Original subtitles

in this tutorial I will show you how to

array an object around another object in

blender and I'll also show you why this

feature might be useful for different

things that you're creating so I'm going

to click right down here on the modifier

properties and I can click on ADD

modifier and under generate I'm going to

click on the array modifier so the array

modifier is going to take the geometry

and it's basically going to duplicate it

and move it over and so we have a count

here so I can click on this to turn the

count up and we also have a relative

offset and so what this will do is it'll

array the object over just by the object

size because it is set to 1. and right

now since it's on factor x it is going

to array it over on the x-axis and I can

drag this factor x if I want there to be

more space in between each arrayed

object and then I could also array on

the y-axis as well or the z-axis as well

now to array this object from a

different object I can press shift a and

I'm just going to add a plain axis and

I'm just using the plane axis because

these objects don't show up in the

render but you could really use any

object so I'm now going to click back on

the cube and I'm going to turn on the

object offset and I can click on the

Arrow to open it up and then right here

on the object I can choose the empty or

I can click on the eyedropper and click

on the empty so this way instead of it

being arrayed over by the object it's

being arrayed over by the other object

and so if I move the empty around it's

going to move around the arrayed objects

and then if I select the cube again I'm

going to just turn the factor x to 1

which is the default so if I now move

the empty farther and farther away from

the center the objects are going to be

arrayed by that amount so if I press the

N key to open up the side panel I can go

here to item and you can see that this

object has location rotation and scale

values and if I want to move the empty

back to its default position which is in

the center I can press alt G and that

will clear the location but now as I

move the empty farther and farther away

you can see the location values are

moving so for instance if I just move

this out on the x-axis this you can see

just the x-axis is moving so I could

maybe just turn this to like a three and

now each object is going to have a space

of three in between them because this

object has been moved over by three and

this will also work for rotation and

scale as well so I'm going to hit s to

scale and then I'm going to type in 0.9

and then enter so because I've scaled

this by 0.9 you can see here on the

scale values it is at 0.9 and so each

cube is going to get smaller and smaller

and if I click on the cubes I could turn

up the count just so you can see more of

them and so again because this empty has

been scaled by 0.9 it is smaller than

its default scale and so each cube is

going to be scaled down by 0.1 and this

will work for rotation as well so if I

hit R to rotate I can rotate this over

and for instance let's just say I want

to rotate this over by five degrees and

then I could also hit negative to rotate

it by negative 5 degrees and hit enter

so now each Cube will be rotated over by

five degrees because this empty is going

rotated over and if I click back on the

cubes I could turn up the count I could

turn up the count by a lot and you can

see it's just going to continue to get

smaller and smaller so now I could move

this around I could rotate it and you

can do some really cool things with this

so you could scale these you could kind

of move them around and you can get some

really cool results just by moving

around the empty and rotating it and

scaling it and so maybe you're creating

some like abstract art and you want to

create some cool like sci-fi abstract

tunnel you could do that with this

method or of course you could scale it

up or down if you want it to be bigger

or smaller but because all of these

objects are just a duplicate of the

first object I can tab to go into edit

mode of this object and I could edit the

object so for instance I could select

this face here and I could move it up on

the z-axis and that's going to change

for all the objects and another reason

why you might want to use this feature

is if you're making something like a

flower so I just modeled this very

simple like stylized petal and then what

I'm going to do on this object is click

on ADD modifier add the array modifier

but then I don't want it to be moving

out so right here on the relative offset

on the factor here I could just turn

that to zero and then if I go here to

the object offset I can open this up I

could click on the eyedropper and I

could select this empty object that I've

added right here so then what I could do

is I could select the empty and I could

rotate the empty and you can see that's

going to rotate around and then if I

click back on the pedals I could like

turn up the count here so I could make

much more pedals and then I could select

the empty again and I could rotate that

back and you can see the pedals are

going through each other so if I want to

make the petals farther away I could

just move the empty object and that's

going to move where the center is and

then I could also add an object here in

the center and there we go we have a

little stylized flower and again what's

so useful about this is that I can still

edit this object and it will affect the

other objects I could like extrude out

