Just a follow up. One thing that's really nice for people that 3d print. The .step files go nicely between Plasticity and Fusion. I've taken some of my .step files and done some modifications that were easier in Plasticity then re-exported them as .step and used Fusion to create the .stl's for them to print. Much easier than the blender method to make the mesh. And the scale of the part was intact. I've only done a couple but so far no issues with this method.
Thanks, I have been trying to figure out what was wrong with a test cube I made to print, was 10mm cube but becomes 100mm after the slicer resizes the 0.01 Plasticity stl export ! I just tried to export a step cube but just got a 2D outline of the one facet, version 1.1
@@airheadbit1984 yeah the default unit/grid in Plasticity is Meter. if you go into the file dropdown menu you can change the units to MM there and hopefully not have scale issues downstream.
Just trying Plasticity after using Fusion 360 for the past year and have been watching several how to videos. Your video is the best I have found so far, I am a subscriber now, Thanks so much!
Awesome thanks! Just a heads up that we have a few quick start videos as the software updates and things change a little. Most recently we released an updated UI overview for 24.1.8, but 24.2.x is out now. We have a whats new video showing what changed. We also have a playlist for basic modeling tools you should know ua-cam.com/play/PLBDfGh8A8kXVIrO1aizPFmRBy-A-G9svk.html and a course on our site www.learneverythingaboutdesign.com if you are looking for more :)
@@LearnEverythingAboutDesign That is very cool. I am already diving into your recommended videos. Your production techniques are very good, by the way.
You're very welcome! It is always improving! I haven't done any videos with the beta version since that is only available on the Studio license, but Nick is working hard to make it the best. If you get the Studio license you are able to test the beta version of the program and provide feedback/vote on what features should be added FYI.
As a trained and 20 year experienced AutoCAD draughtsman, half of what I do is get over its crappy failures, difficulty in working with digital fab file formats, and expensive licensing. I have tried Solidworks, Inventor, and hundreds of other pieces of 3D software and hate sketches and cannot for the life of me understand constraints. This software seems to be how my brain works. I know my end goal, and as this models almost exactly like AutoCAD I don't need to go back and edit something I did 500 steps ago. I also love the close to command line interface, most of the inputs I make are typing. Fillet, R, 50, m. You've definitely sold me on a 30 day trial of this.
The first CAD program I ever used was Autocad in probably 96. it was all command line :) I think as Plasticity progresses(even 1.3 has added a lot since i did this video) it will only get better. Now when you begin drawing a line you can hit TAB and get to the dimension on creation. Might give you enough control.
@@LearnEverythingAboutDesign That sounds awesome, I hate the draw then dimension of most cad software, I know what I am drawing, I know how big its meant to be, let me dimension before drawing, or during. rectang, d, 500, 100
Thanks for the tutorial! You just earned yourself a subscriber with the way you speak and explain very clearly and got me up and running Plasticity in no time. I'd love to see more advanced plasticity tutorials from you
@@LearnEverythingAboutDesign I'd like to see hard surface models, specifically weapons and their attachments. It would be great if you would do a showcase of it!
I found out about the program today, excitedly installed it to only be dumbfounded about how to use it. Your video prevented me from deleting my trial copy. Now if only I could output STL with it directly.
@@LearnEverythingAboutDesign I spent more time learning form your other videos. I think it's worth my time learning it. It's not parametric like fusion 360 but I refuse to use rent software. As I result I used OpenSCAD exclusively. I find it refreshing to see software of this calibre for sale at a reasonable price.
You're very welcome! also LOL at the "fillet". I think I know which video you are talking about. Not sure if that is a cultural thing and it is called a "fillay" in other parts of the world.
@@LearnEverythingAboutDesign In the U.S., we have a distinction between filet pronounced "fillay" and fillet which would rhyme with skillet. In the U.K., I've noticed that they use the word 'fillet' even for food products, which they pronounce in a way that rhymes with skillet.
im honestly really tempted to buy this, i have a background in CAD and blander modeling is kind of hard to want to get really good at because of how wildly different it is from inventor and solidworks, but this seriously bridges the gap.
There is a black friday sale today i think. $25 off indie license. I just bought solidworks again after a few years off and it hurt :) The ux in Plasticity is so much nicer.
I really like how simple this tool is. At first it looked hard, but after giving it a go it's so much easier compared to actual CAD tools I have tried. I am exploring all possible options for hard surface modelling and this tool looks really promising addition to my workflow
Love the pacing and clarity of this tutorial. It would be awesome if you could do some about building /rebuilding surfaces using curves. There have been some fantastic videos posted showing people making cars etc. and it looks fantastic but I have have no idea how they are creating them. You seem like just the guy us newbies need to teach us how to do that :)
@@LearnEverythingAboutDesign An idea for Plasticity videos would be to show how that application can complement a non-Parasolid-based application by providing alternative fillet, patch, etc., solutions.
Man, if there was some way that Plasticity and IronCAD could get together and make a hybrid out of all of their tools and interfaces i think they'd be unstoppable in the world of CAD. ironCAD is still my favorite cad software for intuitive precision modeling, but i love the plasticity interface and a lot of its direct modeling features.
This is a gamechanger for beginner cad people I think. The UI is very user friendly compared to many others. And that it resembles blender in many ways I think wont scare people of. Very good video sir. thank you.
Will users still have an option to go back into a sketch and add dimensions and constraints if they want to? I see the usefulness of the direct modeling approach, but think also having the ability to have it be parametrized as well would bring it to the next level. Thanks for all of your efforts Anna work on this
At this point in time I don't think so. At least no immediate information about a parameter based system. With some shapes you can input dimensions after the fact like a cube, but once you start removing material or modding it that option is lost. You can add measurements on things. Like if you have a shape and you want to know the distance between two points you can do that. Similar to how Measure works in Blender.
Great! It is very well designed. There are loads of channels out there covering it as well. PixelFondu for example has loads of under 60s tips on specific tools so if you stick with Plasticity make sure to search around cause there is a lot out there!
Thanks for the Video! you've earned another subscriber. I've been looking to dive in to a modeling program. The subscription model just kills it for me on most. It's only a hobby for me so Plasticity looks like a perfect fit. Thank you!
Thanks! I will be covering this more. Ive filmed a few more vids just haven't finished them yet. Side note that Fusion 360 is free for Hobby Users. There are some limitation but it is free if you find Plasticity doesn't offer everything you need. It is a pretty cool program.
@@LearnEverythingAboutDesign Yeah I've dabbled with 360 I guess at the time I worried that the policy would change and my work would be lost. Also I mainly need the program for 3d printing design. And while I do want the models to be dimensionally correct they only need to be 3d printable.
@@LearnEverythingAboutDesign I'm all over the place from RC hobby items, tools, brackets, organization ( peg board accessories) Phone and computer items. And household items.
After using Plasticity for a little bit I found something that would be of some interest. The best way to make dimensionally accurate models. Also working with importing assets and keeping them dimensionally accurate for use with a current project.
I plan to do some videos on the input topic. I have an old video when it was early beta that isn't public anymore but some of the workflow is still similar ua-cam.com/video/OkPI8Vx-gKo/v-deo.html As for imports. when you say assets do you mean images/reference or 3d models?
At 2:08 into the video, you mentioned being able to grab onto the purple control point after creating the circles, to change or adjust the size of those circles. I don't have or see those purple control points, did they go away with the latest version? If so, how do I go back and change or adjust the size of a primitive shape after it has been created? Also, is it possible to export as .stl or .obj file format on either of the paid versions? The sole purpose of my learning and buying this is so that I can create/prototype objects and then 3D print them.
to display the control points you will need to have the vertex/point selection mode (1 on the numbers on the keyboard). That should let you display them. With a circle specifically you can add a dimension and then scale it up. with the updates in 24.2 you can use the dimension tool and edit the dimension when you enable move or scale. One of my recent videos covered this. as for 3d printing 100% yes. Ill have a new 3d print vid out in the next day or so, but have a few on using plasticity for 3d printing. we did a print in place hinge as well as printed threads and an older video on a cell phone stand.
@@LearnEverythingAboutDesign Oh Awesome! I'll look out for those. Please don't think I am trolling your channel. I am running through all your tutorials and just learning as much as I can. Been having questions along the way. You've been an incredible help. Much love to you and yours.
@@JonneytheKidd No Worries :) this can be tricky and the software doesn't really have any pop-ups, messages, or in product help to speak of. I'll do my best to answer any questions that come in.
No you can't. Plasticity is direct modeling. After you make a sheet(surface) or solid from your curves they aren't linked. You can directly move faces on a shape by moving, rotating, scaling, offseting, or drafting.
