I so much prefer videos that don’t just say “do this” but say “do this because.” Like yours. Keep up the excellent work. There’s bazillions of us noobs out here that love you.

Jeez, I learned WAY more from that and needed more of it than I thought I would. So glad I watched this one.

Less than 12 minutes of video, and I learned more than I did from a couple of years of occasional practice and frantic quick google searches. I'm horrible about finding time to practice, but I love learning the stuff. Well done.

You’re my favorite channel for everything modeling related. Keep it up!

Wow! This is one of the BEST introduction videos to hard surface modeling that I've ever watched. It's not perfect but it helps me understand the basics easier than other videos. Thank Josh.

Well done as always Josh. Good explanations and tips. I really like the stuff you and Ryuu have been doing. Keep up the great work brother!

If, by definition, a hard surface cannot be deformed, a car, for example, is also a hard surface. However, the curved lines and transitions cannot be achieved with booleans and bevels, or only with great difficulty. The sub-d or CAD workflow is better suited for this task. You use Hard Surface synonymously with bevel and boolean workflow, which can be confusing,

To be clear a lot of the techniques in this video are blender centric and wouldn't fly in the vfx/animation industry. The workflows are good for concept art.

I stumbled on this video by accident and I'm so glad I did. I've tried Blender and really would like to master hard modeling but so far I feel as dumb as a rock. Your free e-book and tutorial is much appreciated. Thanks!

2:33 that "OXYL" logo was a surprise to me because I made the font used in it (it's called Proto LDR), and it's not like it's a popular typeface. But what I really wanted to say is that thanks to this video I discovered your channel and the absolute WEALTH of informative content about hardsurface modeling you provide to the community. Now, I use C4D as my main DCC, but proper topology and an overall creative process are universal concepts, and that's why you deserve another subscriber.

I learned about fillets/chamfers in CAD, such a good class to take.

Hard surface modeling is literally the best side of modeling

Not a Blender user, but I would like to make an observation (not an attack). Blender users (& even worse in particular, Blender teachers) seem to have an unnatural hard on for booleans. From my standpoint as a Max abuser Booleans are most often more trouble than they're worth. 3D modelling entails a lot of troubleshooting, that's a given. But the great majority of the shooting done with booleans is annoying cleanup & retopologising for good edge flow. It just makes a huge mess that can most often be avoided by planning & knowing your other tools. But even when using booleans I rarely see any significant planning involved, it's all "Let's mash this into that", or "Poke a hole in that with this". For example the 2 sphere boolean mess shown here (as well as the need for a plugin to fix it) could have been easily avoided by using radial spheres rather than the sphericized cubes as demonstrated. Use the same # of segments, align the axes, & voila! Perfect, clean alignment of edge loops needing minimal (if any) cleanup. And with this alignment you also negate any need for the boolean at all, just chop off the unneeded bits & weld. A little planning & knowledge goes a long way. As for the shader bevels. I've never used them & have no strong feelings for them one way or another. But I am concerned about the exportability of them: If you make an object to export to another software, what are the chances these shaders will be retained? I regularly build props for use in different programs & inevitably the first thing that gets borked in translation is any kind of advanced shader. I guess that's fine if you plan to keep your work purely w/in blender, but is it a realistic approach if you plan on having any kind of pipeline?

I love the distinction of people and human beings not being one thing in the examples. W for alien inclusivity.

Coming from parametric modeling world - this explained WHY topology matters in a way that makes sense. - thank you

Love the bevel artefact section. Simple explanation and solutions, but touches the nitty gritty parts to explain the errors with great supporting visualisation.

THANC YOU FOR VIDEO/PERFECT COURS JOSH

What i understand from this video, this is a journey and all.We all have to is enjoy the journey and not to rush, to reach the end.

I use Cinema4D and Maya but this video still says a lot, definitely going to link this to people who want's to get into hard surface modeling

I like that you're trying to help people understand the tech, but the title could be much better. "Concepts Of Hard Surface Modelling"

U made me obsessed with hard surface modeling man 🥹

I got enough knowledge, that I am not relying on your content, but I still like to watch it. It is somehow relaxing and even if it doesn't show me new things, it can definately inspire me. Back in the day when starting to learn Blender, I purposefully started with very complex things: Characters and high level animation. Because I thought like, when I can do THAT, hard surface should be easy. And in my opinion, that turned out right. Stiff objects are very simple, even though geometry can turn out to be a bitch. But my advantage is, that I am not going for realism but for artistic styling and I do it for fun to create a 3D animated show, where I am not obligated to work with established standards. I just do it however I want.

nothing feel more satisfy than finish a challenging model

Hard surface is when you can get cut or bruised from contact with it, so be careful while modeling!

