Modeling WITHOUT subdivision surfaces!

In this tutorial, we model the SSD object using direct polygon modeling approaches. This means you model the actual polygons you render with, no subdivision needed. This has some advantages, including the use of n-gons for complex regions, and lighter polygon counts.
A precursor to this video is here, where the same model is done using subdivision surfaces: • Use EDGE CREASING for ...
You can see a lighting tutorial for this object here. • Using the 3D Cursor to...
#knifetool #bevel #knifeproject #ngons
00:00 Introduction
02:54 Starting the model
05:55 The primary body bevels
08:42 Bevel shape adjustment
09:19 Doing the corner inset design
13:30 Creating the corner main n-gon
14:10 Creating the raised body region
16:05 Using a Nurbs Curve
19:45 Using the Knife Project function
23:17 Using Bridge Edge loops for contour reconstruction
26:35 Using the Shrink/Fatten tool

[@Isaac862]

This is the highest quality/most professional blender channel on KZbin. The fact that it is free and doesn’t have more subscribers boggles the mind. Thanks for putting this stuff out there. These are the kind of tutorials that make you rethink your whole workflow, not just some cool random trick for one specific scenario.

[@MarcoCapelli74]

You can literally feel the huge amount of his experience flowing out from the vid. I pushed the "subscribe" button from the first 30 seconds. Please keep up this amazing work.

[@eesates]

There is no word to explain the quality of your videos. It's a joy to watch and learn the fundamentals of the modeling. Thank you, Christopher!

[@Rollthered]

You're like the Bob Ross of Blender! Loved every minute of this video, I thought I was the only one who did this method but was pleasantly surprised to see you discuss it! Thank you for spreading your knowledge! I hope this reply gives you a smile and is worth your while! :)

[@root0062]

Beveling between boundaries to preserve quads. Thank you sensei

[@notimportant7682]

this video has cured both my fear of ngons and insetting with curved corners

[@KLOPTAKS]

INSANELY INFORMATIVE !!!!!!!!! I LEARNED SOO MUCH FROM ONLYY THIS VIDEO ALONE !!SUBSRIBED TO YOUR CHANNEL

[@matslarsson5988]

Your professionalism is motivating myself to raise the bar for myself. Instant sub!

[@XiDingArt]

this high precision modelling approach is totally new for me and it is so satisfying to watch!

[@CurioCA1050]

It shows you love the medium and the troubleshooting. And, it has to be said that you are really good at teaching. Great job with the tutorials and the visual deliverables you’ve been creating.

[@ef2000123456789]

As soon as I saw the light theme and orthographic view, I knew that this guy has been around the block

[@ramiths8171]

Wow! Just a treasure trove of info in here. Never really thought i could use ngons this way in models. I have been using subdivision for all my models which really unnecessary bloats the poly count. Really useful for static assets. Dont know why you dont have more subs and views. Some of the stuff you teach goes to the most fundamental aspects of 3d and modelling techniques, and also intricate usage of blender tools. This is the stuff people need to learn.

[@hekero]

One of the best tutorials

[@MichaelPallazola]

I gasped out loud when you said "4 inches" and saw that you are working in Imperial, still a great video!!! 👍

[@christopher3d475]

:-) That's ok, I know Imperial is incomprehensible to those who use the logic of metric.

[@MrShkiperov]

The video is really useful. Thank you for your work. But the strong side of "Subdivision" modificator, that it's non-destructive. So, it makes some future updates easier. If you build direct grid and you need to make some kind of changes in angles or lengths, you would have to recreate curvatures from scratch. So methods of work should be corresponded to tasks.

[@Nicola5]

Great! Thank you for share your knowledge in video!

[@Skiggles]

Just subscribed and I agree with previous comments. This is how it should be done rather than with buggy addons and lazy modeling like most of the "tutorials" you find on Blender.

[@marcogalli4562]

Awesome! It can be used in many ways, I model stylized hard surface assets for videogames, and by using this workflow (maybe with less geo) paired with weighted normals and ue5, it easily gives a very clean and nice look.

[@christopher3d475]

Yes, I definitely used heavier geometry than you'd want to use for a game asset, moreso for high res rendering.

