With a background in construction, when I'm modelling buildings in Blender, I've always wanted the tools and accuracy of CAD. This looks like it could be very useful. Thanks for showcasing this Add-on. :)
Very nice tutorial! I'm extremely happy to see this add-on, especially for those of us coming over from Sketchup & needing something with the same similarities & functions. It's also good to hear the developer is making more updates/improvements & social in the community. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Thanks for such a great review Justin and for taking the time to go through the documentation (I need to update it again soon). I really appreciate it! As a note to everyone here, I'm continually adding functionality and improving Construction Lines and as Justin said, please head over to the forum if you have any suggestions or comments, I read it as often as I can. The aim for me is to really bring as much useful CAD functionality from other software as I can to Blender, this is just the start. If you are a SketchUp user and have followed from Justin's other channel (SketchUp Essentials), make sure you keep an eye out for the Blender 2.9 release, it's got what is essentially Push/Pull!
Seems very promising Dan! I am a Sketchup user and I want to move to Blender, but Blender is still not the best tool for precise CAD work. Tools like yours have the potential to bridge that gap and bring a whole new category of users to blender!
@@thcyprus I'm in exactly the same position. I really want fully to Blender but there are still some things missing when it comes to CAD work. All I can say is, I'm working on it ;-) I want to include more of the things that make SketchUp easier to use for this sort of work, so keep an eye out for updates coming soon.
@@dnoha1 It's an area I'd love to tackle and it's on my list to research. I've used it Fusion 360 and it's incredibly powerful. I know I've seen some add-ons for Blender with parametric modelling, it might be better for me to collaborate with someone who is doing that, rather than developing from scratch. As I say though, it's definitely something I'm going to look into.
Thank you for the upload. 4:49 on addon v0.941: single click, enter, type numerical value, then enter again. 5:08 oddly the pointer will only lock on 2 out of 4 vertex (of the ground face) of the wall made in archipack.
being an actual carpenter I had to laugh at your reference a chalk box of all things! the beauty of Blender it has a board stretcher if we cut them short! And we use the laser function to plumb and square up our objects!. I could go into obscure safety issues in regards to large buildings but that's another video. BTW nicely done this is an awesome addon for some of us.
Just been learning the Carver tool, much better than the knife tool. Anything like this CAD tool I love as my back ground is carpentry, You have so many interesting vids, I've queued several up ready to watch. Thx
Exactly what was needed! Was modeling my living room in Blender, trying to loop and knife cut windows and doors. This will help! Many thanks as usual Justin!
@@obnoxiousbong Fair enough question. Since I'm learning Blender, I'm approaching like a programming language. First I'll learn the "manual way", so I know how everything works in detail. When I'm convinced I know what those add-ons are doing, and have an idea how, I'll probably use them more. To me, learning a tool/language isn't install/click/click and WOW look at what I did with someone else's code. But I'll use it sooner or later - thanks for asking.
Nice video! Is there any way to do offset in blender with precision using construction lines addon or something similar? I have purchased this addon by the way great. I come from SketchUp.
@@dmitry1976yt this is opensource - and by purchasing it you're essentially buying the developer a beer for all the hard work. That's not too much to ask is it ;)
It does seem to be an odd tool to omit - there are workarounds, but a dedicated line tool just doesn't seem like something that would be that difficult to include...
as someone migrating from Sketchup to blender so i can make 3D printer models, this tool looks super useful. construction lines were super intuitive and useful, i'm definitely going to try this addo.
Thanks Justin, love learning about all the cool Blender stuff you are taking the time to review . Like many others looking at this, I am a disillusioned former Sketchup user that has struggled to find a genuine alternative, but Blender is looking more and more like the 'go-to' option. It does seem surprising that no other piece of CAD software has been able to fill the shoes of Sketchup since it was taken on by Trimble and pushed beyond the affordability of most casual users.
Well, that's the thing - at the moment, there doesn't seem to be too much of a "genuine alternative." Honestly, compared to other softwares that offer similar toolsets, it's not as expensive as many of the others. I can understand people not wanting to pay it, and I have no problem with that, but I think people forget that a lot of what allowed SketchUp to be free in the first place was basically having the almost unlimited resources of Google behind it. No other program was really in that situation, and so because it that, it was a unique situation that allowed a program that otherwise would have been paid to be free for a long period of time. I get both sides, and totally understand where you're coming from, but at least at the moment, the free alternatives are pretty limited as far as I know from a feature standpoint.
@@TheCGEssentials I appreciate that software is not a zero cost product and that the developers are worthy of reward for their efforts, but the forerunner to sketchup was developed by @last Software pre 2000 before being bought by google in 2006. There appear to be plenty of generic word-processor and spreadsheet software packages that are very similar to Microsoft products, but nothing quite like Sketchup has arrived at the budget end in the 20 years since it was created; it is great to see Blender (+plugins) begin to fill this gap! Keep up the great content!
