Blender Intermediate Modelling Tutorial - Part 3: Sharpening Edges 

I’m here to do my due diligence and help with an issue I’m sure others will run into. At 7:28ish and before, where you have to extrude out the back and inset without the boundary, you may run into that even when you press b to turn off boundary, the two extrusions still appear. If resetting the scale doesn’t work, turn off the mirror modifier to check the following: Similar to the previous tutorial, you will run into issues if you have mesh on both sides of the mirror modifier. Simply delete the left face so the entire side of the anvil is hollow, including the part you want to extend out. NOW that that face is gone, there’s no face in the way of the merging of the back! Any questions on the specifics of this, just reply here!

When selecting a chain of points that are all connected by edges (like at 15:40), you can click the first point, hold ctrl, and click the last point and it will select all the points in between. It just saves a bit of time.

Andrew, this is the best and most genuie simple tutor you've ever produced. Only real pros can do such an amazing video

For blender 2.8 or above: the "w, then >>remove doubles

16:35 "We don't make mistakes, we just have happy accidents" ~Bob Ross

OH MY GOD CLIPPING?? FOR THE MIRROR MODIFIER!?!? WHERE'S THIS BEEN ALL MY LIFE AAGGH

Hey if anyone is having trouble with the inset borderless at 7:00, do what you have and then make the selection, after making the inset even though it looks like booty cheeks, make sure on your mirror mod that clipping and merge are turned on then select the face on the inset you just made press g and then y and move the face to the edge just like we learned in the last part with merging edges just this time you dont have to remove duplicate edges.

Made this 6 years ago and your explanation and speed are so good. Thanks for the excellent job

Nice work...really enjoy your tutorials....I like the problem solwing part with the horn edges. I would like to see more of the problem solwing videos maybe some series of videos focused on common problems and issues in blender.

7:16 for anyone whos boundry(B) is not working in inset mode just make sure to remove the face formed inside the mesh from the previous extrusion

If anyone else is having problems with "Remove doubles" make sure to select all before trying to remove doubles! That's the mistake I made

Didn't know that pressing 'F' can merge tris to quads. Always learn something new :)

My modeling problems had solved after this part

Hi Andrew. So, I just wanna thank you. I wanna thank you for the effort and time you invest for the videos. They are informative, funny and the flow is good. They are just nice to watch. Because of you I learned things like modelling, shading and ligthing. And now, as you are making the "Blender Beginner Modelling Tutorial" series, I can look back and see what I learned. Thank you :)

In case anyone encounters this tutorial, just know that you can use less edge loops by using a tool name mean crease. It'll provide a sharp adjustable crease for when you use the multi res or a subdivision modifier. To access it, highlight the edge you want to be sharp, pull up your N-panel and in Item>Edges Data>Mean Crease. 0 to 1 will adjust the sharpness on the crease. It was a blessing when I found this trick.

One thing that I appreciate so much, not just Andrew, is the blender community and how everyone just tries to help one another, helping to solve different problems.

For people struggling with the "butt crack" problem at 5:55 , if the other solutions in the comments didn't work, I fixed mine by setting the "Merge" value to 0.012m instead of 0.001m in the Mirror modifier and setting it back to 0.001m at the very end of the tutorial. Hope it doesn't cause any problem later on

13:54 For this kind of selection you can start by picking your starting vertex and then ctrl+rightclick along the path you want. Ctrl+rightclick connects two vertices along the shortest path connecting them. Really useful for small intricate selections without having to select all vertices one by one.

I have been using blender for years, I took a 6 month break and came here for a little exercise to get back into it, and there are so many little things that for some reason I have missed along the way. You truly are the Guru!

Just wanted to say thank you Andrew. You translated something complex into something I can't believe I didn't understand at the beginning of this year.

Tip: In menu, go to mesh then turn on AutoMerge Editing. When you Edge Slide(GG) onto other vertices and click, they are automatically merged hence eliminating the need for removing doubles

Removing Doubles for Blender 2.80+: As mentioned in the previous video, select all vertices, hit F3 and type Merge by distance.

I can't imagine learning this in any shorter tutorial!! Like you legit need to see everything, go back a 100x times and then truly understand as you do it yourself! Otherwise as a beginner it will be too complicated ... BLESS U BLENDER GURU!!