There is no link back to curves but you can use direct modeling to resize it(depending on how complex it is. For something that doesn't have cylinders like this you could scale it in that direction. for something like this with cylinders you probably will need to offset the faces of the cylinders down to a new value, then select the outside and offset those faces as well.
There are currently 2 license types for Plasticity. Indie and Studio. Indie you get all version 1.x updates and you own the software for life. Just the updates stop. The Studio license you get a bit more in terms of import/export. you get access to the beta version of the software and updates for 12mo including 2.x releases. www.plasticity.xyz/#pricing These are perpetual licenses but the updates will stop. I don't know if a plan for update pricing has been released or not but I would imagine there would be some sort of discount if you own a license to upgrade. not sure though.
Sorry I don't use an iMac so i am not instantly sure. I know you can customize your keybindings in the software and others have done that. I would check the user run wiki for instructions on setting up custom keybindings nullpointerecho.notion.site/nullpointerecho/Plasticity-Wiki-364945653983489ba3e4ad2fc9d0527e
Earned a sub, clear to follow. One thing if I may: "when extruding a closed curve (where you mirror it then boolean them both out) I don't get a solid when extruding. Instead I get a sheet (hollowed out) and can't use boolean on it. I can off course create a solid box instead, but I was wondering why I get a sheet instead of a solid?
Thanks. on the sheet vs solid. is this true if you use the Box (Shift + b) or start with the corner rectangle curve? If those work fine but your shape doesn't my guess is that the lines aren't actually snapping. Make sure in the right the Object Snaps are on. Use the ... next to Enable snapping and make sure Curve isn't turned off for some reason.
if its a closed boundary it should extrude as a solid. Can you select the area inside it? if you extrude with the curves selected that will likely give you a sheet.
That was one of the big things Nick was working on with this program. The fillets are pretty robust. They can be Conic or G2 right now and one cool feature is you can add limits to them. So say you have an edge of a part and you only want the fillet to go in the middle, it will allow you to fillet just the middle portion leaving the edges squared off. Like with anything there will be situations where it fails, but it does a good job even if an entire face is consumed by the fillet.
@@LearnEverythingAboutDesign Oh that's fantastic. I mean I love 360 but even gurus seem to constantly run into fillets/lofts/etc that simply don't compute and nobody knows why.
What if I'm using Plasticity Maya preset? What are the hotkeys? If you don't know that's fine, you do a good job to mention the tool names most of the time, so I can look up how to use them, but what is the name of the tool that allows you to create it into a "thin wall object" at 3:55? Thanks.
I don't use Maya so I am not 100% sure, but in the preferences next to Maya it says "alt-left mouse to orbit, alt-middle mouse to pan". I would assume right click still accepts. The actual tools will not change for the maya preset. the only thing that changes is the navigation with the mouse. Thin wall object in most programs is called Shell, but in Plasticity its called "Hollow".
I do use a mouse with a scroll wheel. There are a few ways to change the view orientation. the num pad 1,3, 7 are pretty straight forward. using the scroll wheel press goes to the next plane in that direction. , if you select a face you can hit space bar and that will make a temp construction plane and go normal to that. You can also click on the X, Y, Z on the view cube.
I am using the default Plasticity settings. So mouse scroll button press while moving the mouse to orbit. Right mouse button to pan. and scroll wheel to zoom. You can also hold down ALT and press the scroll wheel down and "flick" the mouse to a direction and it will rotate to the standard view. like right, front. top.
@@LearnEverythingAboutDesign THANK YOU, I was able to figure out that the little used feature on my mouse... the scroll wheel is also a button. after I watched a few more of your videos I've gotten to the point that I'm going to purchase a copy and subscribe. Coming from Fusion 360 to Plasticity was just a matter of finding the buttons. again THANK YOU
@@dksaevsAwesome glad to hear it! There is also the ability to do custom key bindings by editing the json file. a bit more involved and not something I have done, but if you find initially that you have trouble with the shortcut keys that might be an option.
I am having a hard time getting the screen to rotate like you do at about 3:35 and its really hindering me from doing anything else. Any help on that front? Thanks
what are you modeling on? On a PC its just holding down the mouse wheel. I have a UI overview video that might help ua-cam.com/video/ZhD4uVRuNnY/v-deo.html I know users on Macs have a bit harder time.
I can add a size when selecting a center circle but I can't with a 2 point circle. I'm not seeing any option to accurately change the dimensions of a circle once created either. I'm so glad this software exists btw. It's too bad Fusion 360 (what I'm coming from) is cloud and subscription based.
Yeah that is a good point. it is only on the center diameter circle. that is always my goto so i didn't notice. And no once a curve is created there isn't an accurate way to change its size with a dimension. you can scale it but everything is "direct" modeling. No history, no parametric link.
When I did the mirroring, I used Q to union, but most of the faces didn't merge. Is there a way to tell it to merge everything it can, after the mirroring?
you usually have to hit Q twice i think. you should see the preview change to like a blueish purple. If after the mirror the bottom half disappears that usually means they werent on the mirror plane and there was a small gap.
at this time no you can't bring an SVG in. You can bring images in as reference which i show in the next video about curves and sheets. I have heard people talk about exporting a dxf from Illustrator but I haven't personally done this.
Can it not make accurate parts with dimensions? The program and parts i have seen looks awsome but seems useless if they are not accurate for machining. I wanted to use this for making rifle stocks and machine them
If you are looking to machine something, especially with that level of precision I would stick to a true CAD software. Plasticity can make things precise during input but its a "Direct modeler" meaning you do things in a more destructive way. It is geared more towards visual effects, game assets, animations etc and less towards a production part.
For sure. It takes a bit longer. All the move/rotate/scale and other commands like mirror are in the bottom left. F on the keyboard is find and I would at least use that one to start typing a command. The tools on the bottom right are contextual based on your current selection. In the top left the select filters are a bit tricky to do without a key, you can click on the one you want but if you want to add all you hit TAB or 5 on the numbers or you can hold down SHIFT and click to add multiples to your selection.
I just checked and it still works for me during the extrude. once you start pulling the extrude up look in the bottom right hand corner for all the options, does it say Shift+T there for thickness? which installed version do you have? It is not impossible that it changed.
Great tutorial, subscribed. I'm in love with this tool, and really enjoying all the info since 1.0 was released. Is there a way to align objects (a-la Tinkercad) that's not just using the move tool to drag things to specific axises, and if so can we get a tutorial on it?
Thanks! And yes you can use "Place" the shortcut is CTRL+D. this is kind of like a duplicate and place. You can try it by making a large cylinder, then make a smaller one off to the side. Select the smaller one, hit CTRL+D, select a point on the smaller one then drag around the larger one and see how you can place it. you might need to hit F to flip the normal direction.
Hey there, GREAT and helpful video. Hey so I'm following along but when I got mirror in Z and press Q it doesn't merge the two halves, in fact the lower copy disappears.If I ignore the Q command but instead just validate the mirror (yielding two halves now) and then hit Q it doesn't union. I still have two separate halves. Shifting to Y view it looks like my lower surfaces are on the axis. Advice?
Hmmm, it is probably a case of it just not overlapping. What you can try to do before the mirror is to use G and move the entire body down just a little so it overlaps the plane for certain. Sometimes if one of the lines isn't perfectly aligned it will fail like that. There are some other ways you can get around it but I would start there first.
If you do concept work and the end goal is going to Blender or similar it is very likely. there is a large community of users who are doing some great things with it.
Manufacture with CNC milling I should have said. It would just be tricky hold and require a lot of different orientations to machine and you would have to find a way to support the long thin sections so you didn't get chatter.
once you have a solid, can you not move points? I can't find a way.. hmm..and yes, looks like you can create this much quicker. But it looks like ou need to clean up the poly mesh inside Blender.
No you can't. Plasticity is "direct modeling" meaning once you make a solid from a set of curves they don't remain linked. You can delete the curves or make new solids after you move them. You can also move faces direction by scaling, rotating, offsetting or drafting them.
3d printing yes. ua-cam.com/video/FnipEEjvU1k/v-deo.html the catch is just how you create/scale/define the size of everything since there is no inherit constraint system after curves are created. For video games yes, but the general workflow would be to mesh and remesh something. Someone has made an add-in for blender (i think) called Ngone. Its a remesher to take cad files that have been saved as an stl/obj and optimized them for low poly game assets. This is true with any CAD to poly workflow.
@@LearnEverythingAboutDesign ok thanks for getting back to me I already have a headache haha.. I tried to follow the tutorial and can't find anywhere to even get the camera to orbit so I cannot move forward.. I also don't have control points on mine somehow.
