I reeeeeaally enjoy your content... it has been super helpful. So, please forgive me for saying this, but the level of frustration that I felt when trying to follow this after you placed the initial loop cut, was off the charts. It "looked" like you had snapped the first Ngon boolean to the lower left Vert of the upper section... around the 1:20 mark. But each and every time I tried the same thing, upon laser cutting that boolean, it only left a sliver of the mesh in view. If I physically moved the cutter up, sure, the mesh finally looked like what you had... but I spent hours, literally 4 hours... trying to figure out what was not working. I know it is not your job to explain every single little tiny detail, but it was beyond frustrating to not be able to get Blender to replicate what "looked" like a dead simple set of clicks. It finally hit me that all I had to do was click just a hair above the bottom left Vert, and it worked fine. I know it sounds like I am ungrateful for the video(s). That is not the case at all. Quite the opposite. But that one LITTLE detail... geesh, that was frustrating :)
Sorry that it left you so frustrated. I think it's the curse of using a tool so often it's easy to just work automatically. I do have videos to explain the tool more clearly as well but that doesn't always help. I'm trying to look at the issue you had and I think it's not a boxcutter issue and more a boolean issue (if I'm understanding you correctly). I did snap the point to the vert on the left hand side. I'm assuming at this point the issue you have is that the boolean was using the "fast" method and not the "exact" method. Maybe check the modifier and see if that is the case. The fast method can't deal with any verts/edges/faces that are perfectly aligned so will cause errors until you move one of the objects slightly. The exact method doesn't have that issue. I just want to add I do really appreciate the feedback and thankyou for taking the time to explain it so clearly. 👍🏻👌🏼 Hopefully that clarity has meant I have correctly "diagnosed" the problem.
@@ArtisansofVaul It is me that is thanking you... though after reading my post a few times, it does sound as though I was complaining. I wasn't. Well, I wasn't complaining about you. None the less, yes, the fast vs exact boolean, definitely was an issue, but not "always". I restarted more times than I care to count, closing Blender and beginning from scratch. Hitting every tick in each menu, turning this on, that off, one by one, and restarting each time to see the result. I "may" have been selecting just a hair BELOW that Vert... which is the only thing I was able to replicate that stupidly annoying sliver of the mesh being left over after laser cutting the boolean. I don't know for certain, but it was the only thing that seemed to get a consistently screwed up result. The other issue was that the cutter shape, for some reason or another, would not sit squarely on the mesh. It kept leaving the front faces intact. If I moved the cutter afterwards, placing it where it "should have snapped", so that it fully covered the outside closest and opposite faces, it was fine. But I started to lose track of what affected what with the number of restarts. I am pretty methodical about finding a level starting point when I make mistakes, bringing everything back to zero, then moving at a snails pace to try each variation until I get the right set of dials turned and switches flipped... which is a huge character flaw with me. If anything, other than your amazing efforts to bring these features to light, this has taught me that I can simply try harder to not get frustrated when my brain misses a step. You're teaching. I'm learning. Life is good.
@@keithmathews4605 Oh I didn't take it negatively at all so dont worry. 👍 On the leaving a front face I have found that recently. Im not sure why it has started happening. I generally just solve it by once I get the thickness I want pressing "e" to extrude forward a bit too but I haven't gotten to the bottom of it yet.
Great video. Question. Is it possible to for simplicity sake find a picture of a pew pew when you were at the first block and then just cut it to that image and then make changes to the gun to make it your own is that plausible and if so could you show how to do it please.
Great video as usual. I just recently got the Boxcutter + HardOps bundle, so I was hoping to try it out but it's not behaving the same way as yours (and I know it might just be because it's been a while since the video released, so updates might have changed something). For example, if I select ngon as a cutting method then I don't really get the red area that I see on your screen - I'm just slicing through the model instead. Sure I can solidify it but it's not as precise as simply choosing which area to remove. I can only achieve a similar result by using the box selector, but even then it does not show the removed part as an outline only, and Instead I have to actually apply the boolean to see a change. Boxcutter seems to be rather clunky too. Sometimes my cutter just randomly disappears or behaves in other weird ways. For example I don't seem to have this everscroll thing you always use. Anyways, I guess I'll eventually figure it out... meanwhile I'll try to make due with how it is. Edit: now Boxcutter is working as it does for you - but I have no idea why, how, or how long it will last...
