Tag: boxcutter

BoxCutter 6.8.8 GhostScythe

masterxeon100127 Comments

Boxcutter has received an update as part of our continuation of the 2.79 series.

It is with great pleasure that I release Boxcutter 688: GhostScythe. There were quite a few new additions and refinements to classic ones.

Even with 2.8 on the horizon it is our goal to continue as normal until the future of Blender is ready and stable. With modifiers present we are on our way but there are still some missing items.

Without further ado let’s begin.

The top file on the market is the latest. The top file is always the latest. The files below are always legacy support going back a couple of versions.

It is also worth noting that Buildbot appears to no longer have Carve present as a boolean solution. As a result the hard mode Bmesh may be the only algorithm going forward. But Carve will be missed.

RedFrost has been a new member of the team this release. AR continues to be the shadow boxmaster enigma. RF is special because he does my ideas even if they make no sense. AR is special because he’ll make an idea make sense and take it so far I don’t even recognize the core. Hard Ops / Boxcutter is nothing without the team so rest assured they were compensated for their efforts and continued contributions.

Installation

same as always.

___

Shift Mod Live

While drawing a box if you hold shift the box will be kept live. This is essential for situations where you want to cut but decide mid cut you want to keep it live.

Try it out! Hold shift while drawing a red box. It will remain live, allowing you to edit it after the fact.

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 Multi Object Cut

This was a big feature addition and one that really adds to the BC experience. With multiple objects selected you can now cut them with Boxcutter.

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Also slicing is supported.

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Now Boxcutter can live up to its name and Slice and Dice with multiple objects.

Edit Mode Cutting

Now edit mode supports all cutters instead of just blue.

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In edit mode if you press X , Z or A the type of box will be changed.

This is another feature I am very excited about and am happy to announce is a part of Boxcutter. So cut anytime… anyplace.

*some conditions apply

Circle: Center Cut

While drawing a circle the center can be toggled to spawn at the 3d cursor with D.

This is useful for times where the circle has to be in the perfect center with 3d cursor precision.

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This feature was a personal long time request of mine and am glad to finally have it in Boxcutter.

Custom Depth: V1

Too long have we been restrained by the 3d cursor when cutting to depth. How would you like a constant depth?

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Cut depth is in the D menu and will allow you to use the 3d cursor differently than before.

In the old version cutting to depth was done by using the cursor as the depth indication.

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The previous mode is still viable and usable however cut depth changes the approach a bit. The goal was constant cutting without realigning the 3d cursor.

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Help System Improvements

Thanks to CGcookie our help system has improved. As a fan of retopo I always had my eye on their help and wanted to try something dynamic with it in BC.

Right clicking the help box closes it. The help box is also a good indicator of BC being activated.

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RMB was used to prevent from accidentally moving the 3d cursor. This might be toggle-able in the next version.

You are also able to fine tune the corner and padding.

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*some users have been reporting issues with this so a bugfixed has been pushed as the file at the top Boxcutter 0688 (zip). So this should be resolved.

Right Click Logo Snapping

Being able to toggle snapping without the D menu was an objective for touchscreens.

Right clicking the BC logo will turn it red. When the logo is red snapping is enabled. Hopefully in the future it will expand to cycle between grid and custom snapping but this was a final touch that was requested.

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Orthographic Jump while Cutting

There is a pref that will make boxcutter jump into orthographic while cutting. This is useful for situations where numpads aren’t available and perspective cutting is not desired.

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Notice that for every cut the view is jumped into ortho. Making it much more predictable. This drove me crazy when using Boxcutter on a laptop.

Hotkey / Color Coding Tab

Boxcutter now has a hotkey tab. In addition to hotkeys there are also UI prefs for color coding your cutting workflow.

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This has become a common trend with our tools.

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Also you can set a color for any alternate shape.

The defaults are as follows.

Red – cut (normal)

Yellow – slice (X)

Gray – null box (no selection / can also be toggled with A)

Blue – Edit Mode Knife (edit mode)

Purple – thickness slice (Z)

Region Respect

Alt + W starts Boxcutter. However now it loads up in the correct 3d view.

alt + ctrl + Q – quad view.

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Boxcutter 6.6 Update Notes

masterxeon10017 Comments

THIS VERSION IS COMPATIBLE WITH VERSION 2.79 and UP!

Boxcutter continues to grow and this version holds up to the tradition of incremental evolution. I am pleased to announce the release of Boxcutter 6.6: Polyslash.

If it first doesn’t work close and reopen Blender. This tends to resolve issues with enabling or smaller issues. Also with our tools please remove the previous folder and replace it with the new one provided.

The latest update has forced us to update a little sooner than planned but we have much more planned for the little cutter we know as Boxcutter.

Starting Boxcutter

This one is classic but it’s Alt + W.

The border is how I tend to know it is operational.

It can be closed with escape.

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When the border is gone. I know it is closed.

To get familiar with the basics of boxcutter I recommend the getting started video.

AR has been a large part of this version as he is with all versions and the latest HOPS. Proxe also continues to play a large role and is a dedicated operative.

With that aside lets get started with what’s new.

Purple Boxcut

This is a feature that is part of the Hard Ops connection.

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If you are drawing a box and press Z it will turn purple and will behave as a solidification. This is best shown in action.

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This feature is still in development and can have issues with unapplied scaling. Modifiers and other otherworldly circumstances that visit operatives in the night.

After the initial draw I am using the Q menu option tThick to add thickness.

 

Edit Mode Boxcut

This is a personal favorite of mine and hope it can be expanded even more for more versatility but the initial implementation offers quite a bit for edit mode that was not available previously.

With the blue border up just tab into edit mode to project cut.

Currently this does not work to depth with alt as edit mode would work.

D opens a pie menu with options for cut through projection. In edit mode.

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This does not support slice or any of the more advanced object level functions.

 

Hotkey Changes

Boxcutter has additional features and hotkeys added to make it more functional than ever.

Lets first go over some changes to Boxcutter Pie menu for object mode.

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The mirror area is especially worth going over.

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You can now mirror based off of

  • origin – of the object (this is how mirror traditionally behaved)
  • cursor – NEW – this will allow you to mirror across the cursor to allow for more unique designs

The mirror has also been rebuilt to handle mirroring on a 2d system instead of 3d making things simpler for users. This way X will always be X.

The cursor mirroring is worth testing for yourselves.

Also notice how I use apply boolean to give the boxes a chance to be modifier before the booleans are applied via HOPS|Csharp.

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While drawing you can press

1 – X mirror

2 – Y mirror

That is shown in the following example. It is worth noting that to disable it in the pie menu you must hold shift depending on setup.

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R – rotate

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S – scale

This one is available if you use the tab to edit behavior.

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Hold shift while moving points in BC edit mode will snap to the x or y axis and w will swap which 2d axis it is snapping to.

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Final Notes

As usual I am sure I am missing other features new to this version but also as usual I leave this to you the users to find as well. There are numerous fixes and other small adjustments for stability and flexibility.

2.79  was a harder transition than the last few updates of Blender. With 2.8 around the corner we are expecting even more API changes. Any support issues can be sent to my email or wherever you choose to notify me.

I am grateful to all who have used and support us and our experiments.