For the exclusive purpose of 3D printing for miniatures, remember to ask yourself folks, will this bevel be noticeable at 28mm/32mm/75mm scale after two thin coats of paint have been applied? If the answer is no, don't bother with a bevel, if the answer is yes, do use a bevel. This is the key difference in hard surface modelling for 3D game assets and 3D printing assets, a lot of times you're going to be edge highlighting anyway so 'capturing light' isn't an issue. Also with 3D printing, Ngons are fine since the model will be converted into an STL and broken up into triangles anyway, once again you're not worried about everything being Quads for coversion into a Game Ready Asset. The key things your looking for in 3D modelling for printing are non-manifold edges and intersecting faces where one face is passing through another (so even your standard intersecting faces are largely fine).

hey i have a question. i‘m coming from the field of architecture, but do cgi as a hobby, also some vizualization. one thing i never quite understood is why hard surface modelling is done in mesh based modeling tools, rather than CAD tools. Cad tools have practically infinite precision and the modelling aids and tools are so much more powerful than anything a mesh modeller can offer. A software like rhino will yield 100% accurate results, where in mesh based modeling you have to eyeball many of the dimensioning tasks. is it because of the surface topology that is needed for shading? or just because its not really known in the cg world? i always model anything hard surface in CAD and everything organic in Blender or 3ds

I enjoyed the video a lot, but as an asset supervisor for a VFX studio I think you missed a key tenant, and thats topology. Those artifacts you are getting could easily be avoided if the topology around said bevel was modeled correctly. For prototyping or ideation...sure, throw a shit ton of ngons out there, but if you want a studio to take your models seriously and are claiming "this is hard surface modeling" you are going to need proper edgeflow (even on hard surface). Subdiv is your friend (even on hard surface) and thats not going to work correctly if you are cutting corners. Most people are doing this for fun so who cares if there are ngons everywhere, but teaching those who want to pursue this professionally should strive for what the industry wants, even at the cost of speed. No hate at all, keep up the good work.

this is the first time to watch your video explanations, quite good for me. it's great to understannd well. I am now follow your account!!! THX a lot!

This video convinced me to stop trying anything with blender or any other creative program at all. I will never be able to do such stuff. Tried it and only failed. So i quit. Thanks! Have a nice day!

Can't wait to get a laptop to try this stuff out

This was surprisingly good, i did not expect such a straightforward explaination without fuzz. Sub deserved!

Great vid, though it's likely to create a bit of confusion for a beginner in regards to understanding what hard surface modeling is. What is being explained and showcased in the video is boolean modeling workflow, which is different than hard surface modeling in general which can be achieved through subd modeling and sculpting workflows as well, and which one you use depends entirely on what kind of project you're working on, so it's a bit misleading to imply that hard surface modeling = boolean workflow even when it comes to just blender.

This is what i need. Thank you Josh :)

Can you make a video for hard surface like a mecha for video game, but cleaning the topology? Making quads?

Wonderful Josh. So much packed in this small video.

Thank you bro

Wtf, is the first vd from this channel that i watch, and I need to subscribe, awsome.

I learned so much from this video alone.

Bevel. Ok. Wait, let me repeat. Bevel. Got it! Thank you.

Subd is really more useful for organics anyway. I was always scared off from using booleans because of tuts telling me not to use them so I could subd, but I've recently learned to embrace the ngon life

the most important thing in hard surface modelling for me is both bevel and shading.

thanks josh, i started using blender in hard surface modeling thanks to your videos, keep it up🔥

Thanks for clearing that up! Very straightforward.

New subscriber here can't wait to learn your hard surface series!!!!!!💪 Thank you.

weighted normal feel like making same effect as applying mark sharp by edge... apart the fact that it is applied automatically .. am i right ?

Nice video!

just wanted to tell you the 's' sounds are very harsh through your mic input. its an easy fix, just cut some frequencies around 6khz :)

The Game Asset Workflow video rocks :)

It's a hard surface modeling job, but someone has to get it done.

nice vid production Josh! Hard Surfaces for life

Those 2 spheres were gonna make me act up

great info here

thanks a lt its is very useful to me

Thank you for this wonderful video I appreciate your work

Cool! Very nice improvements to how you edit video!

hey josh any chance you could reupload that tutorial on that sci fi door...i completely understand for whatever reason(s) however

Can't you just remesh after you're finished working with booleans to get rid of all the ngons?