Yes indeed! Trimble has been hitting on everyone to squeeze money out of them after taking over Sketchup (which was originally free). For me the last straw was when Trimble blocked 3D warehouse users from downloading models compatible with the older free version of Sketchup. So now I am also looking at transferring to Blender. Justin is a great help and I'm looking forward to trying Dan Norris' Construction Line add-on.
where do you type in the length value of the guide line? I tried just clicking on the inference point and typing in a number, but that doesn't do anything at all (version 9.6.2)
wow. somehow i just realized that cad modelling is sketchup modelling. can i split polygons with curvy lines? that was basically the most important thing that i missed until now.glad this exists
very good, and timely. been designing for 3dprinting lately and have been trying some of the more CAD centric options (including openSCAD which is amazing but a totally different animal) - but I'm still far more fluent in blender (UI fluency is key). my experiments exporting to STL have been successful but not without some open ended questions, and not with the kind of forced precision one gets inputting constraints into a cad sketch so this is really exciting stuff. blender is the One. !
This is a breakthrough for Blender. There's much talk about sculpting and sketching, but little about technical or precision CAD modeling. This would be a good forum for technical modelers that model vehicles and architecture in Blender. Can you and Dan Norris one day set up a special session that the followers can participate in?
@@TheCGEssentials Technical precision modeling in Blender. The tools, the functionality, different approaches to modeling vehicles, architecture. Even though it's better to use a full CAD app, 3D printing could be a subject. Making Construction Line add-on better, future goals for the tool. I think your participants will make the interview with just their input.
but i find it confusing as it does not folow object mode or edit mode .like if we select an object and select this command selection is not shown and we dont know ,on which object we are. hey need to polish such many few things before production ready.
In SketchUp, the "tape measure" tool can create construction lines parallel to an existing line by clicking anywhere on the line and dragging away from that line, click to drop or type a value, making it easy to create parallels. In your video, to set the bottom and top of a window frame, you drew verticals first, then drew across from the vertical endpoints. That's an extra unnecessary step that creates vertical construction lines that are not needed. I think that the SketchUp Tape Measure tool would be a good role model for this new Blender tool.
Well in this case, the verticals would indicate the horizontal location of the window, so for this workflow it's fine. That said, use whatever method works for you I guess...
This is an amazing video. Thanks! In my field, we've been calling the ` key a backtick forever. Hadn't heard the term 'accent', but I'm glad I know that's also used :D I could be in a very naive/niche area though. Again, this video is exactly what I've been looking for. Thank you so much.
Justin I just noticed that next to the horse shoe magnet on the right you show a "Mix" as the selection, what is that it? It is not a selection in the drop down menu!
As a Linux user I've been waiting for this for so long. I bought it 5 minutes after finishing your video. 7 bucks + VAT never crashed my blender so fast before. Practically useless on my computer. Unless I can tweak it somehow.
Yep, same here. Could be a very good tool, but for now, it crashes every other connected line. I will test it under Windows, but I am too tired of repeating steps over and over after so many crashes..
I just installed it on my MacBook running Blender 2.93. This is not working well for me. Is it because I'm on a Mac? or it's not working well with 2.93?
@@AtisJ Lol - well despite what a lot of commentors on my videos seem to think, Blender doesn't really seem to want to be a CAD software. That said, I do find it a little odd that some of these fundamental tools aren't included, but...it is what it is I guess
Migrated from Fusion to Blender because I wanted to experiment with more advanced features like Cycles, animation and such, this makes the transition so much easier
Yeah if you're looking for those things, Blender's probably a better fit. That said, I really love Fusion for higher precision/machining/woodworking type applications. Both awesome programs :)
...thanks for tutorial justin...last time i asked u question about how to build S shaped walls in blender but got no answer...i think u must be busy tho....again i have question...my laptop doesn't have numeric pad so when i give precision value to tape or line then camera rotates as blender default key for numeric is for ortho (front, right etc).....second question is that when i used in edit mode and apply arc in face it doesn't divide face...sorry long question...hope to see your reply....
I don't know much about how to use Blender with non-num pad conditions - sorry. As to curved walls, I'm sure there are several ways to do this - extruding an edge to create your wall shape, then extruding the wall up, using the deform modifer, using a circle, insetting a face then extruding that face - there's a lot of ways to approach this...
Hi i bought this and works well on simple model, but I have a larger file . When I activate the tool and right click I don't get the tools options , so doesn't work? any ideas how to fix this?
In preferences, you can select the construction line color, but not thickness. To my eye, they are far too thick and I'd like to be able to adjust them. Also, the vertices crosshairs are huge and their size and color should also be adjustable. Also, visibility of them should toggle on/off. The lines presently auto-hide but the vertices stay and I'm wondering why. One way to handle the visibility would be to have all of the construction lines go into a collection where the visibility filters could be toggled manually as needed. That way, we users could see or hide them whenever we want to and even include them in renders if we want to. Also, each collection in a scene could have it's own sub-collection of construction lines so that the groups of construction lines visibility automatically follows the visibility of objects in their specific collections. If there were 100 objects, each with its own set of construction lines, you might want to view only some of the objects, or they may be sorted into groups, and when the user toggles those group on and off, the construction lines within those groups would appear and disappear with them. Not all or nothing across the entire project. Blender already allows you to move geometry to other collections, so can we select construction lines and move them to a collection too?
Best thing to come to Blender like in forever! Good buy Sketchup, I am switching to Blender. Now just to get a way to import Blender files into Lumion with ease and I will be as happy as can be.
I think it does. I use Sketchup mainly to model for rendering inside Lumion. I receive most of my models from clients that work in Revit. I just have a problem importing FBX files from Blender into Lumion.
