The complete guide to Boxcutter
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- čas přidán 21. 07. 2024
- Working our way through every option in Boxcutter and what it is used for. This is the first part of two tutorials (otherwise it would have been VERY long) and looks at all the options on the top bar.
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You can use the chapters to jump to the bits that will be useful for you:
00:00 Introduction and installing
01:35 Basic function
03:05 Operations
07:49 Shapes and sub-shapes
12:40 Setting origin position
15:04 Orientation
20:09 Snapping and grids
24:55 Destructive and non-destructive
Creating panel lines tutorial: • How to add panel line ... - Jak na to + styl
I'm just starting in Blender and this Sir, is the most convicing sales video I've seen so far. Instant buy! Thanks for the effort you put in your content! ⚜
Glad you found it useful and good luck on your journey into Blender! 👍
Best Boxcutter tutorial around! Well done sir!
Thanks so much Jeff, thats high praise indeed 😁
Best Tutorial i have seen on BoxCutter... Thanks so Much :)
Cheers 😁
Mr. Vaul. AGAIN I find that you have one of the best videos available for my Blen-ucaution needs.
😁 great to be able to help. Thanks for watching Space 👍🏻
Damn this is a great video!!! Best beginner BoxCutter video I have seen so far, and I have watched a lot. I just got box cutters and hard ops and I was having a lot of trouble using them because the other videos didn't explain them as well as you do. for instance, I didn't realize you needed to apply a double-click before you can slide it through the object when using the ngon tool; because of you, I can finally use that tool. Thank you for your excellent instructions. Note: I have subscribed to your channel.
Thanks so much for the sub and hopefully you find my other videos as helpful 😁
awesome video mate, helping tons, nice clean and informative
@Sivart. Thanks so much Sivart 😁👍🏻
The best addons are Vanilla options in fewer steps. That’s why I like this add on. It’s Bool Tool but faster.
I totally agree. Occasionally there's an addon that just does something mind blowing (Mesh Machine would be a good example) but a lot of what I want is efficiency.
You got me again. Greatly explained!
Always happy to be helping people out 😁👍🏻
I'm surprised these tools are not standard features in Blender. They're so useful. I purchased both today, and I don't think I can go back to vanilla without these tools.
👍🏻 I agree. It would be great if they were native but I'm glad a creator has put in the time to make something that does it so well.
Absolutely brilliant. Thanks dude.
No problem at all. Glad you liked it.
Hops cutter was such a good investment , I don't use Boxcutter much because of all its fails but Hops is like a must for my workflow
Yeah they are fantastic and in the end do what works for you. :)
The snap to grid option reminds me of the old Grow browser games where they'd carve a cube and it would turn into a little city
🤣🤣🤣🤨I had to look that up but totally see that
Brilliant. I've watched a number of BoxCutter Tutorials and none were as clear and illustrative as this one tutorial. I've had BoxCutter for years and only used it a short time. This will change that. Bravo. Will you be doing a tutorial for HardOps? I'm still not sure of the difference between C-Sharp and S-Sharp for example. Many many thanks for your hard work on these tutorials. Great pacing, engaging tone, keeping me from zoning out and letting my attention drift. A+ Teaching skills here.
As a teacher I'm relieved to hear that 😉 And honestly Boxcutter is great so it's good to hear I can help people use it more. I do intend to do some on HardOps but I need to think of how to subdivide it up into topics as it's such a HUGE addon it's quite a challenge. But it will come for sure.
Very handy! Thanks!
You're welcome!
Great stuff!
Cheers 😁
I just bought the HardOps/Boxcutter bundle but I forgot to use your affiliate link!
I'll have to make it up to you later.
I appreciate the thought man. No issue and I hope you enjoy it!
Thank you for all your excellent videos. I have just purchased Boxcutter and learned almost everything about it from this video...... I just need to know how to edit a non destructive boolean? I am also a beginner with Blender so I may be missing something.
When you say edit do you just mean to modify its shape?
In the other tutorials they go so fast it's hard to keep up. I tried to learn boxcutter multiple times and dropped it because of those tutorials. Thanks for going slow and explaining the details so I can finally learn this.
No problem, glad it helps. My thought it that someone can always speed up the videos but giving a clear explanation should help everyone.
@ArtisansofVaul the cutter doesn't default to "view". You have to start your cut within the face bounds of the side you are cutting into. if you start outside of that face, the cutter switches from "object" to "view".
