Mesh Machine is one of the best Blender investments I have made and it is part of my everyday workflow. Hands down the best mesh tool anyone serious about hard surface modeling can get! Likewise Machine Tools is a fantastic companion!
"It gets a little bit annoying." No, I would say what is annoying is fixing 200 zero face errors, and on the last 2 vertices being merged 6000+ intersect faces appeared on the next check. Thank whoever invented Ctrl-Z. I just wanted to cut out a paw print dang it. Good video, I have heard of this add-on before but was a little outside of my understanding/price. I'll give it another look now. *Edit* Hit enter too soon.
Thanks. I really like it (especially for work with bevels as well). Just so you know zero face errors don't need to be fixed for printing to be successful as it just means the faces are quite small. I think its only there so that if they are really tiny you know that detail might not show up on the print. I regularly print with hundreds (sometimes thousands) and its not an issue at all.
@@ArtisansofVaul Huh, thank you. Bevels are such a pain to clean up I find, especially when near cutouts. That will solve some issues, I mean I will still try to clean them up to slim down the file but not worry as much. One other channel basically made it sound ALL the errors need to be fixed for the best prints. Well, except for overhangs because those are not figured right and can be fixed with supports.
Great video. However I think it's important to explain "why" the additional verts will be a problem for 3D printing if not cleaned up. The mesh will be triangulated when it gets converted to an STL, so why do we need to take these additional steps?
Its a good point. It actually shouldn't cause too many issues at the 3d printing stage (though it will make more triangles than needed and will create smaller faces that can cause issues when they are all meant to be flat. The bigger issue is that it will confuse Blender and could cause errors when doing further work on the object (for example using a Boolean to add an access ramp or stairs up to the landing pad).
What’s the consequence of not cleaning this up. In some super basic and not at all scientific experiments I did, my slicing software was able to deal with this kind of thing, at least in the simple example I tried. Separate question - do you always make sure “intersecting faces” are zero? Again, my slicing software seems to be fine with this not being, but maybe it’s just because of the simple example I used. (I didn’t actually print this example so perhaps this is where the problems materialise 🤷🏽♂️)
All good questions with not the most simple answers. So in theory slicing programs should be able to deal with this BUT there may be some triangulation issues (where the quads are turned into triangles) leaving some rather janky looking and unsmooth surfaces. Thats for the intersecting faces. But there are times when it can become unprintable (they just arent as common). The bigger issue with intersecting faces comes when you are trying to do more in Blender a lot of the time. If you have an object with intersecting faces its one of the things Blender can't always recognise as solid, which means if I was to then try and Boolean the piston or the filagree to another object it might cause some serious errors (or not even work at all).
@@ArtisansofVaul thanks for the detailed answer. Out of interest, do you work with this kind of software professionally or is this just a hobby? Your presentation and knowledge are spot on!
@@TabletopUpgradesLeanJourney Its just a hobby. I put some things up on CG Trader occasionally and take on the odd commision but only as a learning opportunity. I dont think I would be able to make a profession of it at my level (as happy as I am with my progress).
i have the addon installed, but the "y" menu doesn't show up in any mode with any selection. Any idea why? i don't see the key bind in the options also...
Hmm... Just the standard checks but I assume you have clicked that checkbox and saved preferences? Have you closed and reopened Blender as well (I find that works surprisingly often when installing a new addon)
@Eriodas Oh... I think I've solved it. You've got Machin3 Tools, the free add on they do that is very useful but it's not the same as Mesh Machine which is paid for and does different functions that are more complex with things focusing on bevels.
Thanks for the video! I have a question. Can you union another cylinder on what you just made and do another offset cut on it? when I do that it burst opens.
You should be able to. The only issue I could see if the offset cut cut across the offset cut of the previous boolean, that might cause some issues (I've never tried that before to be honest). If it is that it might be worth giving some feedback, its in the experimental section of Mesh Machine after all.
@@ArtisansofVaul I just found the answer why I failed. Boolean union should start with selecting the object to be added to the previous one. The other way round it bursts. Just a small tip for idiots like me haha :)
Ngons are so rarely an issue I wouldn't care. If I need it triangulated there's a modifier to do that or if I want clean shading I can achieve that with Ngons (Mesh Machine also has a function to make that even easier).
Mesh Machine is one of the best Blender investments I have made and it is part of my everyday workflow. Hands down the best mesh tool anyone serious about hard surface modeling can get! Likewise Machine Tools is a fantastic companion!
Totally agree. The only paid for add-on I use more is HardOps/Boxcutter!
Heading back to blender, thank you so much!!!
Awesome to be able to help you get back into it 😁
Fantastic how much simpler that made the process!
Yeah, its SUCH a time saver.
if anything, it opens up options in 3D creation. i mean, if it's too complicated or timeconsuming, you'd go for other solutions, right?
@@YourAvarageSwede Yeah. I mean this makes it so much simpler with the combination of tools in Mesh Machin3
I loved it. could you explain other features of this add on?