Check the UI video I did,maybe that will help get acquainted. ua-cam.com/video/ZhD4uVRuNnY/v-deo.html For the control points it is likely the selection filter. Upper left corner of the modeling window you will see 4 boxes, If the first one isn't highlighted it won't show you the control points. The number 1 on the keyboard (top of the keys not the num pad) will turn on the point selection. 5 will turn on all types. You can also hold down SHIFT and enter other number 1-4 and turn on multiple options. For the rotating the default behavior on a windows machine is holding down the middle mouse button to orbit. right mouse button to pan. and scroll wheel to zoom.
Can you actually define the dimensions like a CAD tool or is it just for sketching imprecise objects? either way it looks like a pretty intuitive hard surface modeler.
not exactly. you can give curves specific inputs when you create them. For example you can make a circle at the origin with a diameter of 10mm, then use move to position it relative to its current position. You can't currently just place it then apply a dimension to accurately locate it.
@@LearnEverythingAboutDesign I figured, still it looks like a fantastic tool for hard surface modelling. Got a Zbrush for low poly modelling feel to it. Best of all its focused on the modelling, doesn't have the functionality bloat of Blender or Maya and it actually costs less than my car ;)
The standard way to move around is with the middle mouse button to rotate, right mouse button to pan. I did a video on the UI overview as well to help get started. ua-cam.com/video/ZhD4uVRuNnY/v-deo.html
well the workflow would be if you need a bigger chamfer to select that face and just pull it which creates an offset face. You can do this in Fusion with Press Pull which essentially does the same thing "offset face". BUT there is no dimension/value to go back and edit no.
good video! I like what the guys at plasticity are doing. Especially the price model is good, you can own your software. I only wish you could change dimensions afterwards (f.e. size of the circles)
hi, This might be a niche question, particularly for a new program that already shows so much cool functionality, when working with scan data(mesh) and want to cut and edit into it mechanical precision parts. can Plasticity do that, or is it on the Road map. additionally can you creat custom Fillet profiles for when you 'hot click' on corners for instance to creat a fillet with lead in
Since I am not the developer it is hard to saw what the future holds specifically. I wouldn't imagine plasticity will turn into a reverse engineering program though. As it is geared toward artists that seems like a pretty low requirement. On the free side MeshLab is a tool for processing scan data. I have videos on doing this in Fusion 360 and then you have dedicated programs like Geomagic specifically designed for that process..
@@LearnEverythingAboutDesign all good mate, your video is excellent and spot on, it is the lack of a middle mouse click/button on macs that make translation and orientation impossible. Realized you can toggle “trackpad” which helps a little but is still a bit quirky.
I don't know of any current limit to the number of parts you can have going, but it can be hard to manage. some tools like arrays and things might have an imposed limit. While you could easily model things like wires and hoses with the pipe tool and curves, you would not be doing this for production. For example if you were doing a cable/harness in Solidworks you would control the length and then have a pin board breakdown of the wiring after. So in Plasticity you could model these things but not sure what you would do with it downstream.
@@LearnEverythingAboutDesign We do CGI illustrations of CAD models and until now do all of our modifications of e.g. collisions of wire geometry in polygon software with no loop back into the source CAD system. In our use case it just needs to look right and not have all the correct dimensions. But some of our partners also require a STEP model and thus, they do not get our modifications, right now. Was thinking about doing the CAD changes in Rhino, but haven‘t tried it, yet. Then I saw some plasticity videos and was curious if it was useable for our use cases. Also we occasional get corrupted CAD models that did not survive conversions between CAD softwares and instead of being solids are only surfaces with gaps. Could I use plasticity to fix those models quickly. Would also appreciate any suggestions for a good non-subscription software in the lower 4 digit price range that would allow us to do that.
@@wingmansion Hi there. Plasticity "could" work for you. the tricky part is what modifications you need. Plasticity does well at breaking apart solids or joining them back together. My best suggestion is to try the 30 day trial, import some models and see. Without the subscription model you do get a bit limited, but Plasticity might work but again it all depends on your modifications. feel free to email me support@caducator.com if want to send over more info that isn't public.
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I use Cinema 4D and UA-cam has decided to show me a lot of Plasticity tutorials and I'm liking it :) But how could you make a spherical surface with a pattern of many convex circles of different sizes. Not holes, but pits (?). Like a noise texture or orange peel but with polygons and not rendered textures. P.S. I'm using Google Translator and I don't know if what I'm saying makes sense. LOL.
Perfect Sense! Textures are a bit different than what you would do in C4d or even a mesh sculpter with stamps. You can manually create them, you can array on a curve and you can place on a spherical face, but making a large pattern like a texture would be a pain. Probably the best thing would be to model the part and then take it to a mesh editor or texturer after.
I don't currently know of a size or part limitation. it don't think it is designed for projects with thousands of solids but I don't know if that means its impossible.
@@TIMMERIZINI I just built a tunnel structure with 80 solids and about 100 surfaces(to represent conduit) and it didn't have any issue. i duplicated it all 4x and didn't notice anything slowing down. If you have a large structure you could download the trial and import it as a neutral format and see how it behaves.
Great video, just subscribed to your channel! I recently started learning how to model focused on the 3D printing world. I use Fusion 360 today because it's free. How do you see this tool for somebody that uses F360 for 3D Printing?
Awesome, thank you! For me personally I would stick with Fusion 360 still for a few reasons. When i design for 3d printing I often times need precise dimensions and input, I am usually working with multiple pieces that fit together or surround electronics, and in some cases I use the slicer in fusion 360s manufacture workspace. I think Plasticity is a great tool and you certainly can use it for 3d printing, but its not free for hobby users and there are no dimension driven sketches at this point.
at which point in the video? NumPad 1,3,7 change to the default construction views. The view cube in the top right lets you click the axis you want. Space bar makes a temp construction view based on how you currently positioned that you can save and go back to. Also if you hold down ALT, the middle mouse wheel and drag it will snap to the various ortho planes.
not currently. Doing that is more of a SubD thing which you can do in Fusion 360. Plasticity is direct modeling at the moment which means you can move/rotate/scale faces, but a sphere being a single face means you would need to slice it up and create a new face for the top lofted or revolved how you want.
@@shokk1967 Yeah depending on the geometry. Just consider the entire face you are selecting as either being scaled, moved, or rotated. There are non-uniform scale options so you can deform a face/shape non-uniformly which could be used to stretch the sphere out, but this is less of a face level change like if you are selecting a vertex and pulling it. Hope that makes sense.
in version 1.2 the dimensions will display a little different. They will show when creating the object BUT keep in mind this is only at creation. Those dimensions aren't driving anything.
This was done in Meters because the switch to mm also required some grid setting changes and felt it was easier as a start point to just leave it as the default units. If you switch to mm or inch i like to set the grid size and accented lines to better represent those settings as well.
Absolutely love the program! Will there be an educational version? Would be nice to support young engineers and designers who are learning and still have a limited budget :)
I am not sure about that. My guess would be no, but since I am not the developer it is hard to say what Nick has in mind. You can check out Nicks channel directly where he posts updates and new features as they are added in videos. www.youtube.com/@nickkallen1
Thanks for sharing! Plasticity is powerful and really is made for Blender users. We do have a few playlists as well as a course on our www.learneverythingaboutdesign.com site and will be adding more content soon.
note exactly. you can have inputs while creating or moving. say you put a circle at the origin with a precise value, then use G (move) to move it an exact distance. There is currently no way to add a precise dimension and drive the location of something like a curve. it all happens directly during creation or when moving/offseting.
@@seenmakino I don't have a new video yet, but this is an old one i pulled down because it was an early beta version of the program, but the same should still hold true to understsand the process. ua-cam.com/video/OkPI8Vx-gKo/v-deo.html
I know fusion 360 is a pro app but god I can't wait for something like this to become more popular, because my goodness fusion 360 is buggy and the god awful UI is eye cancer
What is ADS program? do you mean the beta testing? for that now you have to buy the studio license which gives you access to beta testing new versions of the software.
My main bug bear with Plasticity is the UI changing so much with every release. Almost all tutorials on youtube use functionality that no longer exists. Its very frustrating.
yeah i get that. I pulled all my old stuff down before v1. Here is the most current version if it helps and I do plan to do some updated UI videos once i feel it is stable. ua-cam.com/video/kATCRYZKE7U/v-deo.html
Tried it, and found it completely unintuitive. Merely creating simple dimensioned shapes or selecting edges to modify their length is frustrating or impossible
yeah it is a different workflow to CAD. It is made for Blender users mainly and can be tough from a CAD mindset. I think some of those elements will get in there eventually but right now it doesn't have the constraint/dimension systems of a CAD program.
