How to use boolean modifiers in Blender

Boolean modifiers are a very powerful tool that you could use to design your own things so let's go ahead and delete the camera and Light by pressing X on the keyboard and I'm just going to quickly change the units to millimeters go to the scene properties go to units and I'm going to change the length to millimeters and the unit scale to 0.001 and then I'm going to go up here to the viewport overlays and change the grid scale to 0.001 as well okay so I'm going to select the object press n to open up the object properties and I'm going to set the dimensions 8080 and let's say 70 not quite as tall okay so there's our object there so now let's say we want to create a tool organizer and we want a couple of different holes and Slots on top so we could use a Boolean modifier to do that if we add an object let's say a cylinder and we scale that object up so I'm going to scale it in all directions first and then scale it vertically like this okay make sure it's not sticking out of the bottom just gonna drag it up maybe like that is good all right and maybe you want this hole to be over here in this corner all right so now we can actually cut this cylinder out of this Square so we want to select the square first because we're going to be cutting the cylinder out of this square and now go to this blue wrench here that's your modifier properties and go to add modifier and go to Boolean now you see there's difference and Union and intersect we want difference since we're cutting it out so select the object with the object picker there we go and that should work go ahead and click apply right here and we could delete the cylinder by pressing X and then delete all right so now we have a clean hole cut in there and now let's say we want a larger slot cut out of here and maybe we don't need this this side to be as tall either so let's add a cube and let's let's scale that Cube up in all directions and yeah let's do that and now we can move it up maybe over here like this maybe a little bit higher I'm going to scale it one more time this way something like that and move it over just however you want okay there we go now I'm going to select this Cube again and let's go to Boolean modifier and I'll cut it out there you can see it looks like it worked go ahead and click apply and then we can delete the tool object okay so now it kind of has this stair step like that and we can start cutting some more holes and Slots into it so I'm going to go to add mesh and let's say on this entire area here so I'm gonna add a cube and I'm going to scale that Cube all right just kind of eyeballing it gonna move so I'm just switching between move and scale let's go this way that should be good and then maybe scale a little bit taller make sure it's not sticking out of the bottom okay that's good now I could take our object here the main object and go to add modifier Boolean and select this object here once again click apply and you should start getting the the hang of it it's definitely it's a pretty simple pattern and then you click on your object click X to delete and then press delete and now we have this opening here and now let's say we want a few more different cuts up top let's go to add mesh and I don't know let's other thing let's do how about a cube another Cube move it over here scale it up you can see how you could pretty easily design simple things like this and you can even see the dimensions of this here so there's the dimensions of it and let's say I don't know maybe you want to make sure it's maybe needs to be at least 15. so it's a little bigger than 15. and then we get Scaled out here and move it like that and we make sure it's not sticking out the bottom otherwise it'll cut a hole all the way through so we're just going to pull it up that should be good now we can select the whole object go to add modifier Boolean select the object click apply now we delete the object and now we have our custom organizer that was actually really easy to make and additionally we could use Boolean modifiers to add to this shape so we could go to add mesh and let's add a cube we'll move the cube over here and let's move it down and then let's scale it up all right they're a little bit smaller okay and then move it to here just like that and down a little bit now when you're using Boolean modifiers you never want the faces to be overlapping so if it was like this see how these faces are very close to overlapping here even if they're a little bit closer because that could cause issues when you're doing the cut if it's too close like that or they're overlapping so you always want to leave some extra space so for this one I'll do is I'll make it a little bit too low and then I'll cut everything off the bottom just to make sure the whole thing is flat so let's add this Square to this shape select the shape add modifier Boolean this time we're going to select Union and now we can select this object now they're connected go ahead and click apply and now we can delete the square okay and we need to make sure that this is flat but first maybe let's do a cut all the way through this time so let's add a mesh Cube and you could definitely see the pattern at this point you add the object do the modifier you cut it you delete the object it's really not too bad at all and this time let's let's just cut it all the way through why not so it's hanging out the bottom okay add a modifier Boolean difference okay we'll select the object all right click apply now we delete the object now it's cut all the way through but now we need to make sure it's all flat so I'm going to add one more Square one more Cube this time I'm just going to scale it really wide like this and maybe a little bit taller keep scaling it there we go and then move it all the way down let's say to there select this object and now we'll slice the entire bottom off just like that click apply and then delete the object by pressing X and then delete now it's completely flat on the bottom so that is the power of Boolean modifiers

Channel: 3D Printer Academy Tutorials

Views: 13,667

Keywords: boolean modifiers, blender, how to

Id: 9JwNV8ikeqA

Length: 8min 21sec (501 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 26 2022