QuickShape Documentation

Draw Shapes in 3D. An extremely versatile Workplane feature can be used to position your shapes. QuickShape is designed to be a drawing tool, not a modeling tool!

Contents

Getting Started
Update
Preferences
Tools
Drawing
Shapes
Shape Settings
Shape Modifiers
Ngon
Boolean Operations
QuickMenu
Workplane
Voxel Modeling
Tips

Getting Started

• Try drawing in a side view instead of a 3/4 perspective view. Think of QuickShape like painting shapes that have a 3d depth. Change the camera angle to find the optimal direction to draw from
• Adjust the workplane and the brush size as needed
• The workplane and its accompanying settings will determine where your shape begins. Your shape settings will determine how the shape is drawn. So the order of the thought process is Workplane -> Shape -> Shape Settings -> Draw
• Use the various boolean shapes with the hotkeys below to cut into and edit your shapes
• Refine your shapes by using other brushes or decreasing your brush size to create details
• At the bottom of this document you will find the Tips section which is a very helpful resource of all the things I commonly help people out with, your question is likely answered there
• After reading through this documentation and watching some videos on youtube, you will have a great grasp of all the tools and workflows and how to use them! If you have any questions, I am active in the QuickTools Discord and always more than happy to help

Update

• There are very few if any remaining bugs, and most errors are simply a matter of Blender not updating the addon properly. Make sure you have the latest version from Gumroad, make sure the file name matches the Blender version you are using (usually the latest Stable release)
• Make sure you Uninstall the old version -> Close Blender -> Reopen -> Then reinstall the ZIP file

Preferences

Customize your user experience from default startup settings to hotkeys
Almost all of the settings listed throughout this documentation can be found in the QuickShape preferences for customization

Drawing Threshold

Minimum distance (in pixels) before you are considered to have begun drawing. If you want to make really small shapes (pixel wise) you will need to lower this

Viewport Drawing Border

Amount of available working area in the viewport. A larger border will free up some of the gizmo icons on the side of the viewport so you can use them without closing QuickShape

Text Size

Font Size

Always Show Cursor

Show shape size cursor at all times

Colors

Color customization

Alt/Ctrl Navigation

Enables Alt/Ctrl based Navigation

Use Alt Drag MMB Snapping

This setting lets you use Alt MMB flicking to set the view, but comes at the cost of slowing down workflows that use Alt
You will have to make sure you start drawing THEN hold Alt, and you will also have to let go of Alt to confirm the action
Use this setting only if Alt Drag is very important to you, everything works great it just has some tradeoffs. Personally, I use MMB then Alt to Snap To View instead of the flick drag

Always Show Workplane

Show Workplane at all times

Max Size

Size of shapes is limited to 200m by default, you can change that max size here

Mouse Speed Multiplier

Most values in QuickShape are determined by pressing a button, moving your mouse to increment a value, and then left clicking to confirm. This is the speed of that incrementation, you may have to adjust based on your monitor resolution or DPI

Ngon Snapping Sensitivity

Determine how close (in pixels) your mouse cursor needs to be to the snapping region before it will snap (if snapping is enabled)

Line width

Width of the Shape path while drawing

Tools

Nearly all Tools in QuickShape have customizable htokeys! Hotkeys are broken down into 2 sections, when QuickShape is open and when QuickShape is closed. By default, I have tried to assign hotkeys in a manner where common Blender features can still be used while QuickShape is running, but some things may be unavailable. Get comfortable with opening and closing QuickShape as needed

Closed hotkeys are found in the Keymap section of Blender preferences, search for QuickShape to speed up locating all related hotkeys. This will handle things such as opening and closing QuickShape

QuickShape

Shift F

The same hotkey will open/close QuickShape

Open hotkeys are found in the preferences section of the QuickShape addon. This handles all of the tools inside QuickShape

QuickMenu Pie

Ctrl D

Opens the QuickMenu pie which contains all the settings you can change instead of having to use hotkeys. Be mindful that you must press this hotkey, then release, then use the mouse to select the settings. Do not hold this hotkey down the entire time the pie is open

Drawing

Hold down LMB and move the stylus to begin drawing. Ngon mode will use a LMB click and release system, more info on that below

Move Shape

G

When drawing Hold down key and move cursor to reposition the Shape. LMB to Confirm Shape

