb]

Very helpful! Thank you!

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

Thanks!

[@trangthao8705]

❤❤❤ nice

[@ethanael_yovan]

another method to making pipes is using curves, that way making 90 degree turns are easier, then just add geometry, convert to mesh and start extruding bits

[@Abmotsad]

NICE!

[@DanielGrovePhoto]

Thanks! How did you find my channel?