I am wondering if that is because Blender just got updated so the addon needed to be updated to to work perfectly with it? Did you update or redownload the addon? The other thing is that more complex addons sometimes need you to close Blender and open it again once installed for some reason. Maybe you started playing with it right away before closing and reopening Blender when you first tried it out? For the Everscroll thats part of Hard Ops (which works with Boxcutter) so if you havent installed that yet that might be why. Glad it seems to be working for you now!
@@ArtisansofVaul Alright so after some trial and error (pretty much the entire day) it seems like the red box selection only works if I press D to open the menu before I start working. If I open the menu from the top left buttons it shows up as a thin line, but goes back to the larger area mode (and never reverts) if I press D. All in all it seems to be working fine, I managed to follow everything else until the part where you inset the grooves into the foregrip. At that point it just slices through the model even though I set it to Inset. I probably made some mistake when extruding the front guard section and that's what's causing the issue. Talking about updates: I'm using Blender 3.6.5 and what I believe is the latest version of Boxcutter and HardOps (I bought the bundle yesterday). I should probably update Blender but I'm the kind of person who fears updating software. Thanks again for your help. It's really nice to see you keep responding to all of my messages on videos that are often 2+ years old. You're definitely one of the best Blender youtubers, imho up there with the Guru. EDIT: Alright you're going to love this: I haven't managed to solve the issue yet but I found out that the entire scene was somehow enveloped in a huge geometry resembling a ball of crumpled paper which was trying to apply a solidify modifier to itself and possibly something else. I have no idea how it got there but I'm still laughing.
@@stefanosiclari Wow, that sounds pretty mad! How the hell did that happen? Working on an older version of Blender with the newest update of Box Cutter HOps is most likely your issue. If you want to do that for the future I like to label my software for what version of Blender it was designed for (or just put them in folders) until I decided I don't want them.
@@ArtisansofVaul I don't even want to know how all of that happened... I'm just happy I eventually managed to follow the tutorial to the very end. Now to update Blender!
Is the first loop just to give you a rough estimate of where you want to make that first Ngon cut? I’m running into problems snapping perfectly to the loop without the tool not working properly, is it not supposed to snap perfectly to that?
Exactly that, yes. I use it so that when I have the snapping to dots feature on it gives me a point to click on (otherwise it just has half way along the edge)
Do you have a settings video? My does not automatically extrude the cut off like yours in the first cut. I matched everything on your screen too. I just keep reverting to regular old modeling I keep running into settings issues.
Oh for sure on the supports. But probably not too many. I'd print it at an angle with the end of the barrel raised so the supports don't affect the detail of the indent. Other than that it would be one on the handle, one on the mag and one on the rear of the top tube. It's the back of that which would be the biggest pain and I probably would add something to the model to help with it
Is there a reason you stayed in Edit Mode for the first two cuts? If so, what behavior that's different from Object mode made you choose to do that. Thanks for the awesome tutorial (and all the other awesome tutorials as well!!)
@@DaveVedder It's just so I can more easily see the edge loop that I made that was at a measured distance down. In reality it was more to show an option using Boxcutter compared to something I needed to do but it seemed a good demo.
It can be but that's solved by using the tab function when cutting. It displays what you're doing but stops the active modification as you go so it's less intensive. My computer is lonely a laptop though its pretty good spec. It's more the combination of doing this while recording, without the recording it's pretty smooth on a project like this that isn't too complex.
@@ArtisansofVaul ahhh ok, I don't know much about video recording/editing, so wouldn't know how much of an extra strain it puts on your hardware. I Just started learning modelling in blender and have found your channel to be a little goldmine for assisting me along my journey of figuring all this stuff out.