13:00 In blender 2.91 I don't know why, but when deleting the edge on the tip of the anvil (GG => Slide => Merge vertices) it doesn't regain it's rounded shape. Workaround is just, select the whole rounded end, click H to hide, do you loop cuts, unhide and then clean-up the vertices by merging as shown. It's even simpler this way, no need to select tons of edges, slide them, and merge vertices too many times.

10:12 Andrew: Alright 10 minutes... not bad. Me: Alright an hour... not bad.

These bite size tutorials are great, thank you for taking the time to make them.

Nice and short - These bit size Tutorials make it easier to learn great techniques.

i really wish blender would make a "proximity edge" modifier for subdiv workflows. it adds proximity edges to subdivisions(and allows you to slide them wherever you want), but doesn't actually apply them, its just a modifier. ALSO- I did this tutorial back in 2017 when i first began modeling- i didn't know much of anything about 3D. To me, this tutorial was hard, but I learned SO many things in this video- it made me understand edgeflow, texturing, and why you do the things you do in 3D. I tell everyone, if they are serious about learning modeling, to do this WHOLE tutorial, start from video one and follow every single step. And if they push through this video and complete it, in its entirety, you have a chance of becoming a great 3D modeler. now, I am a character artist/ environment artist working with a studio that's making a game! I owe much of my knowledge to this video and Andrew himself for making other great tutorials that I watched (and followed) early in my 3D career. This tutorial will be so eye opening to anyone serious about learning 3D modeling.

Hi, Little trick for anyone interested : When creating the loop cut at 4:24 hit "E" so that it is aligned with the top part. That way the new loop cut is parallel to the corner loop. You might have to also hit "F" if the loop cut is aligned with the bottom. The shortcuts are written in the bottom left corner. Cheers

At around 9:00ish, if you are struggling to get the geometry to show after hiding the top vertices. you can temp move the order of Subdivision above mirror while in Wireframe mode. That should show you the geometry.

sir you were born with gift, your gift is you have right to become a very good teacher, in your video, you both show right way to do and wrong way to do. so your studen learn from your mistake and next time do good with them own, Your video so fun and happy to watch because you make many jokes, funny things with your line make us easy and happy to learn, to follow. I will learn this to make money to buy your course, Thanks you so much

Despite a couple of years experience in Maya and ZBrush and an education in 3D, Blender's UI and workflow felt like a foreign language compared to what I understood. These tutorials are the absolute best I've ever come across and have done a lot to bridge the gaps for me. I really appreciate the emphasis on efficient workflow too.

12:06, Andrew The answer to this particular question "How do we fix this?"( i.e when horn is also getting the proximity loops) lies in this video, Instead of selecting all the loop around the Horn after the loop cut, we can actually "Hide the entire horn" BEFORE DOING LOOP CUT, and then making the horn visible simply solves the problem.... And even the faces are also in the correct flow..... I just experimented on it and it worked..... I LEARNED IT FROM YOU MR.ANDREW PRICE.... Thank you very much for your priceless Tutorials... :-)

6:30 if inset is not making a usable box for creating the horn, your scale is probably messed up on the mesh. Select the anvil in object mode Press ctrl a, then select scale Then you shouldn’t have any problems

12:08 Oh my gooooood... I modelled my anvil a bit differently than yours and so made changes with knives and loop cuts. And when facing the same problem as you're describing there I did EXACTLY that: dragging the edges to the middle and saying to myself "it's good enough"... this tutorial is way to real and relevant

I just started play with Blender totally mind blowing! anything can model by Blender and the technic and method with details explanation has been show really easy and understanding. Thanks master Blender Guru. Keep posting!

Tip: Whilst removing the proximity loops, turn on "Auto-merge Editing" in the Mesh drop down at the bottom right whilst in edit mode, it removes the need to press "Remove Doubles" if you intersect other vertices whilst edge sliding (double tapping G)

For anyone who extrudes two parts instead of one at 5:55, it's because sub-surf is applied before mirror.

You can also loop cut with things hidden!

For that Horn part at 15:20 , you can just hide it and do a loop cut...Works just like we want.

You're a magician man, great video!

