Simple & easy hard surface box practice in Blender!

In this video, we'll model a simple box and discuss design considerations in hard surface modeling.
►► Our Blender courses & resources - www.blenderbros.com
Hard Ops/Boxcutter (affiliate): gumroad.com/a/811037811
Website - www.blenderbros.com
Gumroad - gumroad.com/theblenderbros
Socials - linktr.ee/joshgambrell
Discord - / discord
Biz inquiries - [e-mail]

[@JoshGambrell]

➤ Check out our FREE SciFi Terminal Design mini-course (Hard Ops/Boxcutter workflow): www.blenderbros.com/scifi-terminal-design-mini-course

[@enochweaver6289]

Hey, it looks like you accidentally blocked your screencast keys with your video overlay lol. If you haven’t already corrected that you might want to start moving the overlay to the opposite corner or something

[@simonlewis3685]

I’ve been using blender for almost a decade now, but never did that much modeling. Very helpful tutorial, lots of good advice. I do however sorely wish we could see what keys you’re pressing.

[@xnajx]

The first time I tried to do this I followed along without using any addons. Lasted roughly 30mins before giving up and purchasing hardops/boxcutter. That was several months ago, and have since been using Blender everyday and really enjoying it, compared to struggling to understand how to use it for years and always giving up. These addons, along with machin3tools, and meshmachine, for me are priceless as they kept me interested instead of giving up again. Appreciate your videos. I have said it before but it needs to be said so others might go down the same path.

[@psylimusic]

I'm absolutely addicted to your channel. Such quality content all of them and a great way to learn for a beginner as me (or I suppose to anyone). Can't wait to finish my actual course and after that start the Blender Bros course, I'm really excited about that. Thanks Josh and take care! ❤

[@JoshGambrell]

Have fun man! Thanks for the support

[@daris5089]

@@JoshGambrell a question.... well mine when i add booleans on already mirrored or booleaned objects just cancels the last move. what to do man??

[@daris5089]

really good of you to say that whether you are a beginner or a professional... i don't care. you really push us to give our best. loved this

[@__Alo__]

THANK YOU JOSH, I really appreciate that you explain what things are actually doing e.g that a reverse bevel is just flipping the normals. Because of that I was able to do a reverse bevel without the addons.

[@justjarryd]

Great video! I was struggling with HardOps and have a much larger step by step tutorial you create but I feel this was the video where things just clicked! Thank you.

[@BigMic69]

9:50 was what I needed for something real quick. But instead of making a full circle cut in the middle, I brought the segments down to 6 for a flat hex head type of screw.

[@b-wall7527]

Nice Modeling Practice. Thanks Josh!

[@socrates112]

Love that. Great tutorial, Josh.

[@alhdlakhfdqw]

thank you very much for your great videos josh enjoy them alot! :)

[@AEixilimar]

"let me turn on this so you can see what im doing" puts face came over the area

[@JoshGambrell]

yea i fucked up there... this addon is god awful though. Turns off randomly, displaces its position without me noticing. Still waiting for someone to make a paid version that works properly to remove this issue.

[@MarcinPetruszka]

@@JoshGambrell well, as nice as it is to see you're face... There's not much going on... So maybe just turn off your camera once in a while. Nothing personal.

[@alexmartin9734]

Thanks for this, your tutorials are a HUGE help!

[@JoshGambrell]

Happy it helps :)

[@sinaosmani730]

Always somthing to learn...noted and thanks by the way man🙌

[@haoxiangwang48]

hey man video was great. only suggestion is i think your video is covering up the keyboard shortcuts visual. that made it a little hard to follow. Cheers!

[@Ryan3D_Games]

Cheers for the vids just wondering is the free game asset handle tutorial still up bc I can't find it

[@androidtest9205]

Dear i have always a problem with the Ngon cutter when I use this by object view it draw always upside of the object the finally it will be small and not in a desirable location that I want please will you help me regrading this

[@lofiled8970]

What about importing midi files because most midis freezes my program. What can I do about it? I'm using soft soft Bundle Pack by

[@sirkitcatpoopthery3832]

Nice screencast keys very helpful

[@artofasheer2836]

do i need hardops and boxcutter to follow this tutorial?

[@user-by2sz8iu4t]

Thank you, man!

[@Monster01D]

i have question,how to make this default cube has bevel edges?on 0:33 the edges are already beveled,but I noticed there's no bevel modfier applied.

[@theslicefactor4590]

That's the cavity feature. Look up Imphenzia, he explains it in his learning low poly modelling video.

[@Nuttoz]

Wow!! Thanks.

[@MSvisuals999]

in rendered viwe none of my buttons are visible any idea why that might be?

