20 Free Blender Addons for Modeling

Summary

In this video, the creator introduces a range of powerful, free Blender add-ons developed by Koshiro, designed to enhance modeling and streamline workflows. The add-ons cover a variety of tasks, including geometry alignment, mesh cutting, auto-retopology, and surface inflation. Tools like 'Attach a Line,' 'Cut Corner,' 'QuickBridge,' and 'Surface Inflate' are featured for their ability to simplify complex tasks like face connection, corner cutting, bridging gaps, and adding smooth deformations. The video also highlights sales on related resources, offering a great opportunity for viewers to enhance their Blender toolkit.

Takeaways

• 😀 Koshiro's add-ons for Blender are free and designed to enhance the modeling workflow, offering powerful tools for geometry manipulation.
• 😀 The **Attach a Line** tool allows you to attach and perfectly align one piece of geometry to another by selecting faces and edges.
• 😀 **Connect Face** automatically connects faces across gaps, finding matching faces on the opposite side, saving time compared to Blender's bridge tool.
• 😀 **Cut Corner** provides a quick way to bevel or notch corners of faces, ideal for hard-surface and sci-fi modeling.
• 😀 The **Even Triangulation** tool distributes triangles more uniformly, making it ideal for bending or deforming meshes while preserving shape outlines.
• 😀 **Face Regulator** adjusts quads to make them more rectangular, but may not work well on curved or sculpted surfaces.
• 😀 **Flatten Face** flattens selected faces without disturbing nearby geometry, making it more efficient than Blender's built-in planar tool.
• 😀 **Mirror Copying** allows you to mirror objects around any axis, giving more control compared to Blender’s default mirror tool.
• 😀 The **Auto Retopology Grid** tool creates an even quad grid on your mesh, making retopology simpler without remeshing.
• 😀 **Anggon Loop Cut** enables loop cuts across quads, triangles, and ngons, filling the gaps Blender’s default loop cut tool can't handle.
• 😀 **Safe Insert** prevents self-intersections when inserting complex shapes, avoiding the messy geometry that can occur with Blender’s default inset tool.
• 😀 **QuickBridge** enhances Blender’s bridge tool by connecting faces with different orientations, even twisting the edges for added flexibility.
• 😀 The **Select Sim** add-on uses advanced geometry-based algorithms to select faces or edges that are geometrically similar to the one you click on, improving selection accuracy.

Q & A

What is Koshiro Tools, and how does it benefit Blender users?

Koshiro Tools is a free collection of Blender add-ons developed by Koshiro. These tools offer advanced modeling functionalities, making it easier for users to perform complex tasks in Blender, such as aligning geometry, creating bevels, and managing topology with more control and efficiency.

How does the 'Attach a Line' tool work in Blender?

The 'Attach a Line' tool allows users to attach one piece of geometry to another and align it perfectly. By selecting faces on two objects, the tool moves and rotates the source geometry to sit flush with the target face. It also includes options to align edges and slide the attached piece interactively.

What is the difference between Blender's built-in bridge tool and the 'Connect Face' add-on?

'Connect Face' improves on Blender's bridge tool by requiring only one side of the gap to be selected. It automatically finds and bridges the matching face on the opposite side, making the process quicker and more flexible, especially for multiple pairs of faces.

How does the 'Cut Corner' tool assist in hard surface modeling?

The 'Cut Corner' tool allows users to quickly chop off corners of faces to create beveled or notched effects. This is particularly useful for adding detailed features in sci-fi or hard surface models, and it automatically merges any overlapping vertices to maintain clean geometry.

What is the benefit of using the 'Even Triangulation' tool?

The 'Even Triangulation' tool ensures that triangulated faces are evenly distributed by adding new vertices within the face. This is particularly helpful for bending or deforming meshes, as it creates a consistent triangulated grid that preserves the model's overall shape.

What does the 'Face Regulator' add-on do, and when should it be used?

The 'Face Regulator' tool converts irregular quads into more rectangular shapes. It is useful when you want to straighten the faces and make them closer to 90 degrees, though it may not be ideal for cleaning curved or sculpted surfaces.

How does the 'Flatten Face' tool differ from Blender's 'Make Planar' feature?

'Flatten Face' flattens only the selected faces while leaving unselected faces untouched, unlike 'Make Planar,' which can affect nearby geometry. It works on any type of face (triangles, quads, n-gons), making it versatile for planarizing selected surfaces without disturbing the rest of the model.

What is the unique feature of the 'Mirror Copying' tool in Blender?

Unlike Blender's default mirror tool, 'Mirror Copying' allows users to choose any arbitrary axis, not just global axes, for mirroring geometry. This flexibility is great for mirroring along custom lines or arcs.

How does the 'Quick Auto Retopology' add-on function?

The 'Quick Auto Retopology' add-on projects a grid of evenly sized quads across a surface without fully remeshing it. This creates a neat quad pattern, which is ideal for creating consistent geometry on surfaces that will undergo bending or deformation.

What does the 'Select Sim' tool do, and how is it different from Blender's built-in 'Select Similar'?

'Select Sim' is an advanced selection tool that identifies faces or edges with similar shape or topology based on more detailed criteria such as angles and edge lengths. This is more precise than Blender's 'Select Similar,' which often relies on area or side count and can miss faces with similar geometry.