Rotate Shape

R

When drawing Hold down key and move cursor to rotate the Shape. LMB to Confirm Shape

Scale Shape

S

When drawing Hold down key and move cursor to scale the Shape. LMB to Confirm Shape

Repeat Shape

Ctrl Shift V

Click after drawing and confirming a shape to "bring it back" and repeat the shape. LMB to Confirm

Shapes

Lasso

1

Box

2

Ngon

3

Circle

4

Sphere

5

Shape Toggle

Shift Q

Toggle through all the shapes

Custom

J

Select an object to assign it as a Custom Shape

Press J again with no objects selected to clear the Custom Shape

Shape Settings

Settings are either toggled on or off, or you must activate the hotkey, drag the cursor left/right to change the values and then confirm the value by LMB or the original hotkey. The UI will be updating accordingly

Draw Style

Ctrl Shift J

Drag out from Corner or Center (Not Applicable to Lasso/Ngon)

Direction

Shift G

Draw Towards View, Away from View or Neutral Note that "View" takes the Workplane into account, so if you have a Workplane active on a face, the "View" will actually be the Normal direction of the workplane

Force Proportions

Shift N

Draw constrained shapes such as perfect squares and circles (non lasso shapes) or rectangles and ellipses

Depth

F

Z Depth of your shape in meters

Increment Depth

[

Decrease the Depth by -0.1

Increment Depth

]

Increase the Depth by 0.1

Double Depth

Up Arrow

Double the current Depth

Halve Depth

Down Arrow

Halves the current Depth

Edit Depth

Alt F

Edit the Depth of the Shape under your cursor (Scales along Local Z axis)

Sample Depth

Alt Ctrl F

Samples the Depth (Local Z Scale) of the object under your cursor and sets it as the new Depth Size

Thickness

Ctrl G

Hollow your shape and give the border edge this thickness amount in meters  
Thickness width is not perfectly uniform in all cases, especially with lasso. Suggest using the QuickCurve Square Brush if you need something better

Resolution

Alt T

Resolution has different meanings for different shapes.  Drawing in QuickShape generally works by sampling points periodically and then creating the 3D mesh. The longer you take to draw, the more points will be sampled, regardless of your resolution. '10' will result in the maximum amount of points possible, but you can get different amounts of possible points if you draw slower or faster. For the Lasso, '10' can be a little too jittery and the smoothed result of '8' or '9' is preferred. It's worth experimenting to see what kind of results you get. Interesting hard surface shapes are easily drawn by using a very low resolution, especially when combined with drawing quickly  
For Box this setting is irrelevant  
For Ngon this setting is only relevant when using the Lasso mode, and the above description applies  
For Circle and Sphere there is a simple translation from Resolution to Verts at fixed intervals, '1' is 3 amount of vertices/sides, '2' is 4 vertices, '3' is 12, ..., '10' is 128`

Cut Through

C

Cut all the way through the selected object when using Booleans (up to the limit set by Max Size in preferences) or use the specified Depth amount.  
Remember to think about your workplane if you have Cut Through off, the shape will begin at the workplane and then go along the Direction by the Depth Amount.  
A common beginner problem is having Cut Through off and setting the Workplane, Depth and Direction settings in a way that doesn't result in a visible cuts

Merge To Active

M

Merge the new shape to the selected object. This not a boolean union, just a join of the objects

Pressure

Shift M

Take an average pressure throughout the shape drawing and apply that as the depth

Extract After Expanad

Shift J

Separate polygons that have been expanded into a new Object

Interactive Mode

Ctrl Shift Q

Set the Depth visually by moving the cursor left and right before clicking to confirm the shape. You can use number keys to type a specific number in this mode

Procedural

Alt G

Keep Boolean modifiers live after creating the Shape so you can work procedurally

Set Material

Ctrl Alt M

Pick Material under Cursor and set it. If nothing is found, it will be set to None. Use this to quickly choose the Material your new shapes will have

Shape Modifiers

Reset

K

Reset all Settings to the default Values

Taper

Shift M

Tapers the extruded face so you can make pyramid looking shapes

Bevel 2D Amount

V

Bevel Radius for the 2D version of the Shape Drawing, before it has a Solidify modifier applied to it