[@Myname-il9vd]

8:40 what key did you press to do that?

[@bardeeaaaa]

these are awesome Josh! Do you think you could do or recommend tutorials on how to texture these objects? They're so intricate, I have a hard time with it

[@saraimarte]

I second this.

[@red4666]

Niice .. really cool. Can you do a video where you model a complex shape from a reference photo? Sometimes I feel like I make random shapes because I know I can make them, rather than in an actual production studio setting where I'm either given concept art or a reference image of a real-life mechanical thing. Your tutorials help me out a lot. Thanks!

[@trovegaming3960]

At 3:55 when I use the Inset Boolean, the original shape which I cut just comes back - so it looks as though nothing has been done. Does anyone know why this happens is there a way to change the strength of the inset?

[@KhoPhi]

Having the same issue. Mine does the same. If the screencast was showing, perhaps we could have seen the commands, but the screencast is covered by his video.

[@sahalayamon]

Such a legend you are 😍😍😍😍😍

[@BabaG_69]

Hey Josh, Love your Videos I tried to use the reverse Bevel like you did at 8:25. But it didnt work for me its just glitching out weirdly. First i thought maybe the scale was too small but that wasnt the case. I hope you or somebody here can Help me.

[@pocketwatch6424]

I was having trouble with this as well haha. Make sure you go into face mode and select the upper face and then apply the bevel, if you apply it to all the faces it will glitch out completely. Hope it helps :)

[@adeq_productions]

Thanks a lot man

[@ninesixkiddo]

Everytime I use the boxcutter Ngon and doble click it to extrude or tab, it cancels the operation. What might be the problem?

[@adamszalai2673]

At 10:06 there is a mention to press shift+2 that hide cutter collection, but shift 2 doesn't do anything to me. Is there a way to setup that hotkey? I can't find that feature anywhere

[@lamski3286]

in case you still need the answer, Shift 1, 2, 3 etc controls the visibility of the collection in your scene collection inside the Outlier panel, since the Cutters collection is in 2nd order, shift 2 will trigger the visibility setting for the cutters collection. Most importantly, those hotkeys will only work in Object Mode.

[@hawwer470]

Is it possible then to bake it on normal map?

[@sarkishelvajian937]

Thanks for the techniques. Pay attention to the screencast for next time.

[@JoshGambrell]

Thanks (and also my mistake), but this addon is severely broken. Turns off randomly, disabled by default, and displaces its position as I'm working constantly when I don't have my eye on the actual keys. Unfortunately there isn't any other alternative out there yet, free or paid.

[@sarkishelvajian937]

@@JoshGambrell I know, when I press caps lock it turns off as well. Blender should implement screencast natively.

[@MatthewKressel]

Great video as usual. Thank you! Quick question: how do you get the ngon cutter to begin right on the surface of the object? Every time I do it, the cutter begins a good distance from the object. Usually, I can work around this distance, but sometimes it's really far away. Is there a setting in BoxCutter somewhere that controls this? Thanks!

[@JoshGambrell]

Yup, just turn on object align instead of view align

[@MatthewKressel]

@@JoshGambrell Thanks. Turns out it was a bug in BoxCutter. I updated to the latest version and the issue vanished.

[@bludbafMcgraf]

How did yo u"Select an area" at 3:55? Its highlighted in green. Ive never seen this before

[@antillais]

did you add a (HOps) mirror or something @ around the 5:00 ?

[@catatonicbeef]

What add-ons do you use?

[@darrenberkey7017]

Why does it look like your default cube has bevel applied right from the start?

[@ticoelephant664]

Cavity

[@externaldesign7163]

Hard surface modeling is awesome

[@emmettbeech5441]

At around 2:30 I use ctrl + to select the inside of the box, and then use Curve/Extract. I only create a sort of lip around the inside. I don't get the sides or the bottom, but I know they are selected.

[@yiluo2623]

Did you press Shift before you click?

[@rufatbayramov9893]

@@yiluo2623 agree, clicking shift before clicking solves this

[@foureljordi1590]

Thanks you very much for the amazing tutorial, i was just wondering if i am the only one having topology issues with the inset boleen function ( ref 3:55) ? the edges

[@valdoltra]

Man this is awesome. I just finished the jumpstart course and I am expanding the scene (tagged you on FB). I learned so much through this video by trial and error. However I am stuck now at 12:11 because Smart Apply does not create two separate objects. It creates the latch but it is not slicing the cube. I checked your other video and I don't have any duplicates. If I apply the modifier by CTR+A or use Apply in modifiers tab. It works. Any ideas?

[@Somplay.]

