Hard Ops is intended to be a toolkit for making hard surface easier. Certain operations in Blender are disjointed at times when it comes to hard surface so this toolkit aims to make it easier.

Before getting started make sure BoolTool 0.2 is installed. 0.2! not 0.1

https://github.com/vitorbalbio/code/tree/master/BoolTool

Booltool is for the boolean operations with ctrl + numpad minus plus and multiply.

 

 

So with that lets begin.

Meshes have 4 states when it comes to hard ops.

Untouched – meshes… just meshes

Csharp – meshes with bevelling via modifier

Cstep – meshes with bevelling via modifier and baked bevels also

Boolshape – meshes that are used in booleans.

Understanding these states will make using Hard Ops much easier. At the end of the day they are all just meshes but the modes determine how the tools react to them. Previously the meshes had the bevel modifier determine the status but as of 007 the meshes now have properties which works much better.

The status of a mesh is in the corner of the screen.

Menus are brought up with Q and Pies with shift + Q you can also change the keymapping if needed.

The menu options also change according to the status of the mesh.

The first 3 options of Hard Ops change dynamically according to the mesh status. That way the options you are presented with are the most viable quickly.

The pie menus operate the same way with menus that change according to mesh status.

The pies have been remade and re-evaluated for this version. The previous ones had fallen into disrepair so this release shows a completely redone pie system.

There are 3 ways to use hard ops. Pie, Menus and Panel. The panel is a masterpiece made by the panelmaster MKB.

When it comes to using hard ops you can use it however you’d like. I am all about the Q menu however now I’ve migrated to the pie. But the Panel is something I do enjoy seeing on the screen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quite a few systems have been remade with proper code to make them more stable. In addition to this there is now an on screen hud that explains what the operator did previously. This should make it more visually obvious of a function and the parameters used on it. Implementation by Jacques.

The mesh status system also affects how certain operators behave.

For example cstep meshes will always return to object mode when ran even from edit mode. And hide the mesh afterwards.

Csharp won’t run on cstep meshes. Just try me.

Merge will use csharp or sstep depending on the mesh type.

Keeping these things in mind will make working with Hard Ops alot easier and manageable.

For this release I also made a series of videos to make the process of learning and discussing easier.