My god by the end at the grip blender was just not having it anymore. Gonna have to work on each peice and apply whilst doing something even more complicated.
@@ArtisansofVaul It seems like it's only the Insetting in boxcutter in particular. I'll have to see how I can remedy that cuz it's a pretty useful function. is there an alternative way to inset like that besides selecting faces and such?
@NerdLegionInc that is more taxing in general. It's making two booleans simultaneously to create the inset so changing it means a lot more computations.
This video is the last in a series on Boxcutter, the first two videos go through the details with this being a demonstration of how the add-on is used. You might want to check out the other videos for the detail's you're looking for (I didn't want to repeat everything and turn this into a very long video when the information is already in the rest of the playlist, as is explained in the video description): ruclips.net/p/PLnqmLZKRm5CajsNlyFbieVyGxzdbBN-jo
@@ArtisansofVaul I did follow the other vids and they are great. What I mean is that sometimes minor passages are not always obvious and needs getting used to. I still think that sometimes repeating helps. In fact that is the key of great teachings. I am learning a good deal here so will keep following and waiting for more tuts
@@andy80sdrums I cant disagree on the repetition (Im a teacher and I know how important it is) and this was recorded with additional explanation in it but it made the video just too long as not many people seem to want to watch videos that are over 30mins long (you can see some of the edit points on the video where the mouse skips quickly where they were taken out). Its a shame but a product of the RUclips environment Im afraid. If there is anything you're unsure of let me know and I'd be happy to try to explain it further. 🙂
@@ArtisansofVaul I do appreciate it! I agree. Unfortunately longer videos are not even getting recommended by YT. Which is a shame because your videos are so useful. I understand that few people have the patience to go through a tutorial like this but they are missing out. The more 'mainstream' content leaves a lot to be desired.
Actually something that popped into my mind. Once a model is finished, does remeshing to quads help in terms of 3D printing precision? Say I have a lot of booleans and bevels etc. but my topology is not optimal.
The trigger was left off as weapons for 3D printing are usually modelled with a hand so its a bit of a waste of time modelling one but I'm sure those wanting one can manage with the tools shown in the video. Similarly the channel focuses on 3D design for 3D printing so materials aren't really something I focus on. I could do a video on how to add materials generally but there's lots of great content creators out there that would do a better job of that than me.
@@ArtisansofVaul oh thank for replying and i understand what ur telling but it would be great if u do a separate video on it as box cutter is new to me and could be for many so could u make a full detailed video only on box cutter and hardops
@Rhythm Master Media I've got you covered man. I already have two videos on Boxcutter that cover way more than on this video. You can find them here: ruclips.net/p/PLnqmLZKRm5CajsNlyFbieVyGxzdbBN-jo
I reeeeeaally enjoy your content... it has been super helpful. So, please forgive me for saying this, but the level of frustration that I felt when trying to follow this after you placed the initial loop cut, was off the charts. It "looked" like you had snapped the first Ngon boolean to the lower left Vert of the upper section... around the 1:20 mark. But each and every time I tried the same thing, upon laser cutting that boolean, it only left a sliver of the mesh in view. If I physically moved the cutter up, sure, the mesh finally looked like what you had... but I spent hours, literally 4 hours... trying to figure out what was not working. I know it is not your job to explain every single little tiny detail, but it was beyond frustrating to not be able to get Blender to replicate what "looked" like a dead simple set of clicks. It finally hit me that all I had to do was click just a hair above the bottom left Vert, and it worked fine. I know it sounds like I am ungrateful for the video(s). That is not the case at all. Quite the opposite. But that one LITTLE detail... geesh, that was frustrating :)
Sorry that it left you so frustrated. I think it's the curse of using a tool so often it's easy to just work automatically. I do have videos to explain the tool more clearly as well but that doesn't always help. I'm trying to look at the issue you had and I think it's not a boxcutter issue and more a boolean issue (if I'm understanding you correctly). I did snap the point to the vert on the left hand side. I'm assuming at this point the issue you have is that the boolean was using the "fast" method and not the "exact" method. Maybe check the modifier and see if that is the case.
