Qol Tools: Polypal
QOL.. Quality Of Life tools for Blender!
PolyPal !
Now available as a Blender 4.2 EXTENSION format addon!
Are you tired of wasting time creating objects before you can create polygons? PolyPal has the solution!
PolyPal allows you to create polygons directly without having to create objects first.
As an ex-Maya user I missed the "create Polygon Tool" regularly, even after years of using Blender. So, here's an equivalent that also takes it that little bit further (Quality of Life, after all! :) )
To Start:
Start a new polygon by simply right-swiping in the QOL HUB Pie menu, or by selecting ADD>MESH>QOL PolyPal Draw from the standard menu.
And then, simply start drawing.. Simple!
The primary goal of the addon is straightforward -to craft quick and easy silhouettes
But there's more..
But there's more to it. Although PolyPal is not intended to be a comprehensive polygon editing tool, it does offer some helpful additional features.On the Fly chamfering / Filleting.
While drawing, simply CTRL+drag the middle mouse button to interactively bevel. By default, it Fillets (Rounds), but you can switch to Chamfer by pressing "C" or return to Fillet with "F."
Select leading edge.
You're not confined to the leading edge (where the next edge divides to form a vertex), which is marked by a blue line. Just click on any edge, and it will become the new leading edge. Alternatively, use the mouse wheel to scroll through the edges.
Freehand draw.
Is plotting a poly too rigid for your taste? While placing the next vertex, hold Shift and drag to draw freehand.
Grid Snapping
(In orthographic views) Want a little more accuracy when lining things up ? Just hit X to toggle grid snapping. It's dynamic, so it chooses an appropriate grid scale to your object size/view
Oh.. And More:
If you're using QOL HUB there are additional tools available:
Poly Cutter
1) Select any number of silhouette polys or curves and then your target object last as active object.
2) QOL HUB Pie - Northeast - CutProject !
Weld Silhouette
1) Select two outline polygons
2) QOL HUB Pie - Northeast - Weld Silhouette!
Joining two coplanar polygons to form a single outline is quite a tricky thing, but PolyPal to the rescue! Having said that, note that it can only join coplanar polys in orthographic mode, and only legal nGons (no holes, perfectly flat etc).
Video Demo