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I have a mesh that I would like to cut out a tube from. I'm familiar with the boolean modifier, but the problem is it will not cut out the middle of the tube.

enter image description here

What would be the best way to cut out the tube (including hollow inner section) from a mesh?

Thank you

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  • $\begingroup$ A couple of questions.Will the tubes be separate objects when you are done? If not, do you want the result to be a continuous manifold? ( i.e. the inside of the tube cuts the inside of the mesh, the outside of the tube cuts the outside of the mesh)? $\endgroup$
    – Robin Betts ♦
    Mar 19, 2018 at 14:17
  • $\begingroup$ Booleans are strongly discouraged. Using proper topology is strongly recommended $\endgroup$
    – Duarte Farrajota Ramos ♦
    Mar 19, 2018 at 15:11
  • $\begingroup$ @RobinBetts Thanks for your comment. They don't need to be separate objects, but they do need to be a continuous manifold. It's a 3D printed air nozzle for a 3D printer. Thanks again :) $\endgroup$
    – Adam Plocher
    Mar 20, 2018 at 10:09
  • $\begingroup$ @DuarteFarrajotaRamos Thanks for your comment! Yeah, I've been reading about that a bit over the last day and I've been fighting with creating a proper manifold as a result of it. I'm quite new to Blender, so many of these concepts are a little over my head but I'm definitely learning a lot and will be a master of it by next week (j/k - someday perhaps) $\endgroup$
    – Adam Plocher
    Mar 20, 2018 at 10:11

1 Answer 1

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With such tubes, the boolean modifier won't remove the cube part in the center of the tubes, as they are not within the tube mesh

I see two possibilities:
1- "apply" the boolean modifier and remove the parts of the cube you don't want (select a vertex in each "inner part" and 'select linked'), or
2- duplicate your tubes, and make cylinders out of the copy (remove the inner wall and close the ends), then use those in your modifier. I'd make the cylinders slightly smaller than the outer diameter of the tubes, to avoid all risk of holes between the cube and the tubes.

The first is probably easier in a static object, the second when you need to animate the tubes

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