Hello Josh i recently purchase Hards OPS and BoxCutter in last sale I have question when i use operation curve extract mine object shape is different in compare of video shape Wish i could post a screen shot of mine here. But mine shape is kind like curvy not sharpen like i saw in video

[@daredanny]

Heeey Josh , video is just awesome tnx u , have one question , how did u do edge lines white ? or it cuz bevel modifier ?

[@amoebajoe]

check the 'cavity' box in the viewport shading dropdown menu

[@Technosupportdriversolution]

good tutorial

[@hogoromootsutsuki4079]

i got hard ops and box cutter from the blender market place. I hope those are up to date

[@hamidtehrani9919]

Your video has covered the short key display section

[@Fabi0laa]

I can't get this bevel @8:22 to work. I don't know why?

[@aerlynx]

Thank you!do you recommend beginners get the hardops and box cutter add ons?

[@JoshGambrell]

I’d recommend learning vanilla methods first, then when you are comfortable to get them.

[@aerlynx]

@@JoshGambrell awesome will do, thanks!

[@zofo264]

I love to watch these practice vids. This looks like a trash can you would see on Mars or something ;)

[@DNievski]

Is it absolutely hard op cutter is that box cutter only enough? why not put the screen key?

[@user-op2gj6kb6i]

Okay okay i`ll buy it

[@androidtest9205]

i cant do reverse bevel plz help me i have Hops 0.9.86

[@reesehanson3336]

Hey man! I'm not sure if you noticed, but your face cam covers part of the area where your screen cast buttons are. I'm trying to figure out how you got to the "sharpen" menu at about 1:06

[@elfincredible9002]

Me too, did you get a solution?

[@dethmate3395]

When I use bevel there are a ton of shading issues. How could I fix these issues?

[@peko1967]

play with sharpness level in boxcutter menu...you may need to lower the sharpness angle minimum

[@damianolandi5003]

dude goes so fast that, after watchig twice, I am still at the basic cube . . .

[@bernhard.design]

is the curve extract part of some plugin?

[@peko1967]

yes hard ops

[@dookie7299]

@@peko1967 I hate videos with add ons cause I never can figure out where to install them/

[@raymondstpaul4913]

Am new to Blender can you please show me what keys you are using?

[@rlentzification]

The video of you is in front of screen casting so maybe be on other side in future videos Thanks for your hard work given freely to us.

[@ToadieBog]

Thank you for the video, however I'll just say I stopped without getting very far in. You quickly went through actions, no keyboard/mouse indications as to what you were pressing to make things happen. I guess the video is more for people who know their way very much around blender already.

[@KhoPhi]

Same here. Couldn't continue after couldn't realize what keys were being pressed

[@djC653]

I did'nt continue due to him using paid addons that I can't afford. He did turn on Screencast keys to show what he's pressing but I think they might of been behind his face or were not working right.

[@Satabol]

Thank you. Very nice tutorial. In 14:55 you stick in inset operation. I got this at first inset. I realize that inset use a copy of main object with applied modifiers and this may be a source of glitch: inset use solidify modifier for complex objects and get wrong result. If you show inset subobject in cutters you can see very strange results. To escape/minimize this glitch disable maximum unused modifiers in object stack before inset (boolean holes/cliffs as example, mirrors may be too) then do inset with solidify and turn modifiers on after inset. Additionally I have bevel as last modifier and disable it before inset. After inset/solidify bevel got upper inset and I move bevel modifier down manually.

[@Dimplesapplepie]

Very nice tutorial, just a suggestion activate the tool to see what do you press on your keyboard or mouse. Because sometimes I just don't get it, Ty !

[@nomimi1603]

8:24 select the face, hold ctrl click on mark

[@BCMSi]

I've got an off-topic blender question and don't know where else to ask - Is blenders world scale really small? I've noticed when you download meshes from cgTrader or wherever they are gigantic when you first import them; and same thing if I export an After Effects camera solve to blender, the movement of that camera looks as if it's been scaled up by 400x or something. Not that it really makes a difference in the long run, just curious

[@aviaviavian]

The basic cube here is 1m^3. Many systems arent detailing distance data in terms of that scale, or have a decimal place error somewhere.

[@polyhedralcathedral]

Josh Bruh! I'm new to blender all of a sudden Hard ops and Box cutter stopped working for me properly. Can't bevel select or select anything in object mode or edit mode. When I click the surface of something it automatically goes into rotate mode. Every time. What is going on here? I think this happened when I pressed a button on my wacom drawing tablet. Idk It's weird.

[@JoshGambrell]

No idea. I'd re install it and see if that fixes it

[@polyhedralcathedral]

@@JoshGambrell man dude, yeah all I had to do was reset everything in preferences. Thanks for the replay. I'll have more relevant questions next time.

