In this short tutorial we will see how to create solid extrusions procedurally starting from a single vertex and building, step by step, only segments, as I am showing in the video.
Video Transcript
Hello everyone! In this short tutorial we will see how to create solid extrusions procedurally starting from a single vertex and building, step by step, only segments, as I am showing in the video. The tutorial was recorded with version 5 of Blender, but the modifiers used have been available for several versions. Specifically, we will use the Screw and Solidify modifiers, in this order and with a few adjustments to their parameters.
To show you a practical example, I add a Plane to the scene, then I merge all its vertices at the center so that I have a single vertex to extrude. I then perform a few extrusions, as if I were starting to draw the floor plan of an apartment.
In Object Mode, I add a Screw modifier to the object. This modifier is generally used to create screw-like shapes starting from a profile, as its icon suggests. In our case, we will use it for an in-place screw effect and, most importantly, vertically, to give height to the segments we have drawn.
I set Angle to 0 and Axis to Z, then I adjust the Screw parameter to control the height of the walls. The sides of some faces appear red because I enabled Face Orientation in Viewport Overlays, which is very useful for checking the correct orientation of the face Normals.
To give thickness to the walls we created, I add a Solidify modifier right below Screw, set the mode of this new modifier to Complex, and adjust the Thickness value as desired.
The shapes used so far have not caused any issues, but now I will show you a more complex one that did. In these cases, you can try to let the Screw modifier fix the Normals by enabling the Calculate Order option in the Normals section of the modifier. However, there are situations where it is simply not possible to determine the correct orientation of the Normals. In those cases, my advice is to select the problematic vertices and detach them from the rest by pressing V, which is the shortcut for the Rip operator.
Inside the Normals section of the Screw modifier you will also find the Flip option, which allows you to reverse the orientation of the Normals for all the faces generated by Screw. The effect is actually visible on the Solidify modifier below, because the thickness will be created on the opposite side.
A moment ago I showed you how I subdivided an edge and then extruded the new vertex to create a new shape from that point. In Edit Mode, it is also possible to duplicate a vertex, move it elsewhere, and create additional extrusions starting from that point, within the original object but with the new shapes separated from the others.
Finally, nothing prevents us from adding other modifiers to the stack. For example, we can add Bevel to slightly round the edges of the shapes. If the bevel appears uneven or produces unusual values, remember to switch back to Object Mode and apply the Scale transformations to the object.
That’s all for this video! If you found it helpful, you can support me with a Like and by subscribing to the channel. See you next time!