The S sounds from your microphone are a bit harsh. Good video though!

Hello. I purchased your Drone and Mech hard surface (game asset bundle) courses and I would like to know with one should I start with. I also got the Hard Ops / Boxcutter Ultimate Bundle with the decal Machine. I am not new to Blender (I do lots of shading and texturing), but I am very basic in modeling. Love BlenderBros work. Thanks in advance.

thanks you for this!

Once the Blender gets the improved bevel geometry node, all these problems with overlapping features causing artefacts are hopefully history: Progress on a new Bevel Geometry Node kzfaq.info/get/bejne/Z5yUo7iCmp28pmw.html

Thanks for the video. Is there a video that explains when I should use a weighted normal modifier and when I should use harden normals and what's the difference between the two?

how do you use chamfer in blender?

Great video Josh :)

Hi, Josh! Thanks for this insightful video..! I was wondering if you could tell which Font Family/ies you use in these videos, looks awesome and I'd love to obtain those for myself, too! Cheers for all you do and have a great one..! 🤗

Man, i just completed your Scifi weapon and crate course. Achieved great knowledge on Hard surface modelling, I even created and sold game assets for an Indie blockchain game studio. I am planning to get the Ultimate bundle of Blender Bros soon. Btw do your mech courses contain rigging tutorials? Or it is just for static purposes! I mean it would be great if one can make a fully rigged Mech Guy usable in movies and games..

absolute legend

Much appreciated!

Do either you or Ryu ever try any of the other hard surface tools like Fluent or Grid Modeler? Wondering if they have fallen short somehow or if you guys are just so comfortable with Box Cutter/Hard Ops, etc. that it just doesn't make sense to fiddle around with them at all. Thanks for the feedback.

FROM ALGERIE

Thank u!

I'm looking at your hard surface PDF right now and have spotted a major mistake you made! On page 18 in the PDF or 17 in the book, Booleans, you state "Booleans simply allow us to cut into objects based off another object". This is wrong because it suggests booleans only cut but they also add to objects using the union method as you show on the next page.

You explained what a bevel is but not a boolean in modeling.

We need the bevel shader node for Eevee :(

Great info but I find it annoying when videos randomly cut to the narrator.

aspiring hard surface modellers should learn CAD... f360, plasticity...

Any community members that can vouch for using this Boolean, ngon, triangulate method for game assets?

Someone should come up with easy surface modeling for plebs like me.

This is why CAD exists.

Cool

Steel ball. Hard surface organic shape?

Great content, but little note for your editing or for my ears is that background music is bit too punchy and fighting with your voicing.... maybe just me

Thank you 😂

Knowledge!

Epic

1-Updated, bot can you fix bevel artifacts on the object "cube1"--- Ofcourse, you can copy this code and paste on view3d panel. 2- Updated, bot can you give me souls like level scene with one thousand diferent objects at maximum 2000 poly...--- Ofcourse this project file for scene 3- Updated, bot can you give me my job again?

Yes.

came thinking that unified texture meshing was happening:/

Thanks, like and abo is out!

Took me a moment to realize he would not explain what a bevel is and that I probably need to learn another new english vocable.

No, this is Patrick!

You, i like you.

Lol watched your channel back then when there only like 10k subs. Ask for rate and tips for my model, never reply :) thanks bro stopped playing with 3D since then, back to 2D instead. Gonna try 3D again maybe this year

Hard surface modelling? Use fusion 360.

fillet is pronounced “fill-ay”

loved most of the video, but paid solutions aren't a solution! it's understandable for add-ons to be paid if they make workflows significantly faster, but i'll always be of the opinion that if a solution in Blender is paid, it's not a valid one for end users and their personal use of the software.

There some absolutely unintuitive and _undocumented_ things you need to know to do hard surface modeling. "Practice" can't possibly be the answer.

It’s kind of strange to me that you are promoting boolean workflow so passionately. I know it’s pure blenderism, but I come from C4D and what boolean to you is subdiv to me. The problem with booleans is not ngon. It’s that boolean advocates never learn to think in edge loops and clean topology. The rendered model may look good and it may be sufficient for concept art, but when it comes to deforming and animation…

Hey AI will fill your position soon so don't be so proud.