This was a very well done course. I liked the way you blended (every pun intended) the technical aspects of cabinet building with the Blender modeling. For me at least, seeing "real world" helps with bridging those cabinet concepts with modeling concepts.
One question did come up for me while watching the series. I noticed in the bottom cabinet bodies that the front was completely open. There was at open point after the drawer fronts were installed that I could see between drawer front gaps to see the back of the cabinet body.
I checked my vanity cabinets here at the house, and there are horizontal rails?? at the front of the body that are positioned where the drawer front gaps would be to prevent seeing into the drawers when closed.
I know it's a small detail, but I'm just curious why rails like this were not included in the cabinet bodies. In the final render, you can't see past the drawer front gaps, so it really is a mute point for a client presentation. But if you're creating cut lists, wouldn't you want those rails included?
One request for perhaps a post mini-tutorial. I've haven't been able to find either a glass material or a node set-up for creating leaded glass panes. My planned exercise is a reproduction of an arts & crafts fireplace with built in book cases on each side. My first house was an arts & crafts bungalow, and I'd like to reproduce that living room wall.
With the book case glass doors and the divided light sash windows above each book case, the glass panes were the original leaded glass... complete with glass wave imperfections and tiny bubbles. But I've never seen this modeled in Blender. I'm hoping maybe you have reproduced this feature for some of your client presentations, especially if the cabinets are arts & craft style. If you have, would you be willing to share??
Thank you for creating this excellent course. It's highly recommended!!!
Hi Howard ccnwfan,
Thanks for taking the course and I'm stoked to hear you liked it so much.
Regarding the horizontal rails:
It depends on a few things. They are not mandatory per se from a structural point. The thing is with a 2mm gap between the fronts and the fronts being 19mm thick, you can't see into the drawers in real life, unless you crawl in front of them and there's a light in there.
Cabinet that are built a bit different and have a wider gap, which is certainly an option, you'll want to have that rail there, that's true. It's also something that can and should be discussed with the client.
Take this project for example: Not so much on the drawers, but on the glass fronts with the lights inside you do see the gap, especially when the lights are on. I discussed this with the clients and they did not want to have anything in the way in the middle and wanted to be able to open doors individually without having to open the other. So they decided to be fine with a small gap. Again - it's 2mm.
At the end of the day it's a choice whether you build with or without them. From a modeling point they would be created just like the top.
Also I find they're always in the way during install. 😉
I haven't done anything with leaded glass in a very long time, so I don't have any files like that. Sounds like you have something rather specific in mind. Would you be able/ willing to post a picture of that here, so I can have a look and see what I'd do?
Sure sounds like you're planning a really cool project and I'm looking forward to seeing it.
Thanks again. 😊
Hi Sascha,
I found a site that reproduces antique window glass for restoration projects. This will give you some idea of what I'm looking for in way of a glass material. Notice the waves and imperfections in the glass. The glass that I had in my house had not only the waves, but also random tiny bubbles or pinholes that could be seen up close. It was present in the book case door glass along with outside window glass.
https://architecturalglass.com/collections/restoration-window-glass
Also, thank you for getting back to me regarding drawer gaps. It is much appreciated!
Ah, I see what you mean.
To get the wavy look into the glass you can simply add a very low scale noise texture with low detail and roughness to a bump node and add it to the normal. Then play with the strength until you see the desired effect.
The bubbles could be a bit more challenging, as they are basically objects within the volume of the glass. Hm...
Actually this method could work pretty well: Bubble Glass
It's not shader based, but probably the best effect you can get.
It's not uncommon for glass cups to have that waviness either... glasses at the restaurant I work at have it on a much smaller scale than that window, and the nose thing is exactly how I would do it... it's often something that would only minimally affect the silhouette (if at all) but would help it to look correct.
Sascha,
Thank you for the suggestions, especially with the bubble glass. I will have to give that a try.
For people who prefer video over text instructions I made a more in-depth tutorial on wavy and bubbly glass and leave this here for future reference. Fair warning: I say bubble a lot. 😁
Wavy and bubbly glass
Thank you for the video. This is greatly appreciated and will be used in my cabinet project. Also, you now have an additional subscriber to your YouTube channel!