[@matsy7450]

Thank you so much for this, and the other videos. I prefer subd. It gives me more of a feeling of being less caged between vertices and edges. However things in modeling will change more and more strongly and quite quickly in the future. Plasticity is setting a new standard. A mixture of nurbs-polygons extremely effective for hardusurface modeling. The Blender ConjureSDF addon (and all other SDF-based addons and software that will follow) may become the best workflow to replace subdivision surface in the coming years. Everything that is slow and tiring, if there are valid alternatives, is destined to disappear or shrink. IMHO, we are about at the beginning of this change.

[@christopher3d475]

Yeah, it's what I usually use also.

[@BoyceBailey]

Think I just did a PHD in some setting.. Thank you for these.

[@ZZWWYZ]

Coming from Plasticity, this video really made it click how similar direct modeling to it

[@Erik-pt2yw]

for someone who came to 3D from CAD, this method looks more obvious and logical lol. never thought that a lot of people prefer subdiv method better, until I read the comments

[@christopher3d475]

Yeah, it's just a different way of approaching a solution. Not right or wrong, just different.

[@Satanic_Disciple]

I NEED to know what theme this is! It looks so amazing. Edit: Found it.

[@christopher3d475]

Blender Light theme, it's an easy change in the Preferences. I don't usually record with it because a lot of people complain about it, but I really like it.

[@Satanic_Disciple]

@@christopher3d475 nope I really like it. I found it after looking in the 4.0 themes. Thanks! Loved the tutorial although Some of what you say didn't actually work. I wonder if there are setting differences, or if its a platform thing since I believe you are on a Mac.

[@tuna98khan]

Can you do a sei on topology techniques in subd modeling? For example, a series of short videos on product designs?

[@christianivaha5057]

Great tutorial! Great teacher! I am fairly new to 3D modelling. Very novice. A question you must get all the time: Which one is better, modelling with or without subsurface modelling? Or is it just down to style and preferences, as long as there are no deformities when using MatCaps? I suspect I've just answered my own question... Any pointers are much appreciated on this. Thank you very much!

[@TruthSurge]

I think this tutorial can be summarized as only subdivide the areas you need. You still subdivided with the bevel tool. But it also depends on the final use. If you plan on doing a bend deformation then you're gonna need those extra subdivisions In the flat areas If that's just a table top or something in a static image That doesn't need any more Modeling, then That will work. Good reminder to try and always stay low poly if possible. Waste not.... want not.

[@christopher3d475]

Yes, you this approach isn't good if you need to deform the object.

[@Paaaull]

As a game asset creator this video is nightmare fuel

[@TruthSurge]

Just revisiting this.... wouldn't it be great to have a Blender add-on that removed unnecessary quads? Just model how you need to for speed, then hit a button, boom, it just removes all those quads that are coplanar and maybe others it can remove for some reason. Then you have a lot less tinkering with vertices and manually doing things. I don't know. Just wondering maybe the quad remesher or remesh tools in BLender would do that. thx

[@christopher3d475]

The challenge with that is making it smart enough to not remove boundary quads needed for proper topology. But could be useful.

[@TruthSurge]

@christopher3d475 Yeah that probably would be a large chunk of code to do that properly if At all. I see tons of videos on retopology. Sometimes I feel lucky if I can just get any topology to work :)

[@cekuhnen]

If bevel modifier could use edge selections … it would be so much easier

[@danialsoozani]

IDK if it was sarcastic or not, but there is an option for that. bevel weight.

[@christopher3d475]

The Bevel modifier does this through vertex selections. The problem with using it on something more complex like this model is that it doesn't give you access to the generated geometry for subsequent operations. Meaning you can't do a non-destructive nested workflow, at least to my knowledge.

[@cekuhnen]

@@christopher3d475 the issue with the vertex selection is how this often gets in your way. Well blender is a poly modeler not a parametric cad app.

[@christopher3d475]

@@cekuhnen Yes, but some polygon modelers like Modo have a non-destructive modeling workflow that would allow this to be modeled using a modifier stack. That's something that would be a good addition to Blender in the future.

[@dagobject]

I feel like if you're not going to use subd you better off using something like Moi or Plasticity. Polycount is not that much of an issue really unless you are doing some adaptive displacement or intense scattering. Textures are way more expensive in terms of memory. And you can always make some render proxies.

[@christopher3d475]

This was just a modeling exercise to show people they can think differently about modeling given a particular model. And yes, a Nurbs modeler is definitely better for some things. I own MOI and also use it.

[@dagobject]

You should definitely check Plasticity out, it's great. It's ui is similar to blender and it can do fillets that Moi can't.

