Intro to DECAL MACHINE - the Amazing Blender Decal Add-On!

In today’s video, we’re going to start checking out an add-on for Blender that allows you to add amazing decals to your 3D models!

This add-on allows you to add detail to your models by applying to an image and using a UV offset to make the decals look more realistic.

I’ll give you kind of an overview of Decal Machine in this video, then if you’re interested, in the future we can get more in-depth about specific usages.

DECAL MACHINE DOWNLOAD LINK (Affiliate Link)
http://www.thecgessentials.com/decalm...

There’s a very comprehensive documentation website that contains a lot of information about the way the add-on works.

DOCUMENTATION SITE
https://machin3.io/DECALmachine/docs

When you first load the add on, it adds an entirely new context menu that pops up when you press the “D” key. You can use the context menu in order to start adding decals.

Big note – don’t hold the “D” key – just tap it in order to get the menu to show up.

When you open up the menu, you have the ability to look through the library of built-in decals by clicking on the little boxes on the left. It comes with a library of aircraft decals and a number of example details that are great for adding bolts, hooks, and much more.

When you apply these to an object they look amazing. They use a shader effect called parallax to create the illusion of depth on your objects, so that when you render them, they look fully 3D without having to actually add the geometry.

This work great on flat faces, but where they really shine is when you start using them on faces that curve. This add-on will actually apply these decals to that they conform with your objects geometry, meaning they follow the curves of your object.

There are a few ways to do this – you can either project your object along a face, or your can also shrinkwrap by holding the shift key with this tool active. Note that the projected objects can’t really by moved, though you can pull the backup and move the decal around.

The shinkwrap method is adjustable, but can very quickly slow down your performance.