Nope its a fresh program from the ground up, but the creator, Nick, knew that most users would be coming from Blender so it was designed in a way to feel similar. Even some of the default keys like G, R, S that are used in Blender are used in Plasticity.
Very true. If nick decides to put precise input/dimensions into it, even if they don't maintain a link back to the curve I think it will capture a segment of makers.
concur 100% re Plasticity. and sketchup is gone daddy gone. Blender is the force dejeure. and when you combine Plasticity (and F360) with Blender you create hypergolic rocket fuel 🔥 🚀
you will have to have something selected first. Most of the dialogs are going to be selection based. For Move (G) you will need a point, edge, or body selected first and it should work.
A lot has changed since some of those initial announcements. The original beta was on a different Kernel in the back that would allow for such a cheap price. The current public version is built on the Parasolid kernel so pricing is a bit different and that is where a lot of the cost comes from sadly. But this is not a subscription license. You pay once and you own it for whatever that is worth.
@@pusab2064 Not quite that expensive. Currently I think its $500/year or around $40/mo. A lot of people in this VFX segment of modeling are opposed to the subscription model that Autodesk and many other programs have adopted. I personally don't mind subscription based having working in fixed versions for many years they have their own problems/challenges. But that is a bigger discussion that would likely bring a lot of negative comments :)
Plasticity is a CAD program that models in solids and surfaces. These are BREP and NURBS. Blender models in polygons. In Blender you start with a mesh and end with a mesh. To make "hard surface" type models, things with hard edges, holes etc you have to use addons like cadsketcher, or spend a lot of time with booleans in the mod stack and really be careful with edgeloops. In the end you are still left with a mesh. In Plasticity you actually have a solid body (or surface) that is represented accurately. A hole is a hole, not a bunch of straight lines. A fillet is an curvature continuous surface that matches tangency with the surrounding faces. Plasticity acts as a direct modeler that is intended to work well with Blender and do the things that it can't do easily or well. Can someone create similar parts in both? sure. But in Blender you will always have a mesh. In plasticity you have a solid and can convert it to a mesh for use downstream in blender if you wish.
@LearnEverythingAboutDesign wow thank you for your explanation!! I thought plasticity was a polygon model software. My question would then be why not use fusion 360? Of course fusion is very expensive if you need a license
@@Digit0wL Partially user preference. A lot of users looking to create models that will end up going to Blender for rendering, development of video game assets etc are just looking for the solid modeling with a streamlined workflow. There is also a group of people that prefer the perpetual license like Plasticity vs a subscription based license like Fusion. For me Fusion is my goto tool for designing manufactured parts. If i am going to have something machined or molded for example i stick with fusion. If i am designing off a mesh, say a widebody kit for a car, Fusion. Placticity is very quick and there are things it does better than fusion. Its surface quality is really good and when XNurbs is in the studio version that will make it even better. So you can create some really high quality models, but they are not parameter driven. So you couldn't say define a draft angle and design a molded part with the precision needed to control those details easily like ensuring all ribs/bosses are 60% the thickness of the outside. So both tools have a place. What i would say is to think about where your model goes after you are done with it in CAD. If that animation, games, vr, rendering. Plasticity with the Blender Bridge might be a great option.
I was a beta tester for onshape in 2012 before it was released and have a few courses out on eLearning sites for onShape. I am not a super fan of it but some people love it.
![Design Day 3 of 7 Days of CAD-VERCITY Feb 2025[Automobile and Product design Training Center] #catia](/img/n.gif)
Just a follow up. One thing that's really nice for people that 3d print. The .step files go nicely between Plasticity and Fusion. I've taken some of my .step files and done some modifications that were easier in Plasticity then re-exported them as .step and used Fusion to create the .stl's for them to print. Much easier than the blender method to make the mesh. And the scale of the part was intact. I've only done a couple but so far no issues with this method.
Thanks Oliver! I pinned this to the top, great to hear that workflow and results. thanks for sharing.
Hello! Do I need more than the Personal use version of Fusion 360 in order to do this Step-to-stl transition?? Thanks
Just to add I did this with the free personal use fusion version.
Thanks, I have been trying to figure out what was wrong with a test cube I made to print, was 10mm cube but becomes 100mm after the slicer resizes the 0.01 Plasticity stl export ! I just tried to export a step cube but just got a 2D outline of the one facet, version 1.1
@@airheadbit1984 yeah the default unit/grid in Plasticity is Meter. if you go into the file dropdown menu you can change the units to MM there and hopefully not have scale issues downstream.
Just trying Plasticity after using Fusion 360 for the past year and have been watching several how to videos. Your video is the best I have found so far, I am a subscriber now, Thanks so much!
Awesome thanks! Just a heads up that we have a few quick start videos as the software updates and things change a little. Most recently we released an updated UI overview for 24.1.8, but 24.2.x is out now. We have a whats new video showing what changed. We also have a playlist for basic modeling tools you should know ua-cam.com/play/PLBDfGh8A8kXVIrO1aizPFmRBy-A-G9svk.html and a course on our site www.learneverythingaboutdesign.com if you are looking for more :)
@@LearnEverythingAboutDesign That is very cool. I am already diving into your recommended videos. Your production techniques are very good, by the way.
Thank you for your learning lessons. And thanks to Plasticity, I find this program to be easy for me. I hope it keeps getting better.
You're very welcome! It is always improving! I haven't done any videos with the beta version since that is only available on the Studio license, but Nick is working hard to make it the best. If you get the Studio license you are able to test the beta version of the program and provide feedback/vote on what features should be added FYI.
Love your work, such an empowering tutorial, purchased plasticity with complete confidence. Thanks Matt
As a trained and 20 year experienced AutoCAD draughtsman, half of what I do is get over its crappy failures, difficulty in working with digital fab file formats, and expensive licensing.
I have tried Solidworks, Inventor, and hundreds of other pieces of 3D software and hate sketches and cannot for the life of me understand constraints.
This software seems to be how my brain works. I know my end goal, and as this models almost exactly like AutoCAD I don't need to go back and edit something I did 500 steps ago.
I also love the close to command line interface, most of the inputs I make are typing. Fillet, R, 50, m.
You've definitely sold me on a 30 day trial of this.
The first CAD program I ever used was Autocad in probably 96. it was all command line :) I think as Plasticity progresses(even 1.3 has added a lot since i did this video) it will only get better. Now when you begin drawing a line you can hit TAB and get to the dimension on creation. Might give you enough control.
@@LearnEverythingAboutDesign That sounds awesome, I hate the draw then dimension of most cad software, I know what I am drawing, I know how big its meant to be, let me dimension before drawing, or during.
rectang, d, 500, 100
Plasticity isn't Parametric, no precision for part design. @@Youchubeswindon
Thanks for the tutorial! You just earned yourself a subscriber with the way you speak and explain very clearly and got me up and running Plasticity in no time. I'd love to see more advanced plasticity tutorials from you
Thanks for the sub! and Glad it helped! are there certain types of things you want to model with it?
@@LearnEverythingAboutDesign I'd like to see hard surface models, specifically weapons and their attachments. It would be great if you would do a showcase of it!
I'm just picking up Plasticity and CAD modelling for the first time, thanks for the introduction!
Very welcome! Check out our 5 part series on common modeling workflows. ua-cam.com/play/PLBDfGh8A8kXVIrO1aizPFmRBy-A-G9svk.html
Wow! Thanks for the tutorial! After polygonal modelling, it looks like magic! Awesome!
You're very welcome!
i think this will be my first ever cad program i will use and stick for a while...thank you for the tutorial
awesome, i have more coming!
I found out about the program today, excitedly installed it to only be dumbfounded about how to use it. Your video prevented me from deleting my trial copy.
Now if only I could output STL with it directly.
I believe STL export is in beta right now for those with the Studio License. I haven't tried it just yet though....
@@LearnEverythingAboutDesign I spent more time learning form your other videos. I think it's worth my time learning it.
It's not parametric like fusion 360 but I refuse to use rent software. As I result I used OpenSCAD exclusively. I find it refreshing to see software of this calibre for sale at a reasonable price.
Incredibly succinct, great voice/audio, and thanks for saying 'fillet' correctly. I need to get the Studio version of this ASAP!
You're very welcome! also LOL at the "fillet". I think I know which video you are talking about. Not sure if that is a cultural thing and it is called a "fillay" in other parts of the world.
