Workflow

The workflow of Grid Modeler is based on Boolean Cut and Creating new face.

Boolean cut :

You draw a shape, then use blender’s boolean function to cut the mesh

Create face :

You draw a shape, then create a separated face on top of it. The separated face is selected, you can extrude it to make mesh.

They are the core functions of Grid Modeler, so I am going to talk about the hints and concepts for using them.

Boolean Cut

Blender has boolean functions, it is very efficient for speed modeling. You just need to draw a shape then cut it.

Please note that :

  • When a mesh is boolean cut, the resulting mesh is ngon (n-gons faces). It is not good for sub-division workflow.

  • Ngon mesh can be textured without problem. You just need to unwarp the mesh as usual to create UV for your mesh. To unwarp, you can select the faces and press U key, then choose your method (“Smart UV Project” is the simplest way). Also you may select edges and set seam if you want.

  • Blender has two Boolean solver : Fast solver and Exact solver. Both of them has problem and bugs. The new solver (exact solver) is designed to fix some of the problems of original solver, but it failed and still has problems.

  • Due to the above limitation of blender’s boolean, sometimes the resulting mesh is broken.

  • Ngon is not good for deforming. Therefore if you are making soft body, human characters, monster, then ngon is not good for you. Ngons works better for static object, for example, game object, weapons, cars, buildings, robots.

  • If you want quad topology, then you may need to use retopology tools afterward.

Create New Face

Creating new face on top of selected face, it is a very useful function of Grid Modeler. It open a new workflow for modeling and speed up the whole process a lot.

  • Creating new face function make a separated face. You can then (often) extrude it afterward.

  • The new face is separated from existing mesh. You can select the separated mesh quickly by L key. (blender hotkey)

  • The separated mesh has many advantages. First, you can select it (L key) and move it afterward. You can delete it without affecting your existing geometries. And also you can quick texture it with separated material. In real world, different parts made with different materials, so it is make sense to make them as separated parts with no geometry connectivity.

  • The separated mesh can be viewed as “Different parts inside a single object”. Comparing to traditional workflow in blender (working with “objects”), working with single object has many benefits. For example, you bridge parts and connect them anytime (select two faces, then bride edge loop). Also it is much more efficient and cleaner. Your scene list will not be filled with hundred objects with meaningless name.

Combining Boolean Cut and Creating new face, it is proven to be very efficient for speed modeling. You may watch my videos demo for real world demonstration.