Boolean Modifier Updates

The release contains several Boolean modifier updates, including better sub-operand manipulation in the Modifier stack, improved performance and OpenVDB processing, and various bug fixes.

Co-planar faces support

New support for co-planar operands (operands with faces that are perfectly aligned, so that they are touching but not overlapping) produces better results when working with Subtract, Union, Subtract, Split,Imprint, or Cookie boolean operations. The following example shows a Cookie operation with co-planar operands.

Operands retain pivot information

Boolean operands now retain pivot data. An object's pivot is now located at the same location both before and after the object is added to the Boolean modifier as an operand, making it easier to further manipulate the position/rotation/scale of the operand inside the Boolean modifier.

Captured Operand manipulation

Selecting a captured operand from the Boolean modifier Operands list causes it to appear in the Modifier stack. Now, a new line in the Modifier Stack separates the Boolean modifier's base object from the selected operand, visually denoting your selection. The line is grey when the captured operand or its modifiers are instanced, otherwise the line is teal.

Cut/paste operations work with all boolean operands

Cut and paste operations now work with both captured operands and live operands. Paste operations must be performed in the Boolean modifier where the original cut was made.

By default, the Use Live Reference parameter is turned off in the Boolean Modifier Add Operands Rollout. As a result, all new boolean operands are captured. This cut/paste improvement makes the captured operand workflow more flexible.

Improved OpenVDB processing

The following improvements have been made to the Boolean modifier's OpenVDB processing:

• Support for animated parameters that are brought in through operand objects.
• Hollow shapes produced by a modifier like Shell now remain hollow when using the OpenVDB Union, Subtraction, or Intersection operations.

Performance improvements

Processing mesh based boolean operations is now 35% faster.

Bug fixes

For more information on Boolean modifier bug fixes, see the 3ds Max 2024.2 Update Release Notes.