@@LearnEverythingAboutDesign In the U.S., we have a distinction between filet pronounced "fillay" and fillet which would rhyme with skillet.
In the U.K., I've noticed that they use the word 'fillet' even for food products, which they pronounce in a way that rhymes with skillet.
im honestly really tempted to buy this, i have a background in CAD and blander modeling is kind of hard to want to get really good at because of how wildly different it is from inventor and solidworks, but this seriously bridges the gap.
There is a black friday sale today i think. $25 off indie license. I just bought solidworks again after a few years off and it hurt :) The ux in Plasticity is so much nicer.
I really like how simple this tool is. At first it looked hard, but after giving it a go it's so much easier compared to actual CAD tools I have tried. I am exploring all possible options for hard surface modelling and this tool looks really promising addition to my workflow
yeah once you get the basics down it can be very quick.
Downloaded the demo and went through this. I’m buying the program.
it is well worth the money Nick is asking for it!
Love the pacing and clarity of this tutorial. It would be awesome if you could do some about building /rebuilding surfaces using curves. There have been some fantastic videos posted showing people making cars etc. and it looks fantastic but I have have no idea how they are creating them. You seem like just the guy us newbies need to teach us how to do that :)
Sure thing! Curves and sheets(surfaces) is the next video I have planned.
@@LearnEverythingAboutDesign awesome news - looking forward to it :) have a great day
new user - just downloaded the free trial
would love to see more of these up to date tutorials
subbed for sure
Thanks! stay tuned! I cover mostly CAD on this channel but will be adding more plasticity very soon.
@@LearnEverythingAboutDesign An idea for Plasticity videos would be to show how that application can complement a non-Parasolid-based application by providing alternative fillet, patch, etc., solutions.
Thanks Steve! and pretty sure you pointed out Plasticity to me in the first place last year so thanks for that as well!
the program just blew my mind away. incroyable!
it is fun!
Man, if there was some way that Plasticity and IronCAD could get together and make a hybrid out of all of their tools and interfaces i think they'd be unstoppable in the world of CAD. ironCAD is still my favorite cad software for intuitive precision modeling, but i love the plasticity interface and a lot of its direct modeling features.
I haven't used IronCAD before. What others have you used and what makes IronCAD more intuitive?
This is a gamechanger for beginner cad people I think. The UI is very user friendly compared to many others. And that it resembles blender in many ways I think wont scare people of. Very good video sir. thank you.
Couldn't agree more!
Great video. More Plasticity please
Thanks!
Will users still have an option to go back into a sketch and add dimensions and constraints if they want to? I see the usefulness of the direct modeling approach, but think also having the ability to have it be parametrized as well would bring it to the next level. Thanks for all of your efforts Anna work on this
At this point in time I don't think so. At least no immediate information about a parameter based system. With some shapes you can input dimensions after the fact like a cube, but once you start removing material or modding it that option is lost. You can add measurements on things. Like if you have a shape and you want to know the distance between two points you can do that. Similar to how Measure works in Blender.
i m try this software, your tutorial is so interesting, awesome and mind-blowing thnks for this vido
Great! It is very well designed. There are loads of channels out there covering it as well. PixelFondu for example has loads of under 60s tips on specific tools so if you stick with Plasticity make sure to search around cause there is a lot out there!
what a great software and lesson.
thank you!!
Glad you liked it!
Thanks for the Video! you've earned another subscriber. I've been looking to dive in to a modeling program. The subscription model just kills it for me on most. It's only a hobby for me so Plasticity looks like a perfect fit. Thank you!
Thanks! I will be covering this more. Ive filmed a few more vids just haven't finished them yet. Side note that Fusion 360 is free for Hobby Users. There are some limitation but it is free if you find Plasticity doesn't offer everything you need. It is a pretty cool program.
@@LearnEverythingAboutDesign Yeah I've dabbled with 360 I guess at the time I worried that the policy would change and my work would be lost. Also I mainly need the program for 3d printing design. And while I do want the models to be dimensionally correct they only need to be 3d printable.
@@Oliver1071 Totally makes sense! What kinds of things are you trying to model? maybe i can incorporate that into some of the future videos.
@@LearnEverythingAboutDesign I'm all over the place from RC hobby items, tools, brackets, organization ( peg board accessories) Phone and computer items. And household items.
@@Oliver1071 So pretty specialized lol :)
After using Plasticity for a little bit I found something that would be of some interest. The best way to make dimensionally accurate models. Also working with importing assets and keeping them dimensionally accurate for use with a current project.
I plan to do some videos on the input topic. I have an old video when it was early beta that isn't public anymore but some of the workflow is still similar ua-cam.com/video/OkPI8Vx-gKo/v-deo.html As for imports. when you say assets do you mean images/reference or 3d models?
@@LearnEverythingAboutDesign Thanks I'll check it out. And 3d models.
This was great, I really enjoyed it. Thanks for making this.
Glad you enjoyed it!
At 2:08 into the video, you mentioned being able to grab onto the purple control point after creating the circles, to change or adjust the size of those circles. I don't have or see those purple control points, did they go away with the latest version? If so, how do I go back and change or adjust the size of a primitive shape after it has been created?
Also, is it possible to export as .stl or .obj file format on either of the paid versions? The sole purpose of my learning and buying this is so that I can create/prototype objects and then 3D print them.
to display the control points you will need to have the vertex/point selection mode (1 on the numbers on the keyboard). That should let you display them.
With a circle specifically you can add a dimension and then scale it up. with the updates in 24.2 you can use the dimension tool and edit the dimension when you enable move or scale. One of my recent videos covered this.
as for 3d printing 100% yes. Ill have a new 3d print vid out in the next day or so, but have a few on using plasticity for 3d printing. we did a print in place hinge as well as printed threads and an older video on a cell phone stand.
@@LearnEverythingAboutDesign Oh Awesome! I'll look out for those. Please don't think I am trolling your channel. I am running through all your tutorials and just learning as much as I can. Been having questions along the way. You've been an incredible help. Much love to you and yours.
@@JonneytheKidd No Worries :) this can be tricky and the software doesn't really have any pop-ups, messages, or in product help to speak of. I'll do my best to answer any questions that come in.
One you created a solid, is it not possible to move points from the solid?
No you can't. Plasticity is direct modeling. After you make a sheet(surface) or solid from your curves they aren't linked. You can directly move faces on a shape by moving, rotating, scaling, offseting, or drafting.
Let's say you realize that the cut made at 5:15 was too wide, can you adjust this afterwards or do you need to start over?
There is no link back to curves but you can use direct modeling to resize it(depending on how complex it is. For something that doesn't have cylinders like this you could scale it in that direction. for something like this with cylinders you probably will need to offset the faces of the cylinders down to a new value, then select the outside and offset those faces as well.
Thanks, your video is super helpful.
Glad it was helpful! We have a getting started playlist for Plasticity as well if you are looking for more introductory content.
Hey kind of a dumb question but when you buy it is it like other cad where you only have it tillntime runs out or does it just stop being updated ?
There are currently 2 license types for Plasticity. Indie and Studio. Indie you get all version 1.x updates and you own the software for life. Just the updates stop. The Studio license you get a bit more in terms of import/export. you get access to the beta version of the software and updates for 12mo including 2.x releases. www.plasticity.xyz/#pricing
These are perpetual licenses but the updates will stop. I don't know if a plan for update pricing has been released or not but I would imagine there would be some sort of discount if you own a license to upgrade. not sure though.
Hola tengo una duda, como haces para girar con el mouse de imac en la interfaz? ya que no existe el tercer botón.
Sorry I don't use an iMac so i am not instantly sure. I know you can customize your keybindings in the software and others have done that. I would check the user run wiki for instructions on setting up custom keybindings nullpointerecho.notion.site/nullpointerecho/Plasticity-Wiki-364945653983489ba3e4ad2fc9d0527e
Earned a sub, clear to follow. One thing if I may: "when extruding a closed curve (where you mirror it then boolean them both out) I don't get a solid when extruding. Instead I get a sheet (hollowed out) and can't use boolean on it. I can off course create a solid box instead, but I was wondering why I get a sheet instead of a solid?
Thanks.
on the sheet vs solid. is this true if you use the Box (Shift + b) or start with the corner rectangle curve? If those work fine but your shape doesn't my guess is that the lines aren't actually snapping. Make sure in the right the Object Snaps are on. Use the ... next to Enable snapping and make sure Curve isn't turned off for some reason.
i'm also getting a sheet instead of volume faces on the extrude, must be a mode turned on somewhere
if its a closed boundary it should extrude as a solid. Can you select the area inside it? if you extrude with the curves selected that will likely give you a sheet.