[@BlenderWeapons]

No está mal considerar los problemas que hay en el perfil que generan las subdivisiones usando el Subdivision surface, pero este método no es nada efectivo si planeas trabajar de forma no destructiva, para obtener el mismo resultado, lo mismo se puede lograr usando el modificador de Bevel para los biselados y un modificador de WeightedNormal, obtendrías el mismo resultado con muchos menos polígonos.

[@SheepUndefined]

Haha, your theme kind of made me double take at first. Thought I had clicked a video on the older versions of blender for a second.

[@christopher3d475]

I often use it for recording tutorials dealing with modeling and curves because they show up way better in the light theme. The dark theme it can be very difficult to see some elements.

[@DrTheRich]

Why not use the Harden Normals function of the bevel operator, instead of adding extra boundary cuts? Because that's what it's for...

[@DrTheRich]

Nevermind i just saw your hardened normals video

[@christopher3d475]

No worries. Yeah, hardened normals can cause more problems than it's worth. That's why I use a more classical approach with boundary loops.@@DrTheRich

[@DrTheRich]

@@christopher3d475 I basically only model with bevel modifiers and hardened normals. But then again, most hard surface modeling I doesn't have complex shapes but lot's of different parts. So there is more benefit for me having a fast automatic method, instead of a presize one. My only frustration is that when using the bevel modifier with weights instead of angles, the auto-normal doesn't match up with the manual weighted edges, and the bevel modifier doesn't care about sharp edge markings.

[@shaderbytes]

ive never seen someone with experience in their DCC modeling software still using the menus and UI so much, really, like never. I cant understand why you whould not just use shortcut keys by now? anyway great job on your model although I would personally try to use a bevel edge modifier with bevel weights much more because its not destructive and easier to tweak. Also in most cases makes unwrapping UVs simpler.

[@christopher3d475]

It's by design. When you do tutorials you have to gear them to people learning and constantly using hot keys and flying through processes just looses people who are trying to learn.

[@wjbiii]

I watched this the way that some people watch sports: cheering play-by-play.

[@bitlong4669]

And the best thing is he doesn’t try to push some ridiculously overpriced add ons like some other hard surface tubers.

[@sultanthe2nd]

8:05 Just press the "./delete" key on the numpad. No more going🥜

[@christopher3d475]

I recorded it on a laptop where numpad keys don't work, but I could have done a fit to selected for sure.

[@lerandsouza8641]

Why there are triangle even if you don't have

[@christopher3d475]

I'm not sure I understand your question.

[@lerandsouza8641]

@1:33 under statistics why it shows triangles as you don't have any😊​@@christopher3d475

[@filthygarbage]

@@lerandsouza8641 because all quads are actually triangles. so when you select a quad it shows 2 triangles

[@tormint5294]

​​​@@christopher3d475I think they are talking about statistics showing a triangle count, despite the model consisting of square faces. Maybe there's confusion with the fact that every face, on a model that's made up of square faces, consists of 2 triangles each.

[@christopher3d475]

@@tormint5294 In fact you're right, I misread their comment. At render time all polygons are broken down to triangles, which is why that statistic is shown.

[@TruthSurge]

Ian McGlasham isnt goint to like this vid. ;)

[@mrdixioner]

You have inaccurate knowledge of subdivision surfaces. Firstly, smoothing one corner is done only for small radii, and for large, such corners, more are needed, so first a chamfer is made from more than one value, and only then it is smoothed. Secondly, direct modeling significantly exceeds the volume of the subdivision surface, and therefore the file size is huge. I don't see the point in this method.

[@christopher3d475]

You could always look at some examples of my mechanical modeling, on my website, and tell me if I have an 'inaccurate' knowledge of subdivision surfaces. 100% of the renders on my website are modeled by me, the majority using mostly subdivision surfaces. christopher-tyler.squarespace.com/mechanical-items-1

[@satglob4839]

@@christopher3d475 You are a great teacher and I personally learned a lot from you and the method of explanation is excellent. Everyone can benefit very easily from the method of explanation. I wish you to continue in this work. I am grateful to you for this work. Continue and do not stop. We need you to continue.

[@Dhruv1223]

well this takes far less time, and when you're in a production workflow for advertising you're given very tight deadlines, in such times poly counts dont matter, as long as it looks fine it works. You cant be spending 3 days perfectly making a model when you have to give final renders within a week.

[@eznosnopes5276]

This guy just said Chris has an inaccurate knowledge of SDS 😂. He’s a bit of a legend on 3D forums.