I am not a big modeler(too lazy) but You soppose to be lazy in modeling like You said in previous tutorials! 1)Select faces that You want to have loop cut 2) Shift+H (Hide everything else) 3)Ctr+R - put loop cut where You want it to be 4)Alt+H 3 seconds work instead of adding loop cut to all model, creating more faces, more geometry, and then removing some edges.... Easy! -_-

the anvil tutorial second times is the most help fullest for prototyping thanks so much u are still the best blender guy)))))

15:13 'remove doubles' in this version is changed to ' merger verticles → By distance'

[Solution] Remove doubles wont work for anvil horn around 14:20 I had this problem for a little while then figured it out after seeing no solution in the comments. * Select your line around the anvil horn * Double tap [G] and drag lines into each other * Double tap [A] to select the whole mesh * Press [W] to open up the menu * Click delete doubles I just had to re watch the part a few times to realize he had the whole thing selected. I hope this helps! Or if they have a different issue I'm sorry!

At 7:28 if nothing happens when you press B turn the mirror modifier off in the viewport for the time being and then check if the left side of the extruded blob has a face on it Normally the face cant be seen with the mirror modifier on Select the face then delete that face only The turn on the mirror modifier and do the steps for inset and now the B key may work ( at least it did for me)

been using blender for 5+ years and i'm learning new things with this beginner tutorial. mostly new shortcuts, but that tip about hiding vertices in proportional edit mode is SUPER useful.

Edge loops are literally satisfying to watch and do

(2.80) Around 9:00, you hide some cage geometry, but the subd geometry is still visible as a wireframe. Here in 2.80 hding the frame seems to hide the subd geometry as well. What's up with that? Thanks.

So I think I'm on about the 7th restart on the video. Anyone else?

This is honestly the best all-around intro modeling course that I wish would've existed 12 years ago when I dabbled in modeling. I was so discouraged when my models always came out super messy with ugly edges and lighting issues. I didn't understand UV maps or normals or any of that and I just wanted to make cool models. Now I'm really enjoying picking up 3D modelling and game dev again!

Every video is a wealth of info! You break them up in perfect bite size chunks, and have helped me learn a heck of a lot of Blender that I seem to retain for some odd reason ... especially the KB shortcuts. I also think your anecdotes really help make your points memorable. A great learning resource, and pretty entertaining as well! ;) Your newsletter is even worth the read every time. How do you do it man?!

After the intermediate tutorials, could you model something complex such as a character?

You can use or activate the "Automatic merge Vertex" so you do not have to be using the "remove doubles" every time...

I just got bought a low specs computer for modelling, I watch this video several years ago and now here I am again taking a review; the current version of blender has a huge updates so I need to go back again where I started after the donut modelling hsha

2 years late to the party, much appreciated! Thanks Andrew.

"The ole ball and chain checkin' up on me" lol

Hey andrew, I really like your video's.....they are so positive :). I would love to model a car but I don't really know where to start. Can you maybe do a tutorial on modeling cars? I would really appreciate it. Thanks and keep up the positive vibes ;).

Ok, I finally found the reason why two horns are still coming out of the anvil -the so called "butt problem" 5:55 . I decided to apply the mirror modifier to set a new loop cut, because I thought that something must have gone terribly wrong with my construction so far. I was quite right, when I saw the final result of the mirror modifier. Suddenly I had two center lines which started to split from the middle of the model up to the top. I erased both of them and rebuilded the missing faces. I setted the new orgin point then and made a new loop cut. Made a new mirror modifier and erased the other half and could go on just like Andrew dird. TADAAAAA Problem solved. Now only one horn is coming out of the anvil. Best from Hamburg, Altona, Germany

thank you for the very good support man

When I try to extrude at 5:50, the extrusion becomes, not one, but to extruded sections.

how can you still see the wireframe even with parts of the mesh hidden like he does at around 9:06

For anyone that can't find the option to remove doubles, near the top of the window, select Mesh > Clean Up > Merge by Distance. Make sure you press A to select everything before doing so.

i have no idea what id do without these vids

hay andrew please make a tutorial series for beginners about animation

e+ scaling it down is not the same as pressing i. an inset keeps track of the proportions of the face, e doesnt

I already know most of the things mentioned in these tutorials, but I still watch them so I might learn something new and I did! I wouldn't have thought about fixing the edges that way!

Edge crease works in conjunction with Open subdiv. "Use OpenSubdiv" must be checked in the Subdiv modifier for crease values to produce desired results. Supporting loops are still necessary knowledge though and in certain cases are the only way to get results. Also, thank you for your videos. You have been invaluable as a resource of knowledge and inspiration.. keep up the good work!!