this face here maybe scale it down kind

of move it around and you can see it's

going to affect all of the other petals

so that is super useful and then let's

say you're creating something like a

propeller blade and you want there to be

exactly three your blades and you want

the spacing in between them to be

exactly the same so I just modeled this

basic propeller blade and you can see

that the object's origin is in the very

center there of the 3D scene and then I

also added an empty object and I kept it

in the very center so then I could

select the propeller I could click on

ADD modifier and I could add the array

and then right here on the factor x I

could turn that to zero because I don't

want it to be moving over and then let's

add the object offset I can click on the

Arrow here and I can click on the

eyedropper and let's select this empty

so now if I select the empty and start

to rotate it just like the flower it's

going to move over and then I want three

propeller blades so if I click back here

on this object I could turn the count up

to three so I could just kind of rotate

this around and try to get it to

something that looks close but what's so

great about using the empty object as

the rotation is that I could just rotate

this to an exact amount so with the

empty selected I will press alt R and

ALT R is going to clear the rotation now

360 degrees is all the way around so if

you divide 360 degrees into three

different pieces that is going to be 120

degrees and if I hit R to rotate I can

type in 120 and right up there in the

corner you can see it says 120 and then

I can hit enter and there we go so

because I've rotated this object over by

120 120 is the angle in between one of

these and so then each one of these is

going to be exactly 120 and then of

course you could like model another

object here in the center for the

propeller and then also if you move both

objects together like if I hold down the

shift key and select both of these

objects and I rotate them it's not going

to mess up the rotation whereas if I

just rotated the empty by itself you can

see it would mess up the rotation and

then one more example I wanted to show

you let's say you're creating a gear

object and you want the gear pieces to

be touching each other and connecting to

do that I could press shift s go to

Cursed world origin to make sure the 3D

cursor is in the center then I could

press shift a and like I could just add

a circle here I'll press 7 on the an

unpad for top view and I can press the

Tab Key to go into edit mode and what

I'm just going to do is box select some

of these vertices and I'm just going to

leave the 4 at the top so I could just

delete that then I could hold down the

shift key and select these vertices so I

could press e to extrude and just bring

that out and stick that there and then I

could also select these vertices here

and I could extrude this down so this is

going to be one piece of the gear so I

can go back to object mode I can click

on ADD modifier and I could add the

array and then again I could turn the

factor to zero and then I want to press

shift a and I'm just going to add a

plane axis and then back on this object

I can go to the object offset and I can

click here on the eyedropper and select

the empty so then I can rotate the empty

around and it's going to rotate that

gear piece so for a gear like this let's

say I want to have eight teeth so what I

could do is select the gear go to the

count and I could turn the count up to

eight and then I can select the empty

object and I can rotate it and you can

see it's going to rotate around so again

I only want to rotate this object by the

m amount which is going to be in between

one of the arrayed objects I'll hit R to

rotate and half of 90 is 45 so I can

type in 45 and enter and there we go so

we now have a gear with eight different

teeth now if I tap into edit mode I can

just box select these vertices here and

I can kind of bring them in because I

want to merge that into the center but

you can see this isn't really merging we

can kind of fit it together like that

but there's some overlapping faces so

what I want to do is merge the vertices

which are overlapping so on the array

modifier you can turn on the merge

option and I can click on this Arrow to

open this up and then there is a

distance right here so what I'm going to

do is press s to scale then I can type

in 0 and then enter so that all these

vertices are squished together and then

to remove the overlapping vertices I can

press the m key and I can merge at

Center so now this right here is just

one single vertex and then I can just

bring this forward and if I just drag it

really close I can just drag it like

that close then I could turn up the

merge distance so I'm just going to drag

this up until they are all connecting

and then you can see there's still some

weird shading issues that's just because

I need to recalculate the normals so I

can select everything and press shift n

to recalculate the normals but now you

can see that the center there is going

to be merged together if it gets close

enough and then of course I could select

everything and I could like extrude it

to give the gear some thickness so this

array tool can be very helpful when

you're 3D modeling so that's it for this

video I hope you enjoyed this and thank

you for watching and if you'd like to

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description but I hope you found this

helpful and thank you for watching