Bevel 2D Segments

Shift V

Bevel Segments for the 2D version of the Shape Drawing, before it has a Solidify modifier applied to it

Bevel 3D Amount

Y

Bevel Radius for the 2D version of the Shape Drawing, after it has a Solidify modifier applied to it

Bevel 3D Segments

Shift Y

Bevel Segments for the 3D version of the Shape Drawing, after it has a Solidify modifier applied to it

Randomize

Shift T

When this is above 0 the selected settings will be randomized between the main value and this second number You can find the Randomizable options in the QuickMenu settings

Ngon Brush

Press LMB and drag to set first point, press and release LMB every time after to create new ngon points

Freehand

Shift LMB

Freehand Lasso drawing while held down then go back to Ngon mode when you release

Arc

Shift A

Create an Arc between the last two ngon points

Remove Previous Point

Backspace

Removes Next Point

Delete

Confirm

RMB

Confirm Ngon Shape

Boolean Operations

While Drawing, hold specified key (shape will change colors to signify) and then release lmb to confirm Shape with Boolean
Make sure the object you want to Boolean is selected at the time of drawing

Subtract

Ctrl

Union

Shift Alt

Separate

Shift

Intersection

Shift Ctrl Alt

Expand

Alt

Makes a Cut and then Extrudes outwards by Depth Amount

Shrink

Ctrl Alt

Makes a Cut and then Extrudes inwards by Depth Amount

Booleans

These Booleans are not made while drawing, but can be applied to any selected objects while QuickShape is running

Subtract

Ctrl 1

Union

Ctrl 2

Separate

Ctrl 3

Intersection

Ctrl 4

QuickMenu

The QuickMenu contains a lot of tools that were accessible by hotkeys, so I won't cover them again here. These are the functions exclusive to the QuickMenu

Voxels

Voxel Resolution
When this is above 0 it enables the Voxel Modeling workflow Create a voxel modifier for your shape automatically once it is drawn

Voxel Smoothing

Creates a smooth modifier for your shape automatically once it is drawn

Legacy Booleans

Faster boolean system but is more prone to generating holes in the mesh

Shapes Modifiers

Mirror

Instantly have your shape mirrored instead of having to add a modifier after the drawing

Flip Mirror Direction

By Default you have to draw on the POSITIVE side of the Global World in order for it to mirror onto the other side. If you want to switch that, enable this setting

Cursor/World

Mirror around the Cursor or the Global World Origin

Radial Array

Array around the 3d cursor

Linear Array

Creates copies between the drawing and the 3d cursor

Constrain To Axis

Ensures the linear array is either in x y or z major axis direction

Interactive Array

Go into a special mode after drawing a Shape where you can set the amount of copies by moving the stylus left and right before confirming with LMB

Array Count

Amount of Copies used in Linear and Radial Array

Style

Material

Select a Material here and every Shape you draw will have this Material applied If you select a QuickTexture, the proper UV modifier setup will be automatically created for you

Material From Active

Copies Material from the selected object onto your new Shape

Modifiers From Active

Copies Modifier from the selected object onto your new Shape

Generate Box UVs

Constantly generates Box UV's as you work on your model

Settings

Draw Only On Selected

Apply Boolean Operations, Draw on the Surface, and all other tools only on the selected object

Ngon Add Moving Point

When using the Ngon shape the final point "follows" your active cursor position. If you want to only create points explicitely where you LMB click, disable this setting

Disable Missed Points

When drawing with Workplane Surface Mode this setting controls deletion of the points that did not hit the surface of the selected object (or any object, if Draw Only On Selected is off)

Lasso Angle Detection

Lasso smoothing factor. This setting will be developed further

Ngon Snap Degrees

Ngon will snap to this degree setting. 0 is No Snapping

Workplane Snap Degrees

Workplane will snap to this degree setting. 0 is No Snapping

Shapes Settings

Shape Offset

Offset the Shape along the Normal by this amount (in meters). This is mostly only useful for when drawing on the surface using surface Workplane mode

Auto Depth

Attempt to set the Depth for your shape automatically by looking at the longest side of your drawing

Auto Retopo

Retopo your Shape into tri's instead of one giant ngon (Lasso only) Drawing on the Surface Workplane Mode does this automatically for you