6:30 when I try to inset and press "B" nothing happens. I've found a work around by insetting, then grabbing that edge, sliding it over to the side then deleting the face/edge. Seems to have done the trick. But, does anyone know why just pressing "B" might not be working for me?

After making the loop cut at 4:25 I would make it straight using 'S+Z+0'

Adding loop cuts feel so satisfying

Watching this in 2024 and still having a lot of fun following you!

Hitting B on the Inset mode just isnt doing anything for me :( I tried to follow a tutorial on a forum with the same issue.. but no luck. Must be some setting i've messed up.

if i make my creations smooth they mess up, cause all of the places where i put loop cuts (to make sharp edges) there are random lines

some tip that i've got the hard way is to never apply a modifier until it's finished/needed even if you need to apply the modifier,create another file that still have the modifier un-applied

That method of merging edges is MARVELOUS!!!!!! Thank you!!!

Why won't my model react to the Boundary being toggled, when I use inset at 7:05 ? I can only get it to work sometimes?

Hey guys, help me out here, When I try to inset, like in 6:33, it seems to scale it much more horizontally than on the Z Axis, so the new face looks like it has been squeezed out, but if I extrude and scale down it works like in the video.

Hey guys, it doesn't seem to be a big deal, but it will drastically improve your workflow and it feels very cool at the same time :) Instead of selecting single vertices of loops one by one, you could just select one vertex (to start selection), hold CTRL and select another vertex of the loop (the last one, for example) to select all vertices within this particular loop. Note: Pressing shift at the same time will "span" a selection of all faces/edges/vertices (depends on your selection mode) within this area. When selecting vertices of different loops, it will follow the first loop to jump over to the next one and so on.

Blender looks so much clearer now, Nice!

My extruded horn (5:55) had a butt crack so I turned off the mirror modifier so I could select the vertices that was creating a crease and deleted it. Remember we created a loop cut all the way around the anvil to mirror it correctly? Now it's a nicely extruded bulge. I hope this doesn't cause me problems later.

Hey bro am having a problem on that boundary part mine isn't removing the boundary just as yours did...any help?

12:37 I don't know what's wrong with me. But I like his Bloopers so much.

Excelent tutorials. I have never seen a more clear one.

5:50 I tried to extrude and ended up creating a butt.

At 7:15 you keep saying press B in inset mode. But I press it nothing happened :( Help... EDIT: I move the point manually using gy, using gg move it in weird diagonal so I use gy

Really solid foundations. I've learned quite a few things that I've struggled with, without realizing it. Two thumbs up, but I can only give you one.

Thanks so much for making this tutorial series. In about 2 or 3 hours you've taught me the skills I need to make my own basic designs for my first 3D printer. You've saved me soooo much hassle and headache. You Sir, are awesome!

2:30 it's a foot, i wanted an anvil.

3:30 you saying "hey siri" just activated siri on my phone... wtf?

I find the "automatically merge vertices moved to the same location" the quickest way to deal with overlapping vertices. Clearly it's good to know also the other options.

I had to make a few work arounds in 3.3. Like I first made the horn - remember to have clipping on before extruding in mirror modifier - and before I made the tip of the horn sharp, I made the sharpening loop cuts to both sides of the corner to get four points to work with. And after that removed doubles from the horn - pick the unnecessary loopcuts and drag them with G+G and then F3/Merge by Distance. And as a last bit made the horn sharp.

when i hit B to get rid of the boundry, in the step with the Horn, nothing happens :(

Help! My doubles did not remove at 14:20

In the last two videos, you've managed to show me techniques for fixing problems I've been struggling with. Thank you!

I haven't watched the other videos, work lately is killing me and I can't model as much as I would like to. Still 8:47 YOU CAN DO THAT?! HOURS UPON HOURS WASTED TRYING TO MAKE A DAMN SMOOTH SLOPE. AAAAAAAAAAAAAA Thank you.

Can you just use the knife tool in that situation? 11:10

"Move fast and break things" Extra Credits calls it "Fail Faster"

Blender Guru, you have no idea how much you tutorials helps people, keep up! I just did a (rough) lightsaber using Blender and UE4, was awesome. Thank you a lot XD

Perfect. Learned a lot of useful stuff. By following these tutos you'll become able to do your own things.