👍🏻
I know because i do it often. Sometimes it makes more sense to me to start my cut outside the shape i'm cutting because that's the easiest way to draw it. Maybe there is a setting in BC/HOps that makes that not switch to View unless you select the option manually.@@ArtisansofVaul
thank you
My pleasure.
I see you able to "Draw from the Corner" using the snap feature? It occurs at 20:31 mark. You use the center snap point and are able to draw your box from that corner. I'm set up in "Draw from the Corner" mode but each time I hit CTRL and start placing the box, it draws from the center, not the corner. I tried looking this up in the Boxcutter User Guide but haven't been able to find an answer. Ever have anyone run into that issue? If so, was there a resolution? If you have a moment to reply I'd appreciate it, if not thanks for the tutorial anyway, it was very helpful. Consider your account liked and subscribed.
I always try to find time to reply 😉 And thanks so much for the sub.
I haven't heard of this happening. Is there any chance of you taking a video of your screen when you do it and putting it on a Google drive so I can have a look. I'm not sure if I can but maybe I can spot the issue.
@@ArtisansofVaul I tried to post a link to the google drive here but it looks like it didn't work. How can I get you the link?
@bjfennell81 If you have Instagram or Facebook I can be messaged there
@@ArtisansofVaul ok I'll try that. Thanks again for taking time out. Much appreciated
Hi guys, I am having the same issue, has an answer to this question been found~? Much appreciated
It is brilliant. I am able to learn Boxcutter in a half an hour. Very good, thank you. I think, in your "The complete guide..." series you might also make a HardOps and Meshmachine episode. Your videos are far better than Blender Bros's.
Thanks man. The most recent videos have been the same for Mesh Machine if you're interested. Hopefully they are as easy to follow. 😁 czcams.com/play/PLnqmLZKRm5CbXvERNjPPdu7jvZ6eCQUxr.html
@@ArtisansofVaul Thank you :) I mean the complete guides are very useful to get a full picture, starting point and after that it is much easier to learn. Anyway, I watch your videos, thanks a lot.
Got boxcutter and hardops and in the first section of this video following along I loved it, it makes blender feel more like what I'm used to in Maya or Modo! but not sure what I've pressed following along, but it no longer previews the cut slide and just autocuts all the way through and locking to the object/ortho view doesn't work....everything's just at random angles and makes wedges/angles even with wedge/angle turned off. Bummer, it was great for a minute there but now I don't even know the right words to google the problem since "autocut" is an actual setting and "white dots" just brings up search results for rendering issues. :')
I would guess from the description you have activated something to do with the "laser cut" feature, which automatically cuts all the way through. Have a search for that and see if that helps at all. If not there is always the option to just uninstall the addon and reinstall it so that it returns to the default setting.
Hi I've been watching your video tonight which is really helpfull but wondered if you had found an issue with the extract tool? If I 'capture' the custom shape and then try to re-use it several times, after a few it stops cutting all the way though. If I then make the customs cutter size much bigger it cuts through. This is being applied direct to the basic cube without any size, location or rottion having being applied. Thanks for any help.
I haven't found that but I cant say I have used the custom shape a lot in close repetition to have tested it to it's limit...
think ive almost watch every video you've put out, fantastic work so far mate. quick question on non -destructive cutting with box cutter. I'm assuming you have to switch the modifiers to destructive before you export to STL? ive tried exporting without changing cuts to destructive and the Booleans are showing as solid objects.
Thanks a lot. Thats a good question. I cantr actually say I know the answer as I would always recommend applying everything before exporting. It means you can spot issues and solve them. Just remember to then click the option to only export the selected object and have the object you want to export selected.
@@ArtisansofVaul cheers matey, I think your right there, I think I selected all before exporting. Only been playing with blender for a week now so I’m very Green
@@murraysminis9390 No worries at all. It took me a huge amount of time before I finally saw the little button to only export the selected items.
What was the hotkey that pulled up the set origin pie menu? at 23:39?
Thanks
Sorry I should have said that as I did it. Its shift+f using Machin3 Tools (a free addon)
I keep finding that when i try to box cut with alignment set to object, it works for the first cut, then the second cut it won't cut it wants to extrude and it won't allow the selection box to pass through the object. In short I can't do what you do at 21:15 as far as i can see my settings are the same so i'm not sure what i'm dong wrong.
Hmm... That's tricky to diagnose when I can't see it happening directly. Is the object being cut a simple cubs or something more complex? The reason I ask is that normally this is caused by the object having some form of error in it. First thing I would do is check that the boolean being created by the first cut is set to "Exact" and not "fast". Then try the second cut. If that solves it let me know and I can explain how to set boxcutter to automatically do it the exact method.