I bought Construction Lines and am enjoying my new functionality. Has anyone tried CAD Transform 0.0.8? It has some functionality overlap with Construction Lines but I find the two complement each other pretty well.
I live in Canada and I am French and I have absolutely no idea where the accent grave is on the keyboard as all keyboard come in unilingual English in Canada, I usually do the accent using the Alt + numbers for every letter that needs accents, there are a ton in each sentence I write, but how to to do ALT + accent grave I have no idea, can you let me know?
I spend a good few weeks learning modeling in Blender. I was making an ant formicarium, so needed accurate sizes to be 3d printed. What a mess. Kept getting manifold issues, a bolean didn't want to print. I switched to Fusion 360 for it, huge learning curve but someone helped show me what I need to know. Why can't Blender be so simple? With fusion, make the box, the extrusions, a circle for a 16mm hole, no dealing with proper geometry. I would love to see this addon take on a Fusion 360 feel to modeling. I ain't building a car engine, it was fairly simple but a mess to try in Blender with my limited knowledge.
@@TheCGEssentials Yea. It really is too bad in this day and age that it is fractured like that. But I understand, I saw CAD for DOS back in the day working at a computer store in the early 90s and seeing customers testing their upgraded computer, looked nuts. I have hopes for Blender, they have done very well over the years. I have dabbled in 3d modeling going back to 3D Studio V3 but never took it serious. Now with 3d printing. Why is it so hard for blender to not be able to simplify like CAD? I played with 3ds Max, not sure how accurate that is for design and 3d print. I understand 2 separate things but now we have thrown 3d printers into the mix. This is what took me weeks to learn and design, imgur.com/PBMQR39 It was a failure and wouldn't print. I think I found multiple tutorials on how to cut a hole into a side, want a 16mm hole? Boolean which makes a mess, or other examples I saw that really went by eye and % rather than measurement. To make something so simple, just so much to learn with Blender.
@ I don't know about this - it just isn't really built for precision modeling in the same way a lot of CAD programs are - it has a different focus, but seems to have a number of tools that are really great for that focus.
CAD and polymodeling software (ie Blender) are built for very different purposes. CAD is best at working with real-world constraints while poly modeling shines in the digital entertainment industry. I recommend you to learn CAD which would work much better with 3d printing in your case. However, you might miss the "freedom" you used to have in Blender :)
Blender should have more SketchUp like functionality by default. That would make blender even more popular with the casual crowd, people like me. Trimble seems determined to set SU into a dead end with its online only free version and subscription/renting of new SU pro. I've been waiting for something similar, but open source.
@@TheCGEssentials No, I actually bought this add-on even though I don't really use Blender, but with this I might give it a try. I'm not very familiar with Blender so what I'm more concerned with is that I don't know how long it it takes to break compatibility with Blender since Blender seems to evolve so fast. Most plugins for SU I bought or use have remained usable for years through various versions, but I bought this one since it is so cheap and adds the functionality I want.
@@Marian87 I am actually learn Blender. It is most friendly UI as it seem. It is most powerful than SketchUp. Trimble SketchUp managed by stupid people, with forced subscription and shamed updates is a dead end.
For some reason these lines can't snap to the grid in 2.9. It snaps to cursor only. Kinda useless for drawing the start of a CAD drawing if you can't use a grid to measure. Why is this so hard for blender to implement like sketchup did? I just want to draw 2d and extrude to 3d...... i bought this and now it seems kinda pointless. any help would be great!
There was an announcement of a new native feature coming to Blender 2.9, that is "Blueprint at the time". It would do one of the things this add-on can do - draw faces out of edges in SketchUp-like manner. But I think it was withdrawn due to instability. I hope they will introduce it in the future though!
The move (snap) tool of this add-on and how it works is something I have been looking for in Blender. I thought it was just me not able to find it. In all these years, Blender has never added this obvious function and do you really need this add-on for to snap one point of an object to another point of another object?
There is some built-in snapping (ruclips.net/video/0p06F1LzTjQ/видео.html), but no CAD style move tool - also I find the inferencing on the built-in snapping to be a bit...twitchy
Justin, it seems that Blender could soon have the potential to compete with Sketchup? My conclusion a few months ago was that Blender is great, but it isn't CAD software so it can't compete with Sketchup on things that Sketchup can do best (e.g. architectural modeling). But it seems to me that Blender is growing so fast that in a year from now it can be a valid alternative to Sketchup for anybody that doesn't also need Layout. I hope that soon both Blender and you will be ready for a complete course on "Architectural modeling with Blender for Skethcup users", using an optimized workflow that can challenge Sketchup!
I get different variations of this question a lot, and really the answer to your question is...it depends on what you're doing. If we're talking specifically about architectural modeling for production drawings, I feel like it's a ways off. People seem to get fired up when I say this, but I just don't see the tools as being ready for this useage quite yet.
It has been just incredibly frustrating for years that you can't just do this in a graphics program as advanced as Blender: "Draw lines simply by clicking and dragging in the 3D viewport." I start virtually all my models by adding a plane , going into edit mode and deleting two of the vertices, leaving two vertices i e a line in space, vertices that are pretty much never in the places that I want them to be. Sketchup showed ten years ago the incredible stone simple power of just being able to draw a line in space, and yet, for all their incredible work, the Blender devs continue to ignore this now glaringly face slap obvious function. Will definitely be getting this addon. Goes much of the way to adding the key Sketchup functionality to Blender.