Reset Origin

Resets the Origin of the Shape after you do a Boolean Operation on it

Workplane

The workplane is what we draw our shapes on. In some modes you can see the visual guide for the workplane (or in all modes, if Always Show Workplane is enabled). Imagine the workplane as a flat 2D infinitely sized piece of paper in 3d space

Align View

W

The default QuickShape Workplane mode. This mode will draw aligned to your view, and your workplane will be at the location of your 3d cursor. With this mode you will be switching both your view and your 3d cursor position often. If you press ‘w’ , an invisible ray is fired from your cursor into the scene and returns a polygonal face - if it finds one. If it does, your workplane will now be perfectly aligned to that face. You will be able to draw exactly on that surface and your shape will be oriented to that perspective as well, so you do not need to change your view. If you fire into a ray and do not find any polygonal faces ie: the empty viewport, the 'w’ setting will reset to the default view setting

First Click

Alt W

Position/Align mode will use your first click point to determine some things like depth and alignment, so keep in mind that you must plan where your first click is to get the alignment that you want. With first click set to depth, your first point will be the depth but your shape will be aligned to your view. If you press alt w to toggle to align, it will set both the depth and the perspective your shape is drawn in to the face under the first click if it finds one. Set your workplane to a different mode to turn both functionalities off.

Draw From Normal

Ctrl Alt W

Draw on a plane perpendicular to the normal of the face found under your first click. One use case may be something like drawing grass on a ground object, with the other modes you would be in a constant state of moving your cursor and/or your view, but this would allow you to just draw the grass immediately

On Surface

Ctrl Shift W

On the surface of a selected object, and apply a simple retopo so your shape can perfectly follow the form of the underlying object

Rotate

RMB

Rotate the workplane. The direction will feel very intuitive, the grid will be rotated along the direction you move your cursor in as you hold the right mouse button

Move Along Normal

Ctrl RMB

Move the workplane along it's Normal

Rotate Around Normal

Ctrl Alt RMB

Rotate the workplane around its normal

Reset Workplane

Ctrl Alt Shift W

Will set the Workplane to the ground facing Z up

Align To Second Point

Numpad 0

After pressing W to Align this will allow you to align the workplane a second time, but this time the workplane will align between the first and second point you have chosen

Voxel Modeling

• When Voxel Resolution is set above 0, every shape you draw will be voxelized.
• When a QuickShape Voxel Object is selected, your next shape drawn will be a part of that family. This means it will be voxelized together as one object, although you still have the ability to move each object individually!
• If you want to draw into a new family, make sure nothing is selected
• If you want to use Mirror, make sure you add a mirror to the MAIN Voxel object. This is the object that has the QT_GeoNodes modifier.
• Every new object you draw with this main object selected will be added to that family and thus inherit the mirror
• Keep in mind that this is a simple tool meant for blocking out rough designs, and is limited in resolution/speed by Blenders performance
• Make sure Modifiers from Active is NOT on, you don't need that for this workflow!

Tips

• Press the hotkey and then release to begin changing the setting, confirm by pressing the left mouse button
• Hold Ctrl/Alt/Shift to adjust values slower or faster while changing a setting
• If you run into a boolean failure try switching to legacy booleans
• Set your voxel resolution to a fairly low value (so its high res) and your voxel smoothing to a fairly high value, turn auto depth and use the lasso shape. This is a great setup to blockout organic creatures or even hardsurface vehicles that you can then sculpt on top of to refine
• Watch the Cut Through and your Depth parameter and where your workplane is, if Cut Through is off you may be creating a shape that does not give you the cut you are expecting due to its size and location
• Blocking out shapes with Randomize Depth is a nice design tool, set your Depth to something low and Randomize to something higher with Randomize Depth checked on. Try adding Randomize Taper as well
• If something is not behaving like you expect and it's not related to Cut Through, check the Draw Only On Selected option and make sure that is set to what you expect
• Set Custom Hotkeys and Preferences if you need to! QuickShape is very customizable
• If your Voxel Modeling mesh is doing some strange things like applying booleans or modifiers in a way you aren't expecting, double check the object you are applying modifiers to. You want to be working on your MAIN voxel object and not doing things like selecting ALL the voxel objects in the same family and applying a modifier to all of them, as that is redundant and can cause problems
• When trying to rotate or adjust the workplane, make sure you have set it with 'W' first!