Hard Surface Modeling Tips - Better Boolean Subtractions in Blender

Check out my course 3D Cars: Inside and Out on Gumroad, Blender Market, and Flipped Normals.

In this tutorial I'll give you a couple tips on how to get better results from the Boolean modifier. A lot can go wrong when you're creating cutouts with the Boolean modifier, but there are some useful solutions like changing the Solver, Overlap Threshold, and even modifying the cutout object to provide extra geometry to fix shading issues.

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[blengine]

Got any more boolean tips? Or come across any boolean issues you just can't solve? Share them here!

[UnchartedWorlds]

Thank you so much for making this, this is so much needed, I'm modeling some sci-fi stuff and I'm not expert at boolean cuts in Blender and was pulling my hair out to understand why I'm running into issues. I jus assumed Blender's booleans are not up to the job, but now I've learned how to use them :)

[mufaddal]

Hey Chris, I just reached the end of Guide mesh section and I really loving the workflow so far, I was really surprised that you have put in those short clips ( you know what I mean don’t wanna spoil for others), Great Stuff!❤

[theonlineanimator]

Switching to fast mode certainly can work in a lot of instances. However, not always, even setting the overlap threshold to zero. What I've found works almost 100% of the time is using Exact mode and turn on Self in the solver options. This applies an addition union boolean before the difference boolean and can help with objects that have multiple intersecting meshes. Hole Tolerant can also help with non-manifold objects. Of course, turning all of these options on can make booleans significantly more laggy, so that's something to be aware of if you do a lot of them.

[nextday]

i am from indonesia, this tutorials very helpful.

[notsure]

Thank you for the great tutorial. This is just what I needed.

[pile]

Nice tips. thanks!
Yeah, we all bump into those damn artifacts sometimes! 😄

[stargazestudios]

In addition to Auto Smooth, you can use the Weighted Normal modifier to fix shading issues.

[vectordexter]

Please keep uploading, great stuff man

[supahfly_uk]

Ooooh Hard Surface modelling yeah baby

[seragyugi]

you can use bevel modidier with weighten normal will fix any bad shading

[PrashanSubasinghe]

The only hard surface modeling course you need!

[Arktal]

Thanks for the tips! This'll be very handy for not getting booleans to screw up shading; I've always ended up applying the modifier and manually shifting vertices.

I was wondering, how do you think this would effect a UV map? How could it be more optimized to work well with a UV map? Often times I end up using seams, since are often times sharp angles like in this video, and as a result when displayed and textured receive a lower resolution. It isn't a huge deal when the area being seamed on its own is a small area, like these holes in the exhaust, but I was wondering if seaming it would also be the right move when it's much larger.

[Gonzomat]

Nice overview of some techniques you can use for fixing certain shading issues! I would also point out that weighted normals work like a charm if you have more complex geometry and want to fix ngon stretching like you showed before. I also thought that you show the normal transfer with the problem when cutting a low poly geometry. Fortunately for that kind of mesh, the subdivison worked, but I think showing that techniques could help others too. :D But nonetheless, sometimes less is more (like adding the edgeloop for the cylinder to fix the internal shading).

[simongizaw]

WHY do you STOPPED MAKING VIDEO i like your tutorials

[PoMkAc]

Hi. In Blender 4.1 with it Shade smooth by angle it doesn’t work. In Blender 4.0 everything is OK. How to fix shading issues after Shade smooth (main object) in Blender 4.1?

[rmbd]

Hello, is your Corvette course no longer available?

[ahmadridhomaulana]

hello i want to ask If I buy the course later, will we make the car with a blueprint, right?

[LGHTZR]

hey, is it possible to contact you in Discord?