[@Latvian3Dman]

Hey, thanks, I downloaded from Gumroad (with some mirco-tip), I am exploring threads topic right now :)

[@flameboy_ant]

might be a stupid question, but how do you get those nice brighter edges? is it a matcap?

[@JoshGambrell]

Nope, click dropdown under solid view, and hit ‘Cavity’

[@flameboy_ant]

@@JoshGambrell thanks for the asnwer!

[@KhoPhi]

For anyone confused, the complete steps are (you need the Hard Ops addon) - Press Alt + V - Then check the "Cavity"

[@gregoryhancock6057]

Great stuff, great eye for detail! However, definitely not for the, "So you just downloaded Blender!" student. 1:05 in and I am already Googling how to find basic commands. Great for novice and up, I would say.

[@fashiondestiney2615]

at 3:05 how ? that menu pops up?

[@LT72884]

oh man! as an absolute beginer, this video was so close to helping me.. I think if i rewatch it 5 more times, i might be able to figure it out. Excellent video regardless. ill try and learn some blender. I have two certs in solidworks, preo-e, creo and sketchup pro, but never used blender. Sketchup pro is my absolute favorite. Im not the type of person who says sketchup is better than blender or visa versa. I dont care what people use, as long as the job gets done or your being creative:)

[@JoshGambrell]

You bet! At the end of the day it's down to personal preference, experience and efficiency.

[@repinanatoly1]

3:35 - Hello! What tool is it?

[@sven4627]

Great tutorial! but can't see majority of keys hit on the keyboard.

[@ToaChronix]

3:40 What did you do here??

[@bvc5187]

i follow your step by step until this 3:45 has stopped me for a while, is it add on?

[@XurD_]

What for paid addons did u use in this tut?

[@yassineids5776]

boxcutter and hardops

[@XurD_]

@@yassineids5776 thanks

[@antoniobeorchianigris1694]

I cant understand some tools, like the boolean and de inset in it, but maybe I need some basic tutorial

[@keyofvoid1787]

Not much point to screencast keys if they're hidden behind your cam huh

[@Krimxon_]

I cant curve extract

[@androidtest9205]

I am waiting for answer tell me how to work with the BOx cutter in the proper way as you are?

[@JoshGambrell]

I’d suggest watching masterxeon1001’s update logs for any issues you’re having.

[@stuffedpigz4942]

I can't see any screen keys and I don't know what's going on

[@wasgehtsiedasan3093]

Followed the tutorial until I realized that I needed the hardOps addon

[@Somplay.]

Hi sir i am new in blender and everything goes over my head 😂😂 Coz these all new command i don't know short cut and everything There is nothing like this in blender guru videos

[@Logan0303]

where is sharpen?

[@techforfree1926]

Why does my chamfer not look as sharp as yours? I use Ctrl+Sharpen it just doesn't look as clean.

[@techforfree1926]

I read down in the comments. Viewport shading dropdown > cavity if anyone else see's this.

[@targetisstrong9180]

@@techforfree1926 thanks

[@Inoxia.Ometeotl]

"Hit ^Q^ then sharpen", omg... theres no sharpen options... how do I do that? I searched all the options already i think! Halp....

[@JoshGambrell]

Hard Ops, in description

[@blackswan6386]

hey sir, i started watching all your videos. just one question for this video: how to " curve extract" without having Hardops 2:14 ? I just boght Boxcutter because financial issue, so i dont have Hardops. Thanks Sir you are really great Tutorial Man

[@blackswan6386]

i found it in Mesh> extrude > Manifold ( Alt+E)

[@bye7180]

loved your video but bro why'd u put yourself above the screencast keys 💀

[@heroes1945]

good tutorial, but why u camera cover a helpful shortcuts? i dont know how to use n-gone.

[@quyennguyen5400]

i don't why Hard Ops has not HN in workflow

[@austinjoseph8849]

Does Maya have these features? Don't think so.

[@saidmuhammadfikri6741]

make tutorial modelling sci fi capsule pleasee

[@drew.k2385]

can't see what keys you're pressing

[@trumpeldorf]

what's the point if you're using a non standard tool that user have to buy before and there is nothing about it in the title?

[@perseusp.j8603]

I can't find my curve button at 2:26🥲 Shift click will only move my cursor

[@JDPmonk]

Why do your edges all look like they have bevels on them, even when they don't? Everything has a bit of a bright edge that I don't see when I follow along.

[@peko1967]

matcap shader cavity setting

[@jogibaerr50000]

8:21 - Thats not working for me. The Bevel messes up the object.... Looks terrible....

[@Nizzine]

aw man the screencast keys are behind your webcam screen.

[@Hakaan911]

Its add on based tuto but not specified in the title