The fast method can't deal with any verts/edges/faces that are perfectly aligned so will cause errors until you move one of the objects slightly. The exact method doesn't have that issue.
I just want to add I do really appreciate the feedback and thankyou for taking the time to explain it so clearly. 👍🏻👌🏼 Hopefully that clarity has meant I have correctly "diagnosed" the problem.
@@ArtisansofVaul It is me that is thanking you... though after reading my post a few times, it does sound as though I was complaining. I wasn't. Well, I wasn't complaining about you.
None the less, yes, the fast vs exact boolean, definitely was an issue, but not "always". I restarted more times than I care to count, closing Blender and beginning from scratch. Hitting every tick in each menu, turning this on, that off, one by one, and restarting each time to see the result. I "may" have been selecting just a hair BELOW that Vert... which is the only thing I was able to replicate that stupidly annoying sliver of the mesh being left over after laser cutting the boolean. I don't know for certain, but it was the only thing that seemed to get a consistently screwed up result.
The other issue was that the cutter shape, for some reason or another, would not sit squarely on the mesh. It kept leaving the front faces intact. If I moved the cutter afterwards, placing it where it "should have snapped", so that it fully covered the outside closest and opposite faces, it was fine. But I started to lose track of what affected what with the number of restarts.
I am pretty methodical about finding a level starting point when I make mistakes, bringing everything back to zero, then moving at a snails pace to try each variation until I get the right set of dials turned and switches flipped... which is a huge character flaw with me. If anything, other than your amazing efforts to bring these features to light, this has taught me that I can simply try harder to not get frustrated when my brain misses a step. You're teaching. I'm learning. Life is good.
@@keithmathews4605 Oh I didn't take it negatively at all so dont worry. 👍
On the leaving a front face I have found that recently. Im not sure why it has started happening. I generally just solve it by once I get the thickness I want pressing "e" to extrude forward a bit too but I haven't gotten to the bottom of it yet.
Excellent video again. Still prefer the red, but not put off by the grey.
Thanks. That seems to be the general feedback at this point 👍😁
Good explaination of all the extra keystokes you need to perform! Very informative.
Thanks so much 😁
Oh man found a new channel to binge watch lol thanks for all your tutorials and work
No problem at all and welcome to the channel. Enjoy the videos and if you think of anything you want to see just put it in a comment somewhere 😊
I love the red so much I changed mine to that.
Well thats a ringing endorsement 👍
I miss the red! So good to see the process
Don't worry, the red will be back!
Great video. Question. Is it possible to for simplicity sake find a picture of a pew pew when you were at the first block and then just cut it to that image and then make changes to the gun to make it your own is that plausible and if so could you show how to do it please.
Oh totally. I don't have one for a gun but I do for a sword: ruclips.net/video/zsCoOBq0QUA/видео.html
Great video as usual. I just recently got the Boxcutter + HardOps bundle, so I was hoping to try it out but it's not behaving the same way as yours (and I know it might just be because it's been a while since the video released, so updates might have changed something). For example, if I select ngon as a cutting method then I don't really get the red area that I see on your screen - I'm just slicing through the model instead. Sure I can solidify it but it's not as precise as simply choosing which area to remove. I can only achieve a similar result by using the box selector, but even then it does not show the removed part as an outline only, and Instead I have to actually apply the boolean to see a change.
Boxcutter seems to be rather clunky too. Sometimes my cutter just randomly disappears or behaves in other weird ways. For example I don't seem to have this everscroll thing you always use.
Anyways, I guess I'll eventually figure it out... meanwhile I'll try to make due with how it is.
Edit: now Boxcutter is working as it does for you - but I have no idea why, how, or how long it will last...