I generally agree - it's odd to me why they wouldn't have a "line" tool. Now you can enable the extra shapes add-on, insert a single vertex, and extrude from there, but still does seem like a pretty simple tool. That said, people don't seem to realize that Blender doesn't really WANT to act like most CAD softwares...
I'd like to see the construction lines visibility have a toggle on/off, not auto-vanishing, because I'd like to use other Blender tools to create geometry that can snap to the construction lines which is hard or impossible if the lines are not visible.
This looks pretty good but a little primitive too. I don’t expect it to do everything that SletchUp and AutoCAD do but overall I can really see the workflow that I’m used to from school :)
I'd say that's a fair assessment - not as high powered as AutoCAD or SketchUp in this department, but could definitely be useful for users of those programs looking for more of a "CAD-ish" experience in Blender...
Hi everyone! Let me know what you think about this add-on in the comments below! :)
I bought from Gumroad before I discovered it is also available on Blender Market that partially supports the Blender Foundation.
This is a wonderful add-on and you make the best tutorials on youtube. This will make the transition to Blender much easier for me at least.
Lots of bugs
@@eyo85 Have you filed a bug report?
Great start! needs more feature like snapping with inference to vertex XYZ while drawing, that would help, drawing with type in distance would help.
With a background in construction, when I'm modelling buildings in Blender, I've always wanted the tools and accuracy of CAD. This looks like it could be very useful. Thanks for showcasing this Add-on. :)
Exactly. I got totally frustrated when using Blender for the first time and not being able to draw the simplest line without having guidelines.
Very nice tutorial! I'm extremely happy to see this add-on, especially for those of us coming over from Sketchup & needing something with the same similarities & functions. It's also good to hear the developer is making more updates/improvements & social in the community. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
This is just what I’ve been looking for! I’m a draughtsman so this is perfect, thanks for sharing 👍🏼
Glad it was helpful!
OMG this is amazing. I bought it before the video was even over. Thanks for the awesome overview!!!
Glad it was helpful!
MY GOD, I'VE BEEN WANTING THIS SO LONG
Perfect :)
Me too! I am learning Blender, after Sketchup made me angry one too many times, and have missed a lot of these features. Going to purchase now :-)
Thanks for such a great review Justin and for taking the time to go through the documentation (I need to update it again soon). I really appreciate it! As a note to everyone here, I'm continually adding functionality and improving Construction Lines and as Justin said, please head over to the forum if you have any suggestions or comments, I read it as often as I can. The aim for me is to really bring as much useful CAD functionality from other software as I can to Blender, this is just the start. If you are a SketchUp user and have followed from Justin's other channel (SketchUp Essentials), make sure you keep an eye out for the Blender 2.9 release, it's got what is essentially Push/Pull!
Thanks for a great add-on Dan! :)
Seems very promising Dan! I am a Sketchup user and I want to move to Blender, but Blender is still not the best tool for precise CAD work. Tools like yours have the potential to bridge that gap and bring a whole new category of users to blender!
@@thcyprus I'm in exactly the same position. I really want fully to Blender but there are still some things missing when it comes to CAD work. All I can say is, I'm working on it ;-) I want to include more of the things that make SketchUp easier to use for this sort of work, so keep an eye out for updates coming soon.
@@dannorris1406 Many CAD tools (not sketchup) have option for parametric design. Is it possible to implement parametric models in future?
@@dnoha1 It's an area I'd love to tackle and it's on my list to research. I've used it Fusion 360 and it's incredibly powerful. I know I've seen some add-ons for Blender with parametric modelling, it might be better for me to collaborate with someone who is doing that, rather than developing from scratch. As I say though, it's definitely something I'm going to look into.
Thank you for the upload.
4:49 on addon v0.941: single click, enter, type numerical value, then enter again.
5:08 oddly the pointer will only lock on 2 out of 4 vertex (of the ground face) of the wall made in archipack.
Love the channel dude. Not often I can find creators that I can just sit through and watch lol.
Lol - glad you're liking it :)
being an actual carpenter I had to laugh at your reference a chalk box of all things! the beauty of Blender it has a board stretcher if we cut them short! And we use the laser function to plumb and square up our objects!. I could go into obscure safety issues in regards to large buildings but that's another video. BTW nicely done this is an awesome addon for some of us.
LOL - well in my day job, I'm an estimator for a commercial construction company, so I tend to speak in construction examples ;p
Very intuitive! Thanks for taking the time to show this.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Just been learning the Carver tool, much better than the knife tool. Anything like this CAD tool I love as my back ground is carpentry, You have so many interesting vids, I've queued several up ready to watch. Thx
Exactly what was needed! Was modeling my living room in Blender, trying to loop and knife cut windows and doors. This will help! Many thanks as usual Justin!
Glad it helped Jon!
why dont you use archipack/archimesh for the windows/doors
@@obnoxiousbong Fair enough question. Since I'm learning Blender, I'm approaching like a programming language. First I'll learn the "manual way", so I know how everything works in detail. When I'm convinced I know what those add-ons are doing, and have an idea how, I'll probably use them more. To me, learning a tool/language isn't install/click/click and WOW look at what I did with someone else's code. But I'll use it sooner or later - thanks for asking.