Sure thing. I wasnt sure how much add on interest there was but if there is I'll add it to the list.
@@ArtisansofVaul I wuill hit the bell then ;)
"It gets a little bit annoying." No, I would say what is annoying is fixing 200 zero face errors, and on the last 2 vertices being merged 6000+ intersect faces appeared on the next check. Thank whoever invented Ctrl-Z. I just wanted to cut out a paw print dang it.
Good video, I have heard of this add-on before but was a little outside of my understanding/price. I'll give it another look now.
*Edit* Hit enter too soon.
Thanks. I really like it (especially for work with bevels as well).
Just so you know zero face errors don't need to be fixed for printing to be successful as it just means the faces are quite small. I think its only there so that if they are really tiny you know that detail might not show up on the print. I regularly print with hundreds (sometimes thousands) and its not an issue at all.
@@ArtisansofVaul Huh, thank you. Bevels are such a pain to clean up I find, especially when near cutouts. That will solve some issues, I mean I will still try to clean them up to slim down the file but not worry as much. One other channel basically made it sound ALL the errors need to be fixed for the best prints. Well, except for overhangs because those are not figured right and can be fixed with supports.
Great video. However I think it's important to explain "why" the additional verts will be a problem for 3D printing if not cleaned up. The mesh will be triangulated when it gets converted to an STL, so why do we need to take these additional steps?
Its a good point. It actually shouldn't cause too many issues at the 3d printing stage (though it will make more triangles than needed and will create smaller faces that can cause issues when they are all meant to be flat. The bigger issue is that it will confuse Blender and could cause errors when doing further work on the object (for example using a Boolean to add an access ramp or stairs up to the landing pad).
So the Y menu options is not in the standard version?
No, it is used by Mesh Machin3 and those options are not available without the add on Im afraid.
What’s the consequence of not cleaning this up. In some super basic and not at all scientific experiments I did, my slicing software was able to deal with this kind of thing, at least in the simple example I tried.
Separate question - do you always make sure “intersecting faces” are zero? Again, my slicing software seems to be fine with this not being, but maybe it’s just because of the simple example I used.
(I didn’t actually print this example so perhaps this is where the problems materialise 🤷🏽♂️)
All good questions with not the most simple answers. So in theory slicing programs should be able to deal with this BUT there may be some triangulation issues (where the quads are turned into triangles) leaving some rather janky looking and unsmooth surfaces. Thats for the intersecting faces. But there are times when it can become unprintable (they just arent as common).
The bigger issue with intersecting faces comes when you are trying to do more in Blender a lot of the time. If you have an object with intersecting faces its one of the things Blender can't always recognise as solid, which means if I was to then try and Boolean the piston or the filagree to another object it might cause some serious errors (or not even work at all).
@@ArtisansofVaul thanks for the detailed answer. Out of interest, do you work with this kind of software professionally or is this just a hobby?
Your presentation and knowledge are spot on!
@@TabletopUpgradesLeanJourney Its just a hobby. I put some things up on CG Trader occasionally and take on the odd commision but only as a learning opportunity. I dont think I would be able to make a profession of it at my level (as happy as I am with my progress).
@@ArtisansofVaul Well get that Patreon up and you might be surprised! Anyway, you're doing a great job. Well done :)
great help , thanks!
No worries. Glad it's useful 👌
i have the addon installed, but the "y" menu doesn't show up in any mode with any selection. Any idea why? i don't see the key bind in the options also...
Hmm... Just the standard checks but I assume you have clicked that checkbox and saved preferences? Have you closed and reopened Blender as well (I find that works surprisingly often when installing a new addon)
@@ArtisansofVaul i did, but maybe it's because i have the free version?
@Eriodas Oh... I think I've solved it. You've got Machin3 Tools, the free add on they do that is very useful but it's not the same as Mesh Machine which is paid for and does different functions that are more complex with things focusing on bevels.
You can find mesh machine here: blendermarket.com/products/meshmachine/?ref=834
Thanks for the video! I have a question. Can you union another cylinder on what you just made and do another offset cut on it? when I do that it burst opens.
You should be able to. The only issue I could see if the offset cut cut across the offset cut of the previous boolean, that might cause some issues (I've never tried that before to be honest). If it is that it might be worth giving some feedback, its in the experimental section of Mesh Machine after all.
@@김정민-n4j All of then are the most up to date at the point of filming. I think that was Blender 3.1
@@ArtisansofVaul I just found the answer why I failed. Boolean union should start with selecting the object to be added to the previous one. The other way round it bursts. Just a small tip for idiots like me haha :)
@@김정민-n4j Well done. Easy thing to get the wrong way around! I've done much worse 🤣
What about all of them ngons it made?
Ngons are so rarely an issue I wouldn't care. If I need it triangulated there's a modifier to do that or if I want clean shading I can achieve that with Ngons (Mesh Machine also has a function to make that even easier).
ahh found it :)