I am wondering if that is because Blender just got updated so the addon needed to be updated to to work perfectly with it? Did you update or redownload the addon? The other thing is that more complex addons sometimes need you to close Blender and open it again once installed for some reason. Maybe you started playing with it right away before closing and reopening Blender when you first tried it out?
For the Everscroll thats part of Hard Ops (which works with Boxcutter) so if you havent installed that yet that might be why.
Glad it seems to be working for you now!
@@ArtisansofVaul Alright so after some trial and error (pretty much the entire day) it seems like the red box selection only works if I press D to open the menu before I start working. If I open the menu from the top left buttons it shows up as a thin line, but goes back to the larger area mode (and never reverts) if I press D.
All in all it seems to be working fine, I managed to follow everything else until the part where you inset the grooves into the foregrip. At that point it just slices through the model even though I set it to Inset.
I probably made some mistake when extruding the front guard section and that's what's causing the issue.
Talking about updates: I'm using Blender 3.6.5 and what I believe is the latest version of Boxcutter and HardOps (I bought the bundle yesterday). I should probably update Blender but I'm the kind of person who fears updating software.
Thanks again for your help. It's really nice to see you keep responding to all of my messages on videos that are often 2+ years old. You're definitely one of the best Blender youtubers, imho up there with the Guru.
EDIT: Alright you're going to love this: I haven't managed to solve the issue yet but I found out that the entire scene was somehow enveloped in a huge geometry resembling a ball of crumpled paper which was trying to apply a solidify modifier to itself and possibly something else. I have no idea how it got there but I'm still laughing.
@@stefanosiclari Wow, that sounds pretty mad! How the hell did that happen?
Working on an older version of Blender with the newest update of Box Cutter HOps is most likely your issue. If you want to do that for the future I like to label my software for what version of Blender it was designed for (or just put them in folders) until I decided I don't want them.
@@ArtisansofVaul I don't even want to know how all of that happened... I'm just happy I eventually managed to follow the tutorial to the very end. Now to update Blender!
Is the first loop just to give you a rough estimate of where you want to make that first Ngon cut? I’m running into problems snapping perfectly to the loop without the tool not working properly, is it not supposed to snap perfectly to that?
Exactly that, yes. I use it so that when I have the snapping to dots feature on it gives me a point to click on (otherwise it just has half way along the edge)
@@ArtisansofVaul excellent, the tool kept failing when I was snapping to that point for me, now I know not to do that. Thanks for replying!
Do you have a settings video? My does not automatically extrude the cut off like yours in the first cut. I matched everything on your screen too. I just keep reverting to regular old modeling I keep running into settings issues.
Ahh, I turned on exact and it worked....
Glad you sobered it out 😁👍🏻
Nice tutorial.
Is this model print-friendly? Will it need supports in some places?
Oh for sure on the supports. But probably not too many. I'd print it at an angle with the end of the barrel raised so the supports don't affect the detail of the indent. Other than that it would be one on the handle, one on the mag and one on the rear of the top tube. It's the back of that which would be the biggest pain and I probably would add something to the model to help with it
@@ArtisansofVaul Care to make a tutorial about that sometime soon?
@@syrianmisha740 I'd be happy to. There are a lot of videos on supporting items out there so I assumed people wouldn't want one but I'd be happy to.
Is there a reason you stayed in Edit Mode for the first two cuts? If so, what behavior that's different from Object mode made you choose to do that. Thanks for the awesome tutorial (and all the other awesome tutorials as well!!)
@@DaveVedder It's just so I can more easily see the edge loop that I made that was at a measured distance down. In reality it was more to show an option using Boxcutter compared to something I needed to do but it seemed a good demo.
How is your edges highlighted in object mode.......
As if the edges are poping out
Got it.....
I had to enable cavity
@@someorother5272 Well done 👍🏻😁 Got the solution before I could answer
@@ArtisansofVaul yepp...
Thanks for replying so fast
Nice tutorial, boxcutter looks quite laggy though, what were the specs of your PC here?