I’ve been waiting so long for this
Yesssss
Nice video! Is there any way to do offset in blender with precision using construction lines addon or something similar? I have purchased this addon by the way great. I come from SketchUp.
So literally now we have sketchup inside blender.
I mean...no...not literally...
@@TheCGEssentials Of course not - this does quads by default.
it is still a long way from sketchup
@@samueleliani3349 why?give some concrete reasoning.
if i import from sketchup to blender.. do i need uv unwrapping it to put material?
Very good, at long last this addon has arrived, this will help a lot.
You made me actually buying this, thanks!
Been waiting for this!
Give it a try!
I'm still waiting for opensource like this.
@@dmitry1976yt this is opensource - and by purchasing it you're essentially buying the developer a beer for all the hard work. That's not too much to ask is it ;)
Totally worth buying and support further development!
I agree!
Dud i super appreciate your channel! You are an up-and-coming Blender go-to for SURE!
Thanks very much! :)
@The CG Essentials Is there an addon that includes the Otrack function of Autocad?
sir, there is a default addon called snap utilities which is more like line tool in auto cad...and has more snap function
I'll be sure to check that one out!
Thanks for the demonstration I just downloaded the add-on. Great Tools.
An updated video of Construction Lines would be awesome. Maybe how we use it for architectural design for buildings
How many years has this taken? You can now "draw lines" in Blender. This developer needs to be given a Knight Hood.
It does seem to be an odd tool to omit - there are workarounds, but a dedicated line tool just doesn't seem like something that would be that difficult to include...
hey Justin, with this add-on can you draw a perpendicular line like SketchUp does?
Great i think i will be using this tool everyday ... Thanks .. I do hope they bring importing DXF files soon
@The CG Essentials my question is, does it cost $ 7 a month? Or is it the full version?
Looks promising, but I can't enter values when adding lines/rectangles. It treats the numpad just like normal shortcuts...?
yeah, this was one of the biggest things I struggled with too. I had to use the top row of numbers instead, which is not ideal
@@xGBallx i have the same issue even with the top row no response :(
Got it wohooo ....choose whatever u want to draw let's say a line (left click....press enter.... then enter value)
I just bought this add on. Had a little snag getting it working. But I got it. Blender is so cool. Thx CG.
Hello! Is there any way to create curve splines in a similar CAD way?
as someone migrating from Sketchup to blender so i can make 3D printer models, this tool looks super useful. construction lines were super intuitive and useful, i'm definitely going to try this addo.
I type mesurement number but change 3d view direction ..example- I type 1 feet but i press 1 change the front view.........please fix my problem.
Thanks Justin, love learning about all the cool Blender stuff you are taking the time to review .
Like many others looking at this, I am a disillusioned former Sketchup user that has struggled to find a genuine alternative, but Blender is looking more and more like the 'go-to' option.
It does seem surprising that no other piece of CAD software has been able to fill the shoes of Sketchup since it was taken on by Trimble and pushed beyond the affordability of most casual users.
Well, that's the thing - at the moment, there doesn't seem to be too much of a "genuine alternative." Honestly, compared to other softwares that offer similar toolsets, it's not as expensive as many of the others.
I can understand people not wanting to pay it, and I have no problem with that, but I think people forget that a lot of what allowed SketchUp to be free in the first place was basically having the almost unlimited resources of Google behind it. No other program was really in that situation, and so because it that, it was a unique situation that allowed a program that otherwise would have been paid to be free for a long period of time.
I get both sides, and totally understand where you're coming from, but at least at the moment, the free alternatives are pretty limited as far as I know from a feature standpoint.
@@TheCGEssentials I appreciate that software is not a zero cost product and that the developers are worthy of reward for their efforts, but the forerunner to sketchup was developed by @last Software pre 2000 before being bought by google in 2006. There appear to be plenty of generic word-processor and spreadsheet software packages that are very similar to Microsoft products, but nothing quite like Sketchup has arrived at the budget end in the 20 years since it was created; it is great to see Blender (+plugins) begin to fill this gap!
Keep up the great content!
@@aesopshair6690 Thanks very much! :)
Yes indeed! Trimble has been hitting on everyone to squeeze money out of them after taking over Sketchup (which was originally free). For me the last straw was when Trimble blocked 3D warehouse users from downloading models compatible with the older free version of Sketchup. So now I am also looking at transferring to Blender. Justin is a great help and I'm looking forward to trying Dan Norris' Construction Line add-on.
where do you type in the length value of the guide line? I tried just clicking on the inference point and typing in a number, but that doesn't do anything at all (version 9.6.2)
wow. somehow i just realized that cad modelling is sketchup modelling. can i split polygons with curvy lines? that was basically the most important thing that i missed until now.glad this exists
I don't remember for sure, but I believe so
Bought it. Great and very much needed. Suggest mirror command, parallel lines.tks for this.
Good ideas, thanks!
very good, and timely.
been designing for 3dprinting lately and have been trying some of the more CAD centric options (including openSCAD which is amazing but a totally different animal) - but I'm still far more fluent in blender (UI fluency is key).
my experiments exporting to STL have been successful but not without some open ended questions, and not with the kind of forced precision one gets inputting constraints into a cad sketch so this is really exciting stuff.
blender is the One. !
Thanks for watching!
Nice vid! Got the plugin! Is it sensible to draw or edit 2D site plans??