Does it has any kind of "operation tree" to undo/changer operations/parameters?
Nope it is 100% direct modeling.
How do the fillets compare to Fusion360? Fillet geometry in fusion can be pretty touchy when it comes to compound curves.
That was one of the big things Nick was working on with this program. The fillets are pretty robust. They can be Conic or G2 right now and one cool feature is you can add limits to them. So say you have an edge of a part and you only want the fillet to go in the middle, it will allow you to fillet just the middle portion leaving the edges squared off.
Like with anything there will be situations where it fails, but it does a good job even if an entire face is consumed by the fillet.
@@LearnEverythingAboutDesign Oh that's fantastic. I mean I love 360 but even gurus seem to constantly run into fillets/lofts/etc that simply don't compute and nobody knows why.
3:20 Can the blue fill be made translucent so the grid remains visible?
by default in 1.4 you can see through the blue section to see the grid.
What if I'm using Plasticity Maya preset? What are the hotkeys? If you don't know that's fine, you do a good job to mention the tool names most of the time, so I can look up how to use them, but what is the name of the tool that allows you to create it into a "thin wall object" at 3:55? Thanks.
I don't use Maya so I am not 100% sure, but in the preferences next to Maya it says "alt-left mouse to orbit, alt-middle mouse to pan". I would assume right click still accepts.
The actual tools will not change for the maya preset. the only thing that changes is the navigation with the mouse.
Thin wall object in most programs is called Shell, but in Plasticity its called "Hollow".
Great Beginner tutorial
Glad you think so!
makes you wonder how convoluted we got things with hardops in blender , wow game changer
Yeah the difference between trying to model directly with mesh or working with geometry that is meant to be solid :)
Do you use a mouse with a scroll-wheel? I found it uncomfortable to mash the wheel to change orientation. Are there other options?
I do use a mouse with a scroll wheel. There are a few ways to change the view orientation. the num pad 1,3, 7 are pretty straight forward. using the scroll wheel press goes to the next plane in that direction. , if you select a face you can hit space bar and that will make a temp construction plane and go normal to that. You can also click on the X, Y, Z on the view cube.
how are you rotating the view and thank you for the quick start
I am using the default Plasticity settings. So mouse scroll button press while moving the mouse to orbit. Right mouse button to pan. and scroll wheel to zoom. You can also hold down ALT and press the scroll wheel down and "flick" the mouse to a direction and it will rotate to the standard view. like right, front. top.
@@LearnEverythingAboutDesign THANK YOU, I was able to figure out that the little used feature on my mouse... the scroll wheel is also a button. after I watched a few more of your videos I've gotten to the point that I'm going to purchase a copy and subscribe. Coming from Fusion 360 to Plasticity was just a matter of finding the buttons. again THANK YOU
@@dksaevsAwesome glad to hear it! There is also the ability to do custom key bindings by editing the json file. a bit more involved and not something I have done, but if you find initially that you have trouble with the shortcut keys that might be an option.
@@LearnEverythingAboutDesign 👍 ok that's even better and good to know 👍
I am having a hard time getting the screen to rotate like you do at about 3:35 and its really hindering me from doing anything else. Any help on that front? Thanks
what are you modeling on? On a PC its just holding down the mouse wheel. I have a UI overview video that might help ua-cam.com/video/ZhD4uVRuNnY/v-deo.html I know users on Macs have a bit harder time.
@@LearnEverythingAboutDesign Oh shoot thank you so much! I'm going to check out that UI video right now!
I can add a size when selecting a center circle but I can't with a 2 point circle. I'm not seeing any option to accurately change the dimensions of a circle once created either. I'm so glad this software exists btw. It's too bad Fusion 360 (what I'm coming from) is cloud and subscription based.
Yeah that is a good point. it is only on the center diameter circle. that is always my goto so i didn't notice.
And no once a curve is created there isn't an accurate way to change its size with a dimension. you can scale it but everything is "direct" modeling. No history, no parametric link.
Great intro, many thanks, I will give it a go!!
Feels very similar to Moi 3d at first glance
Go for it! I haven't tried Moi but I know a lot of the Plasticity users are coming from Fusion, Shapr3d and Moi looking to this as a replacement.
When I did the mirroring, I used Q to union, but most of the faces didn't merge. Is there a way to tell it to merge everything it can, after the mirroring?
you usually have to hit Q twice i think. you should see the preview change to like a blueish purple. If after the mirror the bottom half disappears that usually means they werent on the mirror plane and there was a small gap.
Great video, thanks for sharing!
Thanks for watching!
Great video, I have just discovered Plasticity, and wondering if I can bring in Adobe Illustrator export SVGs or PNGs to extrude in Plasticity.
at this time no you can't bring an SVG in. You can bring images in as reference which i show in the next video about curves and sheets. I have heard people talk about exporting a dxf from Illustrator but I haven't personally done this.
Can it not make accurate parts with dimensions? The program and parts i have seen looks awsome but seems useless if they are not accurate for machining. I wanted to use this for making rifle stocks and machine them
If you are looking to machine something, especially with that level of precision I would stick to a true CAD software. Plasticity can make things precise during input but its a "Direct modeler" meaning you do things in a more destructive way. It is geared more towards visual effects, game assets, animations etc and less towards a production part.
Can this be done without using keyboard shortcuts at all?
For sure. It takes a bit longer. All the move/rotate/scale and other commands like mirror are in the bottom left. F on the keyboard is find and I would at least use that one to start typing a command. The tools on the bottom right are contextual based on your current selection. In the top left the select filters are a bit tricky to do without a key, you can click on the one you want but if you want to add all you hit TAB or 5 on the numbers or you can hold down SHIFT and click to add multiples to your selection.
SHIFT T. just doesnt' work. am i missing some specific you didn't mention? does it just not work anymore?
I just checked and it still works for me during the extrude. once you start pulling the extrude up look in the bottom right hand corner for all the options, does it say Shift+T there for thickness? which installed version do you have? It is not impossible that it changed.
This is INSANE!
Great tutorial, subscribed. I'm in love with this tool, and really enjoying all the info since 1.0 was released. Is there a way to align objects (a-la Tinkercad) that's not just using the move tool to drag things to specific axises, and if so can we get a tutorial on it?
Thanks! And yes you can use "Place" the shortcut is CTRL+D. this is kind of like a duplicate and place. You can try it by making a large cylinder, then make a smaller one off to the side. Select the smaller one, hit CTRL+D, select a point on the smaller one then drag around the larger one and see how you can place it. you might need to hit F to flip the normal direction.
@@LearnEverythingAboutDesign awesome! thanks.
How do you stick two objects together, I’ve made two solids and I need to join them together
as long as they are touching or overlapping you use the Boolean (Q), and hit Q again for union
Hey there, GREAT and helpful video. Hey so I'm following along but when I got mirror in Z and press Q it doesn't merge the two halves, in fact the lower copy disappears.If I ignore the Q command but instead just validate the mirror (yielding two halves now) and then hit Q it doesn't union. I still have two separate halves. Shifting to Y view it looks like my lower surfaces are on the axis. Advice?
Hmmm, it is probably a case of it just not overlapping. What you can try to do before the mirror is to use G and move the entire body down just a little so it overlaps the plane for certain. Sometimes if one of the lines isn't perfectly aligned it will fail like that. There are some other ways you can get around it but I would start there first.
@@LearnEverythingAboutDesign Ah, bingo! thanks, and thanks for a well explained tutorial!
I just downloaded the trial.. The software looks very cool and tempting, I am curious to see if it is something to replace Fusion 360.
If you do concept work and the end goal is going to Blender or similar it is very likely. there is a large community of users who are doing some great things with it.
Super interesting thank you.
Why do you say it would be insane to try to manufacture?
Manufacture with CNC milling I should have said. It would just be tricky hold and require a lot of different orientations to machine and you would have to find a way to support the long thin sections so you didn't get chatter.
once you have a solid, can you not move points? I can't find a way.. hmm..and yes, looks like you can create this much quicker. But it looks like ou need to clean up the poly mesh inside Blender.
No you can't. Plasticity is "direct modeling" meaning once you make a solid from a set of curves they don't remain linked. You can delete the curves or make new solids after you move them. You can also move faces direction by scaling, rotating, offsetting or drafting them.
Ok so.. if it's not polygonal does that mean it cannot be used for video game models and STL files for 3D printing?
3d printing yes. ua-cam.com/video/FnipEEjvU1k/v-deo.html the catch is just how you create/scale/define the size of everything since there is no inherit constraint system after curves are created.