It can be but that's solved by using the tab function when cutting. It displays what you're doing but stops the active modification as you go so it's less intensive. My computer is lonely a laptop though its pretty good spec. It's more the combination of doing this while recording, without the recording it's pretty smooth on a project like this that isn't too complex.
@@ArtisansofVaul ahhh ok, I don't know much about video recording/editing, so wouldn't know how much of an extra strain it puts on your hardware.
I Just started learning modelling in blender and have found your channel to be a little goldmine for assisting me along my journey of figuring all this stuff out.
@anab0lic Thanks. Mine away 😉 Also feel free to comment if there is anything you're looking for I don't appear to have covered yet 😁
great work thank u
Cheers and no problem 😁
Great vid. Thanks
My pleasure
My god by the end at the grip blender was just not having it anymore. Gonna have to work on each peice and apply whilst doing something even more complicated.
👍🏻😁 Yeah Blender can have issues/slow down with some parts.
@@ArtisansofVaul It seems like it's only the Insetting in boxcutter in particular. I'll have to see how I can remedy that cuz it's a pretty useful function. is there an alternative way to inset like that besides selecting faces and such?
@NerdLegionInc that is more taxing in general. It's making two booleans simultaneously to create the inset so changing it means a lot more computations.
why my ngon not cutting like that
Im not sure. I would probably need to see a video of what's happening.
Good tutorial. Some minor but key details are skimmed over so definitely requires a lot of attention. Great skills here, but needs more teaching
This video is the last in a series on Boxcutter, the first two videos go through the details with this being a demonstration of how the add-on is used. You might want to check out the other videos for the detail's you're looking for (I didn't want to repeat everything and turn this into a very long video when the information is already in the rest of the playlist, as is explained in the video description):
ruclips.net/p/PLnqmLZKRm5CajsNlyFbieVyGxzdbBN-jo
@@ArtisansofVaul I did follow the other vids and they are great. What I mean is that sometimes minor passages are not always obvious and needs getting used to. I still think that sometimes repeating helps. In fact that is the key of great teachings. I am learning a good deal here so will keep following and waiting for more tuts
@@andy80sdrums I cant disagree on the repetition (Im a teacher and I know how important it is) and this was recorded with additional explanation in it but it made the video just too long as not many people seem to want to watch videos that are over 30mins long (you can see some of the edit points on the video where the mouse skips quickly where they were taken out). Its a shame but a product of the RUclips environment Im afraid.
If there is anything you're unsure of let me know and I'd be happy to try to explain it further. 🙂
@@ArtisansofVaul I do appreciate it! I agree. Unfortunately longer videos are not even getting recommended by YT. Which is a shame because your videos are so useful. I understand that few people have the patience to go through a tutorial like this but they are missing out. The more 'mainstream' content leaves a lot to be desired.
Actually something that popped into my mind. Once a model is finished, does remeshing to quads help in terms of 3D printing precision? Say I have a lot of booleans and bevels etc. but my topology is not optimal.
Alright wait, going to need to know how to do mirroring best when you don't also have mesh machine...
Mirroring or symmetry? Next Fridays video is covering both (or on Patreon tomorrow). I can try to explain over messages too if that helps.
Man forgot the trigger and could u make how to even texture it
The trigger was left off as weapons for 3D printing are usually modelled with a hand so its a bit of a waste of time modelling one but I'm sure those wanting one can manage with the tools shown in the video. Similarly the channel focuses on 3D design for 3D printing so materials aren't really something I focus on. I could do a video on how to add materials generally but there's lots of great content creators out there that would do a better job of that than me.
@@ArtisansofVaul oh thank for replying and i understand what ur telling but it would be great if u do a separate video on it as box cutter is new to me and could be for many so could u make a full detailed video only on box cutter and hardops
@Rhythm Master Media I've got you covered man. I already have two videos on Boxcutter that cover way more than on this video. You can find them here: ruclips.net/p/PLnqmLZKRm5CajsNlyFbieVyGxzdbBN-jo
@@ArtisansofVaul oh thank u for the videos and thx for replying fast