This should come handy with level design! Thanks for sharing!
Glad you like it!
This is super usefull addon, thanks for info about it.
Glad you like it!
Thanks for all your tutorial!
Glad you like them!
This is a breakthrough for Blender. There's much talk about sculpting and sketching, but little about technical or precision CAD modeling. This would be a good forum for technical modelers that model vehicles and architecture in Blender. Can you and Dan Norris one day set up a special session that the followers can participate in?
What would we talk about in the session?
@@TheCGEssentials Technical precision modeling in Blender. The tools, the functionality, different approaches to modeling vehicles, architecture. Even though it's better to use a full CAD app, 3D printing could be a subject. Making Construction Line add-on better, future goals for the tool. I think your participants will make the interview with just their input.
is it possible to automatically snap to the grid when adding line points?
but i find it confusing as it does not folow object mode or edit mode .like if we select an object and select this command selection is not shown and we dont know ,on which object we are. hey need to polish such many few things before production ready.
Your videos are excellent. This is very helpful, thank you.
Thanks very much! Glad it helped!
In SketchUp, the "tape measure" tool can create construction lines parallel to an existing line by clicking anywhere on the line and dragging away from that line, click to drop or type a value, making it easy to create parallels. In your video, to set the bottom and top of a window frame, you drew verticals first, then drew across from the vertical endpoints. That's an extra unnecessary step that creates vertical construction lines that are not needed. I think that the SketchUp Tape Measure tool would be a good role model for this new Blender tool.
Well in this case, the verticals would indicate the horizontal location of the window, so for this workflow it's fine. That said, use whatever method works for you I guess...
Is there a rotation tool in this addon?
This is an amazing video. Thanks! In my field, we've been calling the ` key a backtick forever. Hadn't heard the term 'accent', but I'm glad I know that's also used :D I could be in a very naive/niche area though.
Again, this video is exactly what I've been looking for. Thank you so much.
Lol - well I think the accent is the technical name for it, but I don't know that a lot of people actually use that name
Justin I just noticed that next to the horse shoe magnet on the right you show a "Mix" as the selection, what is that it? It is not a selection in the drop down menu!
I have multiple snapping types enabled - ruclips.net/video/0p06F1LzTjQ/видео.html
I type mesurement number but change 3d view direction ..example- I type 1 feet but i press 1 change the front view.........please fix my problem.
I’m definitely buying that add on.
No-brainer for that cost :)
Thank you very much.
Blender was also a feature I wanted it to be.
As a Linux user I've been waiting for this for so long. I bought it 5 minutes after finishing your video. 7 bucks + VAT never crashed my blender so fast before. Practically useless on my computer. Unless I can tweak it somehow.
Yep, same here. Could be a very good tool, but for now, it crashes every other connected line.
I will test it under Windows, but I am too tired of repeating steps over and over after so many crashes..
hey man! thanks for sharing, could you please tell me why i press number 3, only change the view, i can not set the parameter of the line
Sounds like you're using a numpad for those values - try using the numbers above your letter keys
I got the addon but unfortunately i can't type in the values???
My mac is often forced closed when using this add on. Do you also experience it?
same here with linux and blender 2.92. do you also have the problem that you can't select options on the panel while the tool is active?
I just installed it on my MacBook running Blender 2.93. This is not working well for me. Is it because I'm on a Mac? or it's not working well with 2.93?
Omg i can draw lines in Blender. Revolutionary tech!
I'm sensing...sarcasm?
@@TheCGEssentials Yes and absolute frustration! :D
@@AtisJ Lol - well despite what a lot of commentors on my videos seem to think, Blender doesn't really seem to want to be a CAD software. That said, I do find it a little odd that some of these fundamental tools aren't included, but...it is what it is I guess
@@TheCGEssentials Well at least a basic line would be nice, but i think there are allot of other goodies you won`t find for free anywhere else.
How did you adjust the appearance of the construction tape ...by default my tape lines a very small and appear like dots instead of lines
Where are you typing in the measurements when creating the shapes? I don't see. When I try to type in numbers, it just changes the view angles.
iam not sure but mabey you need to press enter first before you can type numbers
Can you bending line or rectangle with different angles to obtain curve?
Probably not in the way that you're thinking...You might be able to use a deformation modifier
Greet just question
Is there a spline curve ????
dude your vids are awesome!
Hello, thanks for the information. Do you have support for the current version of blender? (2.92)
I don't know - I'm not the developer of the extension. I would assume so, but haven't tried it
Migrated from Fusion to Blender because I wanted to experiment with more advanced features like Cycles, animation and such, this makes the transition so much easier
Yeah if you're looking for those things, Blender's probably a better fit. That said, I really love Fusion for higher precision/machining/woodworking type applications. Both awesome programs :)
Fantastic-
Sold!
oh maaaan thaaaaaanx this is just what we are looking for
...thanks for tutorial justin...last time i asked u question about how to build S shaped walls in blender but got no answer...i think u must be busy tho....again i have question...my laptop doesn't have numeric pad so when i give precision value to tape or line then camera rotates as blender default key for numeric is for ortho (front, right etc).....second question is that when i used in edit mode and apply arc in face it doesn't divide face...sorry long question...hope to see your reply....