For video games yes, but the general workflow would be to mesh and remesh something. Someone has made an add-in for blender (i think) called Ngone. Its a remesher to take cad files that have been saved as an stl/obj and optimized them for low poly game assets.
This is true with any CAD to poly workflow.
ua-cam.com/video/st2rWhhBZMY/v-deo.html
@@LearnEverythingAboutDesign ok thanks for getting back to me I already have a headache haha.. I tried to follow the tutorial and can't find anywhere to even get the camera to orbit so I cannot move forward.. I also don't have control points on mine somehow.
Check the UI video I did,maybe that will help get acquainted. ua-cam.com/video/ZhD4uVRuNnY/v-deo.html
For the control points it is likely the selection filter. Upper left corner of the modeling window you will see 4 boxes, If the first one isn't highlighted it won't show you the control points. The number 1 on the keyboard (top of the keys not the num pad) will turn on the point selection. 5 will turn on all types. You can also hold down SHIFT and enter other number 1-4 and turn on multiple options.
For the rotating the default behavior on a windows machine is holding down the middle mouse button to orbit. right mouse button to pan. and scroll wheel to zoom.
Can you actually define the dimensions like a CAD tool or is it just for sketching imprecise objects? either way it looks like a pretty intuitive hard surface modeler.
not exactly. you can give curves specific inputs when you create them. For example you can make a circle at the origin with a diameter of 10mm, then use move to position it relative to its current position. You can't currently just place it then apply a dimension to accurately locate it.
@@LearnEverythingAboutDesign I figured, still it looks like a fantastic tool for hard surface modelling. Got a Zbrush for low poly modelling feel to it. Best of all its focused on the modelling, doesn't have the functionality bloat of Blender or Maya and it actually costs less than my car ;)
Can you modify the design or do you have to start over?
you can modify it with direct modeling. For example select a face and push/pull it. But there is no link back to the curves if that is what you mean.
I am very beginner and can you tell me how do you navigate in the 3d space like 03:35
The standard way to move around is with the middle mouse button to rotate, right mouse button to pan. I did a video on the UI overview as well to help get started. ua-cam.com/video/ZhD4uVRuNnY/v-deo.html
From the look of it... is there no timeline like in Fusion360 so that later I decided that I need bigger chamfer I'm not out of luck?
well the workflow would be if you need a bigger chamfer to select that face and just pull it which creates an offset face. You can do this in Fusion with Press Pull which essentially does the same thing "offset face". BUT there is no dimension/value to go back and edit no.
good video! I like what the guys at plasticity are doing. Especially the price model is good, you can own your software. I only wish you could change dimensions afterwards (f.e. size of the circles)
Thanks for sharing. Yeah I am providing feedback and hopefully you will see that in the future, fingers crossed.
Gota say I liked your presentation...
Thank You!
Thank you for the video!
My pleasure!
hi, This might be a niche question, particularly for a new program that already shows so much cool functionality,
when working with scan data(mesh) and want to cut and edit into it mechanical precision parts.
can Plasticity do that, or is it on the Road map.
additionally can you creat custom Fillet profiles for when you 'hot click' on corners for instance to creat a fillet with lead in
Since I am not the developer it is hard to saw what the future holds specifically. I wouldn't imagine plasticity will turn into a reverse engineering program though. As it is geared toward artists that seems like a pretty low requirement. On the free side MeshLab is a tool for processing scan data. I have videos on doing this in Fusion 360 and then you have dedicated programs like Geomagic specifically designed for that process..
Attempted to follow along on Mac, was utterly lost fairly quickly from the beginning :/ . Will attempt later on PC
sorry I don't use a Mac. Hopefully it isn't too hard to connect the dots.
@@LearnEverythingAboutDesign all good mate, your video is excellent and spot on, it is the lack of a middle mouse click/button on macs that make translation and orientation impossible. Realized you can toggle “trackpad” which helps a little but is still a bit quirky.
How large can the assemblies be? Could I use it to remodel incorrect electrical wiring and hydraulic hoses?
I don't know of any current limit to the number of parts you can have going, but it can be hard to manage. some tools like arrays and things might have an imposed limit. While you could easily model things like wires and hoses with the pipe tool and curves, you would not be doing this for production. For example if you were doing a cable/harness in Solidworks you would control the length and then have a pin board breakdown of the wiring after. So in Plasticity you could model these things but not sure what you would do with it downstream.
@@LearnEverythingAboutDesign We do CGI illustrations of CAD models and until now do all of our modifications of e.g. collisions of wire geometry in polygon software with no loop back into the source CAD system. In our use case it just needs to look right and not have all the correct dimensions. But some of our partners also require a STEP model and thus, they do not get our modifications, right now. Was thinking about doing the CAD changes in Rhino, but haven‘t tried it, yet. Then I saw some plasticity videos and was curious if it was useable for our use cases. Also we occasional get corrupted CAD models that did not survive conversions between CAD softwares and instead of being solids are only surfaces with gaps. Could I use plasticity to fix those models quickly. Would also appreciate any suggestions for a good non-subscription software in the lower 4 digit price range that would allow us to do that.
@@wingmansion Hi there. Plasticity "could" work for you. the tricky part is what modifications you need. Plasticity does well at breaking apart solids or joining them back together. My best suggestion is to try the 30 day trial, import some models and see. Without the subscription model you do get a bit limited, but Plasticity might work but again it all depends on your modifications. feel free to email me support@caducator.com if want to send over more info that isn't public.
I use Cinema 4D and UA-cam has decided to show me a lot of Plasticity tutorials and I'm liking it :)
But how could you make a spherical surface with a pattern of many convex circles of different sizes. Not holes, but pits (?). Like a noise texture or orange peel but with polygons and not rendered textures.
P.S. I'm using Google Translator and I don't know if what I'm saying makes sense. LOL.
Perfect Sense! Textures are a bit different than what you would do in C4d or even a mesh sculpter with stamps. You can manually create them, you can array on a curve and you can place on a spherical face, but making a large pattern like a texture would be a pain. Probably the best thing would be to model the part and then take it to a mesh editor or texturer after.
think you're describing what Grasshopper does in Rhino - parametric 3D patterns applied as geometrical textures
Can Plasticity be used for large architecture projects? In other words, is there a limit to size and detail?
I don't currently know of a size or part limitation. it don't think it is designed for projects with thousands of solids but I don't know if that means its impossible.
@@LearnEverythingAboutDesign Interesting. I may be the first to test it out.
@@TIMMERIZINI I just built a tunnel structure with 80 solids and about 100 surfaces(to represent conduit) and it didn't have any issue. i duplicated it all 4x and didn't notice anything slowing down. If you have a large structure you could download the trial and import it as a neutral format and see how it behaves.
@@LearnEverythingAboutDesign Great idea. I will do that!
Great video, just subscribed to your channel!
I recently started learning how to model focused on the 3D printing world.
I use Fusion 360 today because it's free.
How do you see this tool for somebody that uses F360 for 3D Printing?
Awesome, thank you! For me personally I would stick with Fusion 360 still for a few reasons. When i design for 3d printing I often times need precise dimensions and input, I am usually working with multiple pieces that fit together or surround electronics, and in some cases I use the slicer in fusion 360s manufacture workspace. I think Plasticity is a great tool and you certainly can use it for 3d printing, but its not free for hobby users and there are no dimension driven sketches at this point.
no idea how you changed to 3d view? perhaps it's supposed to be obvious?
at which point in the video? NumPad 1,3,7 change to the default construction views. The view cube in the top right lets you click the axis you want. Space bar makes a temp construction view based on how you currently positioned that you can save and go back to. Also if you hold down ALT, the middle mouse wheel and drag it will snap to the various ortho planes.
If I create a sphere, can I deform it to a more oval shape?
not currently. Doing that is more of a SubD thing which you can do in Fusion 360. Plasticity is direct modeling at the moment which means you can move/rotate/scale faces, but a sphere being a single face means you would need to slice it up and create a new face for the top lofted or revolved how you want.
@@LearnEverythingAboutDesign I see, I suppose a custom shape and a rotation would work?
@@shokk1967 Yeah depending on the geometry. Just consider the entire face you are selecting as either being scaled, moved, or rotated. There are non-uniform scale options so you can deform a face/shape non-uniformly which could be used to stretch the sphere out, but this is less of a face level change like if you are selecting a vertex and pulling it. Hope that makes sense.
Can work for 3D printing?
you can export as an OBJ so yes you could go to your print slicer. ill try to do a video with that workflow soon.
i love that there are dimensions in this. bc im using MAYA and there isnt any
in version 1.2 the dimensions will display a little different. They will show when creating the object BUT keep in mind this is only at creation. Those dimensions aren't driving anything.