Super helpful video. One thing I can't seem to figure out is, when using the Ngon tool, when I double click to accept the shape, it doesn't allow me to pan the view around to extrude to the depth I want. It's just locked in the view and I have to double click to extrude all the way through. Is that a setting? Could it be because I'm using an Apple Might Mouse with no real middle mouse button? It does seem to work for everything else.
I think youve probably got the issue. To pan Im using the middle mouse button so if Apple doesn't have that it may be either limited or there is perhaps a setting to allow something else... Or you may need a different mouse (sorry).
@@ArtisansofVaul Confirmed with a different mouse. So, if anyone is having that issue, pick up a mouse with an actual wheel!
Best video on Boxcutter hands down. One question though, at about 23:25 you go to edit mode select a face and then I see a pop up pie menu "selection to face". What magic keystrokes do you use to get that to happen,? You blast through that part so quick I can't figure out how you do it. I didn't think you could change object pivot location in edit mode. Thanks again.
Sorry for the delayed reply, I was away. Its moving to origin to the face and the keystrokes are shift+s.
If you don't have machin3 tools (a free add on I would really recommend) then your menu will look a bit different but it should still have the option of moving the origin to the selected face.
I hope that helps.
Very much! Thank you so much, I learn more with your videos than any I've watched. Blender experts tend to whip through operations like it's a speed contest and don't explain things with as much clarity as you do.
@@nullobject001 Thanks. I try to make everything clear. My apology for skimming over that bit.
Question: how would you make an arrayed inset cut like the grooves on the back of a gameboy? I'm having a hell of a time figuring out how to use this or fluent for real-work tasks.
I'm not sure what they look like. Are they just long thin straight cuts?
@@ArtisansofVaul yeah, all inset to the same depth, while leaving a buffer around the battery cover.
How do you select and deselect an object when you have the boxcutter tool active? I have to press W to deactivate the tool, select/deselect the object I want, and then reactivate boxcutter with 'Alt + W'
You shouldn't need to do that. Make sure your selection method is the same as mine (I think it's called box select).
@@ArtisansofVaul Yeah, I double-checked I'm using the same selection method. As soon as I click on anything if boxcutter is the active tool (on the left-hand bar on the screen), clicking on anything just starts creating a cut or something instead of selecting another object.
Unrelatedly, great tutorial and good work.
Update: Actually, even when I try to click the star thing in the top right (whatever it's called) to align my view to the axes, it doesn't work, and it starts a cut instead. I can't seem to be able to click on anything when I'm in the boxcutter tool...
Wonderful tutorial, but I'm going mad trying to figure out what you did at around 23:40, where you moved the origin of the object in edit mode to the center of the selected face. I've rewatched that stretch of video at least a dozen times, trying to catch what keystrokes you used to pull up the circle menu for origins. I simply can't catch it. I've also tried every combo of shift+letter key to no avail. I've googled the issue and people seem to think it's impossible. HOW DID YOU DO THAT?
Thanks a lot. My bad for not explaining that though, that's a pie menu from machin3 tools for moving origins and the cursor as well. If you don't have Machin3 Tools it's an add on you can download for free on Gumroad.
@@ArtisansofVaul Many thanks for the tip! I'll get machine3 tools right away. And many thanks for all the wonderful videos you produce.
@@strether52 No problem at all. If you want to see more videos of what Machin3 Tools can do (it does a LOT of awesome things as well as just enhancing the Blender experience) I've got videos on some of its functions here: Machin3 Tools Tutorials: czcams.com/play/PLnqmLZKRm5CYGKLbXGa3l74XPxTi45ft2.html
My boxcutter and blender crash 😢😢 , witch version do you use ?
I've got 4.0.1 for Blender and then the most recent boxcutter (I'm not at home so not sure the version). I think it updated last week
Sorry to bother you again. I was wonder if you could help. I have a cylinder and on top of the cylinder I want to lasercut a circle but the circle is off center when I start the cut. I can move it and eye ball the center but there must be an easier way to do this. I tried changing the origin point but that doesn't help. Any help would be great. thanks
You should be able to use the snapping tool. In the menu at the top make sure the magnet is clicked on (blue). Then hold your mouse over the top of the cylinder face you want to be cut and hlpd ctrl. You should get a spot in the middle of the cylinder you can click on and expand your circle out from there.
It's in the video from 20:13 onwards
@@ArtisansofVaulThat was it.. I saw that in the video and it seems to have the same result. I closed down and reopened blender and tried again and it worked this time... Thanks for your help again.. It seem to have an offset of some kind.