I don't know much about how to use Blender with non-num pad conditions - sorry. As to curved walls, I'm sure there are several ways to do this - extruding an edge to create your wall shape, then extruding the wall up, using the deform modifer, using a circle, insetting a face then extruding that face - there's a lot of ways to approach this...
Hi i bought this and works well on simple model, but I have a larger file . When I activate the tool and right click I don't get the tools options , so doesn't work? any ideas how to fix this?
The complexity of the model shouldn't affect the tool function. You might want to leave a comment in the post on Blender Artists asking the question
In preferences, you can select the construction line color, but not thickness. To my eye, they are far too thick and I'd like to be able to adjust them. Also, the vertices crosshairs are huge and their size and color should also be adjustable. Also, visibility of them should toggle on/off. The lines presently auto-hide but the vertices stay and I'm wondering why. One way to handle the visibility would be to have all of the construction lines go into a collection where the visibility filters could be toggled manually as needed. That way, we users could see or hide them whenever we want to and even include them in renders if we want to. Also, each collection in a scene could have it's own sub-collection of construction lines so that the groups of construction lines visibility automatically follows the visibility of objects in their specific collections. If there were 100 objects, each with its own set of construction lines, you might want to view only some of the objects, or they may be sorted into groups, and when the user toggles those group on and off, the construction lines within those groups would appear and disappear with them. Not all or nothing across the entire project. Blender already allows you to move geometry to other collections, so can we select construction lines and move them to a collection too?
Hey! I purchased it, but on my keyboard there is no key for accent grave key. How can I change the shortcut? :)
I don't know - is there an option to change shortcuts in the add-on settings?
OMG finally! ;) Thanks Justin
Thanks for watching!
Best thing to come to Blender like in forever! Good buy Sketchup, I am switching to Blender. Now just to get a way to import Blender files into Lumion with ease and I will be as happy as can be.
Serious question - do you feel this add-on adds enough features for you to actually switch from SketchUp? And what do/did you use SketchUp for?
I think it does. I use Sketchup mainly to model for rendering inside Lumion. I receive most of my models from clients that work in Revit.
I just have a problem importing FBX files from Blender into Lumion.
@@ncbuys did you find a solution yet ?
Nice. will this work well with archipack pro, boxcutter?
I mean, some of the features will - they're kind of for different functions...
I bought Construction Lines and am enjoying my new functionality. Has anyone tried CAD Transform 0.0.8? It has some functionality overlap with Construction Lines but I find the two complement each other pretty well.
I think I talked about it here - ruclips.net/video/TTKvxrgbFWU/видео.html - Not sure if that's the version I talked about or not
I live in Canada and I am French and I have absolutely no idea where the accent grave is on the keyboard as all keyboard come in unilingual English in Canada, I usually do the accent using the Alt + numbers for every letter that needs accents, there are a ton in each sentence I write, but how to to do ALT + accent grave I have no idea, can you let me know?
Seems like a great question to google...
What are the other work arounds? How to make 3d from cad drawing like sketchup?
I spend a good few weeks learning modeling in Blender. I was making an ant formicarium, so needed accurate sizes to be 3d printed. What a mess. Kept getting manifold issues, a bolean didn't want to print. I switched to Fusion 360 for it, huge learning curve but someone helped show me what I need to know. Why can't Blender be so simple? With fusion, make the box, the extrusions, a circle for a 16mm hole, no dealing with proper geometry. I would love to see this addon take on a Fusion 360 feel to modeling. I ain't building a car engine, it was fairly simple but a mess to try in Blender with my limited knowledge.
Fusion 360 is an excellent tool for what you're describing - some modeling tools are better than others for different applications!
@@TheCGEssentials Yea. It really is too bad in this day and age that it is fractured like that. But I understand, I saw CAD for DOS back in the day working at a computer store in the early 90s and seeing customers testing their upgraded computer, looked nuts. I have hopes for Blender, they have done very well over the years. I have dabbled in 3d modeling going back to 3D Studio V3 but never took it serious. Now with 3d printing. Why is it so hard for blender to not be able to simplify like CAD? I played with 3ds Max, not sure how accurate that is for design and 3d print.
I understand 2 separate things but now we have thrown 3d printers into the mix. This is what took me weeks to learn and design, imgur.com/PBMQR39 It was a failure and wouldn't print.
I think I found multiple tutorials on how to cut a hole into a side, want a 16mm hole? Boolean which makes a mess, or other examples I saw that really went by eye and % rather than measurement.
To make something so simple, just so much to learn with Blender.
@ I don't know about this - it just isn't really built for precision modeling in the same way a lot of CAD programs are - it has a different focus, but seems to have a number of tools that are really great for that focus.
CAD and polymodeling software (ie Blender) are built for very different purposes. CAD is best at working with real-world constraints while poly modeling shines in the digital entertainment industry. I recommend you to learn CAD which would work much better with 3d printing in your case. However, you might miss the "freedom" you used to have in Blender :)
HI,some time crash while working why?i can't get it back in the working same file. any idea? when I open a new file? its working.
No clue? What version are you using? Are you sure it's THIS add-on?
i am using 2.90.i am using this addon
using this addon, can you draw from any random point and make a guide line that perpendicular to any line/edge ?
I don't think there's really a tool for perpendicular just yet - not 100% sure though
This is grrrrrrrreat!!!! Thanks so much!
Glad you like it!