@@LearnEverythingAboutDesign can i switch to mm? instead of m for 3d printing?
@@karadanvers6136 Yes if you go drop down in the upper left and to "Preferences" there is a "grid & units" section
looks great. can I add text on a surface and extrude that?
Not yet. that is a feature request but currently there is no text tool that I know of. You would have to manually draw it.
@@LearnEverythingAboutDesign thanks for the reply.
Is there an iPad option.
Im not 100% sure since I don't use an iPad. Plasticity is available for Mac OSX (12+), Windows (10+), and Linux (Ubuntu 22).
how you do that shift and t ?
Im not sure what you mean. T is trim, but i don't think there is an Shift+T
Just wondering why it's all done in meters (and the easiest to see when most modelling is in mm yet so difficult to use in Plasticity
This was done in Meters because the switch to mm also required some grid setting changes and felt it was easier as a start point to just leave it as the default units. If you switch to mm or inch i like to set the grid size and accented lines to better represent those settings as well.
Absolutely love the program! Will there be an educational version? Would be nice to support young engineers and designers who are learning and still have a limited budget :)
I am not sure about that. My guess would be no, but since I am not the developer it is hard to say what Nick has in mind. You can check out Nicks channel directly where he posts updates and new features as they are added in videos. www.youtube.com/@nickkallen1
The individual license is only £70 / $99, so definitely not going to break the bank for a student.
Is this parametric?
Sadly no, there is no link back to any dimensions used to create the objects.
hello , is there any undo command?
CTRL+Z on a windows machine. I don't think there is an undo button anywhere though.
thx for this overview!
Interessting program. If version 3 is out than is time to buy
it has evolved a lot in beta over the last year I have played with it. I would keep an eye for version 1.3.
I just picked up Plasticity. Coming from blender for years this feels like a very good missing piece.
Thanks for sharing! Plasticity is powerful and really is made for Blender users. We do have a few playlists as well as a course on our www.learneverythingaboutdesign.com site and will be adding more content soon.
Can you dimension things?
note exactly. you can have inputs while creating or moving. say you put a circle at the origin with a precise value, then use G (move) to move it an exact distance. There is currently no way to add a precise dimension and drive the location of something like a curve. it all happens directly during creation or when moving/offseting.
@@LearnEverythingAboutDesign do you have an example somewhere showing how a feature could be located from some other feature or reference?
@@seenmakino I don't have a new video yet, but this is an old one i pulled down because it was an early beta version of the program, but the same should still hold true to understsand the process. ua-cam.com/video/OkPI8Vx-gKo/v-deo.html
I know fusion 360 is a pro app but god I can't wait for something like this to become more popular, because my goodness fusion 360 is buggy and the god awful UI is eye cancer
I actually like the Fusion UI better than a lot of other programs :) but i hear ya
Fusion 60 is free to noncommercial... plasticity doesn't offer such.
@@graphguy I know, but I was talking purely of app design
@@graphguyyeah but plasticity is pay to own forever for $99. Where fusion is $70 a month at minimum.
What you've made can be machine-made. Even if you made it that way. Whatever you come up with in most cases it can be made in real life.
wow how to join to Plasticity ADS program?
What is ADS program? do you mean the beta testing? for that now you have to buy the studio license which gives you access to beta testing new versions of the software.
I hope subdivion in the futur on plasticity 🎉
Me to!
My main bug bear with Plasticity is the UI changing so much with every release. Almost all tutorials on youtube use functionality that no longer exists. Its very frustrating.
yeah i get that. I pulled all my old stuff down before v1. Here is the most current version if it helps and I do plan to do some updated UI videos once i feel it is stable. ua-cam.com/video/kATCRYZKE7U/v-deo.html
Tried it, and found it completely unintuitive. Merely creating simple dimensioned shapes or selecting edges to modify their length is frustrating or impossible
yeah it is a different workflow to CAD. It is made for Blender users mainly and can be tough from a CAD mindset. I think some of those elements will get in there eventually but right now it doesn't have the constraint/dimension systems of a CAD program.
this looks like blender, ui, model shading, wireframe, that options window in a corner... i wonder if this is some kind of mutated branch of blender.
Nope its a fresh program from the ground up, but the creator, Nick, knew that most users would be coming from Blender so it was designed in a way to feel similar. Even some of the default keys like G, R, S that are used in Blender are used in Plasticity.
@@LearnEverythingAboutDesign okay)
Plasticity nice
This software probably isn't for me. But it seems like a worthy successor to SketchUp (which seems to be getting slowly killed).
Very true. If nick decides to put precise input/dimensions into it, even if they don't maintain a link back to the curve I think it will capture a segment of makers.
concur 100% re Plasticity. and sketchup is gone daddy gone. Blender is the force dejeure. and when you combine Plasticity (and F360) with Blender you create hypergolic rocket fuel 🔥 🚀
I would consider shapr3d as a successor to sketchup.
@@Z-add I did evaluate Shapr3d. it was clear from the workflow that it is made for touch screens. There is also freeCAD out there.
@@LearnEverythingAboutDesign shapr3d works great on windows without touchscreen.
"I don't really care if this thing can be manufactured or not" - Every arkitect ever
hahahah
when i hit G on the keyboard nothing happens
you will have to have something selected first. Most of the dialogs are going to be selection based. For Move (G) you will need a point, edge, or body selected first and it should work.
@@LearnEverythingAboutDesign thank you :)
i vaguely remember the author will be charging like 10-20 usd when the 1.0 hit the mass...now 99 USD for basic?.
A lot has changed since some of those initial announcements. The original beta was on a different Kernel in the back that would allow for such a cheap price. The current public version is built on the Parasolid kernel so pricing is a bit different and that is where a lot of the cost comes from sadly. But this is not a subscription license. You pay once and you own it for whatever that is worth.
I'd say 99 usd is still a pretty great deal, if this really is as good as it seems on the first glance.
Fusion360 costs 360 usd per month i think its worth it
@@pusab2064 Not quite that expensive. Currently I think its $500/year or around $40/mo. A lot of people in this VFX segment of modeling are opposed to the subscription model that Autodesk and many other programs have adopted. I personally don't mind subscription based having working in fixed versions for many years they have their own problems/challenges. But that is a bigger discussion that would likely bring a lot of negative comments :)
I would be nice not to have another sub for once. I’m subbed out. The price is totally fair imo
Why one would use this software instead of blender? Blender is more complete and free no?
Plasticity is a CAD program that models in solids and surfaces. These are BREP and NURBS. Blender models in polygons. In Blender you start with a mesh and end with a mesh. To make "hard surface" type models, things with hard edges, holes etc you have to use addons like cadsketcher, or spend a lot of time with booleans in the mod stack and really be careful with edgeloops. In the end you are still left with a mesh. In Plasticity you actually have a solid body (or surface) that is represented accurately. A hole is a hole, not a bunch of straight lines. A fillet is an curvature continuous surface that matches tangency with the surrounding faces.
Plasticity acts as a direct modeler that is intended to work well with Blender and do the things that it can't do easily or well. Can someone create similar parts in both? sure. But in Blender you will always have a mesh. In plasticity you have a solid and can convert it to a mesh for use downstream in blender if you wish.
@LearnEverythingAboutDesign wow thank you for your explanation!! I thought plasticity was a polygon model software. My question would then be why not use fusion 360? Of course fusion is very expensive if you need a license
@@Digit0wL Partially user preference. A lot of users looking to create models that will end up going to Blender for rendering, development of video game assets etc are just looking for the solid modeling with a streamlined workflow. There is also a group of people that prefer the perpetual license like Plasticity vs a subscription based license like Fusion.
For me Fusion is my goto tool for designing manufactured parts. If i am going to have something machined or molded for example i stick with fusion. If i am designing off a mesh, say a widebody kit for a car, Fusion. Placticity is very quick and there are things it does better than fusion. Its surface quality is really good and when XNurbs is in the studio version that will make it even better. So you can create some really high quality models, but they are not parameter driven. So you couldn't say define a draft angle and design a molded part with the precision needed to control those details easily like ensuring all ribs/bosses are 60% the thickness of the outside.
So both tools have a place. What i would say is to think about where your model goes after you are done with it in CAD. If that animation, games, vr, rendering. Plasticity with the Blender Bridge might be a great option.
Try Onshape...
I was a beta tester for onshape in 2012 before it was released and have a few courses out on eLearning sites for onShape. I am not a super fan of it but some people love it.