@@rmacfarland1 I'm glad it worked 👍🏻
Hello Sir! I just wonder if would it be possible for you to create video about retopology in context of booleans which are creating a lot of ngons? 3d printing models require quads and in game assets low poly count is required. Is there some knowledge you could possibly share with us?
3d printing doesn't require quads, it actually requires triangles but most slicer software can manage that. Alternatively a mesh can be brought into 3d Builder and it will fix it or you can use the triangulate modifier. Effectively for 3D printing ngons really aren't a concern in the way it can be for some game assets, so beyond fixing errors in shapes I've never worries about quad topology. Thete are definitely videos out there that will do but it's not something I've ever needed to worry about as 3D printing....
@@ArtisansofVaul Thank you for the quick reply. I study game design, so for me quads are quite important, especially when an object is to be animated.
I recently found some videos that describe this problem, so I'll focus on them now.
Thanks for the content you create, it is very helpful.
Good sir there's an add-on called QuadRemesher for blender, that gives a perfect quads topology for any object u want to edit, quite expensive 100 ish. But it's the best investment ive ever done to stop worrying about quad topology. Def recommend it!
Hello. I don't have information on my screen whenever I cut something with beveled object. Therefore, I'm not able to arrange the number of the segments. How to make it pop up?
If you do the bevel and have confirmed it, once you have it should be in the bottom left corner. You might have a small box to click on to expand it
@@ArtisansofVaul i didn’t mean operation panel. I meant boxcutter info display that pops up whenever u confirm something or do things such as bevel and stuff. I don’t have that display.
@@ali.almiss Could you give the time in the video as an example? Thats the only box that pops up off the top of my head other than the general information box but that is accessed by clicking "d".
@@ArtisansofVaul Sorry for not letting you know earlier that I was here for this question actually. I didn't watch the video totally. However, I fixed my issue. Thanks for tryna help!!
@@ali.almiss No problem. I'm glad you got it sorted.
Just started in Boxcutter and hard ops. my cutters dont seem to work like yours. they draw just under the surface then extrude outward instead of into the object. making a shallow surface cut instead of digging into the shape. I can not for the life of me figure out what setting I screwed up.
Hmm.... That sounds very good. I might need to see a video of whats happening. The best option might be to message the creator, in the past they have gotten back to me in about 1-2 days.
Go into edit mode and then hit alt+A to select everything and then go to mesh > normals > recalculate outside normals and it will fix it
I've bought so many add-ons based on your recommendations.
Any idea why BoxCutter just keeps ADDING objects even when set to Cut/Slice etc? Never wants to cut or slice anything.
Glad to know youre finding the recomendations useful. There's a couple of likely causes, the most likely is the object you're cutting isn't manifold so that's causing issues with the boolean operations. Most probably because there is a flipped face.
@@ArtisansofVaul hmmm I’ll need to mess with it a bit. I was testing on a scaled up default cube when I noticed the issue. It randomly stopped misbehaving after I commented but it’s back to being odd. 🤷🏻♂️
@@phantomsmithy sometimes scaling and reverse the face orientation. Check the face orientation first would be my suggestion
Guys,My Ngon can’t work to lock shape when I double click 😢how to fix it?
I'm not sure why that's happening but you should be able to use tab to lock the shape as an alternative and then use one of the "dots" to drag its thickness
@@ArtisansofVaul thanks for that.I just reinstall it and take some settings for the plugin ,now it is well done .😇
If I have a cube of say 10 x 10 metres face area and want to cut an inset face of 2 x 1 metres which is about 1/4 from the face edge, how would I input the dimensions to precisely do this?
You want the second part of this series for that. Youd want to probably use the grid function. You can check it out here: czcams.com/video/dC2Zw8GcxxU/video.html
@Artisans of Vaul Thank you will check it out. But no way of just direct editing, as you would an object?
@Keith12001 What do you mean by directly editing? You could easily use edge loops to map out the area and then extrude inwards.
@Neil Collins I mean if you select an object in object mode, go to item, then to dimensions you can precisely input the x,y,z dimensions
@Keith12001 I'm confused what you are asking. You want to know how to do this I'm boxcutter? Or destructively on the original object itself?