@@TheCGEssentials cool!
bought it and its not compatible with the current version. hope an update is in the works
Blender should have more SketchUp like functionality by default. That would make blender even more popular with the casual crowd, people like me.
Trimble seems determined to set SU into a dead end with its online only free version and subscription/renting of new SU pro. I've been waiting for something similar, but open source.
Because a $7 one time fee is...too much?
@@TheCGEssentials No, I actually bought this add-on even though I don't really use Blender, but with this I might give it a try.
I'm not very familiar with Blender so what I'm more concerned with is that I don't know how long it it takes to break compatibility with Blender since Blender seems to evolve so fast. Most plugins for SU I bought or use have remained usable for years through various versions, but I bought this one since it is so cheap and adds the functionality I want.
@@Marian87 I am actually learn Blender. It is most friendly UI as it seem. It is most powerful than SketchUp. Trimble SketchUp managed by stupid people, with forced subscription and shamed updates is a dead end.
Hey, can't find this addon in v2.91 for Linux :-(
Best bet would be to leave a comment on the Construction Lines Blender Artists forum thread. No idea if this is a thing or not
Perfect, exactly like sketchup!
Well, close, anyway :)
For some reason these lines can't snap to the grid in 2.9. It snaps to cursor only. Kinda useless for drawing the start of a CAD drawing if you can't use a grid to measure. Why is this so hard for blender to implement like sketchup did? I just want to draw 2d and extrude to 3d...... i bought this and now it seems kinda pointless. any help would be great!
God bless you guy! many thx!!!
Thanks for watching!
There was an announcement of a new native feature coming to Blender 2.9, that is "Blueprint at the time". It would do one of the things this add-on can do - draw faces out of edges in SketchUp-like manner. But I think it was withdrawn due to instability. I hope they will introduce it in the future though!
The move (snap) tool of this add-on and how it works is something I have been looking for in Blender. I thought it was just me not able to find it. In all these years, Blender has never added this obvious function and do you really need this add-on for to snap one point of an object to another point of another object?
There is some built-in snapping (ruclips.net/video/0p06F1LzTjQ/видео.html), but no CAD style move tool - also I find the inferencing on the built-in snapping to be a bit...twitchy
@@TheCGEssentials Thanks!
It is awesome! However, I can't see the tape line although I have active the tools.
Check again - they only show up if it's active, so unless you deleted the lines, this is how you get them to show up - make sure it's active
Justin, it seems that Blender could soon have the potential to compete with Sketchup? My conclusion a few months ago was that Blender is great, but it isn't CAD software so it can't compete with Sketchup on things that Sketchup can do best (e.g. architectural modeling). But it seems to me that Blender is growing so fast that in a year from now it can be a valid alternative to Sketchup for anybody that doesn't also need Layout. I hope that soon both Blender and you will be ready for a complete course on "Architectural modeling with Blender for Skethcup users", using an optimized workflow that can challenge Sketchup!
I get different variations of this question a lot, and really the answer to your question is...it depends on what you're doing. If we're talking specifically about architectural modeling for production drawings, I feel like it's a ways off. People seem to get fired up when I say this, but I just don't see the tools as being ready for this useage quite yet.
It is really a cool addon and so important. So can we draw lines with different angles? Like degree? Is it possible with this addon Sir?
Hmmm...this one I'm not sure about - I don't remember seeing an option for drawing with degrees...
Hi Zafry, this is a feature I'm working on right now. You'll be able to rotate guide lines and also lock drawing a line to a particular angle.
@@dannorris1406 Oh great! I will look into it. Thanks sir.
It has been just incredibly frustrating for years that you can't just do this in a graphics program as advanced as Blender: "Draw lines simply by clicking and dragging in the 3D viewport." I start virtually all my models by adding a plane , going into edit mode and deleting two of the vertices, leaving two vertices i e a line in space, vertices that are pretty much never in the places that I want them to be. Sketchup showed ten years ago the incredible stone simple power of just being able to draw a line in space, and yet, for all their incredible work, the Blender devs continue to ignore this now glaringly face slap obvious function. Will definitely be getting this addon. Goes much of the way to adding the key Sketchup functionality to Blender.
I generally agree - it's odd to me why they wouldn't have a "line" tool. Now you can enable the extra shapes add-on, insert a single vertex, and extrude from there, but still does seem like a pretty simple tool. That said, people don't seem to realize that Blender doesn't really WANT to act like most CAD softwares...
phyton error... when execute a tape
I use catia and inventor at work, i wonder if this add-on will speed up my modeling in blender, i hope so.
Couldn't hurt :)
I'd like to see the construction lines visibility have a toggle on/off, not auto-vanishing, because I'd like to use other Blender tools to create geometry that can snap to the construction lines which is hard or impossible if the lines are not visible.
Dear CG, having downloaded the zip file into preferences, i am unable to see it in add on list in preferences. Kindly help
Did you click the install button in preferences and actually install from the zip file? Don't extract the zip
Can you cut out shapes in walls?
There's probably better ways, like booleans, for this
this dude has the blender guru voice without the accent
This looks pretty good but a little primitive too. I don’t expect it to do everything that SletchUp and AutoCAD do but overall I can really see the workflow that I’m used to from school :)
I'd say that's a fair assessment - not as high powered as AutoCAD or SketchUp in this department, but could definitely be useful for users of those programs looking for more of a "CAD-ish" experience in Blender...