You got shares in hard ops and box cutter? 😅
🤣 Lmao. I WISH. I don't even have an affiliate link for them. Annoyingly that takes money off the creators and I dont think that's right so I've never asked. I just have affiliate links for Amazon as I think Jeff can afford it 😉🤣
How do you change the color of your box to red? Also I bought the bundle cause of you 😂
Thanks man. Do you mean the box I'm working on? I've got a video on how I set up my viewport here: czcams.com/video/GcNHZILKl3I/video.html
Hey Guys, My name is Richard and I have been trying to learn boxcutter/HardOPS at the moment the Ngon cutter. I've checked a couple of your vids about it but , I just can't seem to figure it out I'm working on the M1 imac desktop. (STOP Laughing...) well by holding down the control button and left click the mou8se I can make the shape but I can't get it to stay it always disappears on me. Any answers for an old noob?
Hmm... when you click on the object does it show a boolean had been created in the modifier tab?
@@ArtisansofVaul Yes, there is one but, everything I try just ends up canceling the operation any ideas what is not set up correctly?
@richardroche1463 Just checking, I'd your version of Blender and Boxcutter up to date? I ask as I had someone the other week with it not working right and that was the issue
@@ArtisansofVaul I'm running Blender 3.6.1 and Boxcutter/HardOPS 7.19.14
@richardroche1463 Hmmm.... Not sure then. It might be your desktop but I can't be certain. Maybe contact the creator and see if they have any advice/suggestions. Sorry I can't be more help.
GreaT BuT ThaT StronG AccenT JusT Explode My EarS
Lmao. Well subtitles are there if you want them. Otherwise you're going to have to suck it up 🤣
@@ArtisansofVaul I already watched it, just turned volume a little bit lower
inset does not behave the same in my blender like in your video. any idea why?
In what way is it different? What does it do instead?
it basically creates the oppsite it does cut in but it puts in a large square that sticks out towards the z axis I've tried all morning I cant get to do what yours does, mhh let add to this comment i just created a cube and tried inset and it worked but it doesnt work on my current main mesh let me keep checking. not working i cant figure it out. all transforms and scales have been applyed.
@EL_N0IR_2201 Have you run the 3d toolbox on your mesh. Is sounds like the is a chance it's not manifold (possibly some vertices on top of one a other)
@@ArtisansofVaulyea it think it might be that I’m still tryng too figure it out, I also wanted to ask you another question if I can, I’ve been following a lot of hard opps 2 tutorials and everybody seems to have the little box for hard pops 2 on the left along the other tools just like the box cutter box, I bought both hard ops and cutter and installed but I only have the cutter box on the left like you but the opps 2 is not there, instead I have a tab on the right with 3 hearths and that’s the menu for pops 2 why? Why does everybody else have the box except me?
@EL_N0IR_2201 Hmm.... That's also very odd. It might be worth uninstalling it and reinstalling as you definetly should have that there. I'm not even sure there is a setting to stop you having it there.
When I cut, I still have these edges from the box.
I can't quite visualise what you mean.... what edges?
U like the Union Bullion :)
😁
why does it lag my whole computer
It will depend on the complexity of the object you're cutting and hpw good your computer is. This is because its doing a lot of calculations constantly as things are being changed. Of you are doing something complex once you have the size of the shape hit Tab and then you can do everything from a point where it isn't as animated/doing as much work constantly.
@@ArtisansofVaul bro do you have tutorials on hardsurface modeling on curves surfaces like spheres ? And oval shapes ?
@@_casg I don't think I do specifically. What are you trying to make?
@@ArtisansofVaul like let’s Boolean a sphere egg shape and a cube . Can both of these shapes be seamlessly joined without any artifacts
@casg9305 ahh... So I do but I work for 3D printing so it may not be perfect for you. czcams.com/video/C-e5Dp7GIXk/video.html
Trying to go through this tutorial and I can make cuts and slices, but I can not select an object. I am in object mode, as you are, but when I go to select an object, it just wants to make a new cut. Thoughts on this, searching the web has turned up nothing
That's odd. You won't be able to select by dragging but you should be able to with a single click. If you are single clicking I wonder if there is a setting somewhere to start a cut with a single click instead of a drag? I can't say I've looked for one myself and I don't have my computer in front of me but that would be my guess.
@@ArtisansofVaul that's my assumption as well, it definitely starts a single point cut with a sinlge click, but I can't find a setting. Perhaps because I'm not sure what I'm looking for. I've reached out to Josh Gambrell too. Fingers crossed, cause it's really annoying.
Is the comment section still active? I have a few questions regarding box cuttter
Of course. Go for it and hopefully I can help.
@@ArtisansofVaul might be a silly one but how to increase the depth of Inset?
Secondly, when I put down ngon on a cube or whatever and double click it to close the loop, it goes across all the way
Thirdly, is there a way to slice out multiple numbers of an ngon or any cut out with one click?