Blender shortcuts

January 28 2026

Mastering Extrusion in Blender

Francesco Blender Basics, Blog Post, Tutorials & Guides 3D Modeling, 3D Workflow, Blender 3D, blender beginners, Blender shortcuts, blender tips, Edit Mode, Extrude Tool, Hard Surface, Topology

Mastering Extrusion in Blender: The Ultimate Guide to Modeling Without Limits

Intro: The Art of “Giving Volume” to Your Ideas

If you had to choose just one tool to take with you to a digital desert island, it would undoubtedly be Extrusion. It is the hammer and chisel of every 3D Artist, the function that transforms a simple 2D plane into complex architecture, characters, and props.

But be warned: many beginners think extruding just means “stretching a face.” In reality, there is a world of vector math and topology management behind that single key press.

In this article, we won’t just look at what happens when you press “E”. We will dissect the behavior of Normals, explore advanced modes for curved surfaces, and—most importantly—I will reveal an invisible technical trap that creates geometric nightmares for those who don’t know it exists.

Ready to clean up your workflow? Let’s get started.

1. The Basics: Understanding Direction (Normals & Axes)

When you are in Edit Mode and select a face on your cube, pressing E (Extrude) creates new geometry. Blender takes your selection and extends it, connecting it to the original position with new side faces.

But have you noticed where the face goes? By default, it follows the Normals. Simply put, the “Normal” is an invisible line pointing perpendicularly out from the surface of the face. It is the “front” of the polygon. That’s why, if you extrude a side face, it moves perfectly sideways.

Pressing ‘E’ activates standard extrusion. Note the green highlighted box (Operator Panel) in the bottom left: use this to input precise values or adjust orientation immediately after the operation.

Breaking the Rules: Locking Axes

Sometimes, however, you don’t want to follow the normal. You might want to go straight up globally or move freely in 3D space.

To lock to a global axis: Press the axis key (X, Y, or Z) after pressing E.
To move freely: Press the axis key twice (or press Z twice to switch from local to global, then unlock).

💡 3DSkillUp Pro Tip: Extrusion isn’t just for faces! You can select a single Vertex and press E to “draw” in 3D space. This is a powerful technique for creating profile moldings (like crown molding or baseboards). Start with a vertex, draw the silhouette, and then extrude the entire profile!

The “Profile” technique: instead of starting with a cube, draw the 2D silhouette vertex by vertex. Select all and extrude to instantly create moldings, baseboards, or complex architectural structures.

2. When Standard Extrusion Fails: Advanced Modes

Imagine you’ve subdivided your cube (Right Click > Subdivide) and you want to extrude the top face and the side face simultaneously. If you just press E, Blender gets confused. Or rather, it does a mathematical average: it tries to push everything in a diagonal direction that is the average of the selected normals. The result? Skewed, unusable geometry.

To solve this, we need to tell Blender to treat each face (or group of faces) intelligently.

Extrude Along Normals

This option (accessible from the Mesh > Extrude menu) tells Blender: “Don’t average this out. Push each face in its own specific direction.”

Top faces go up.
Side faces go sideways.
Corner faces expand evenly. This is essential for thickening objects or creating details on curved surfaces.

No more skewed geometry on corners! The Alt + E combo opens the special menu including ‘Extrude Faces Along Normals’, essential for thickening curved or sharp surfaces without average distortion.

Extrude Individual Faces

If you want each single face to become an independent “tower,” use this option. Instead of keeping the edges connected, Blender will separate every polygon, allowing you to create “skyscraper” details or physical procedural textures.

💡 3DSkillUp Pro Tip: Forget the top menu! Use the pro shortcut: ALT + E. This instantly opens the Extrusion Pie Menu where you can choose Extrude Faces Along Normals or Individual Faces in a split second.

Using ‘Extrude Individual Faces’, Blender separates every selected polygon. This is the go-to technique for creating sci-fi panels, scales, or modular architectural details in just a few clicks.

3. The Secret Technique: Cursor Extrusion

There is a way of modeling that feels like black magic and is perfect for organic shapes (like tentacles, trees, or pipes).

Select a face or vertex.
Hold CTRL and Right Click where you want the geometry to go.

Blender will extrude the selection to the point where you clicked, and it does something amazing: it automatically rotates the geometry to follow the curve of the path you are creating. It is the fastest way to block out complex shapes.

Hold CTRL and Right Click to extrude towards your cursor. Blender automatically rotates the geometry to follow the curve. Perfect for pipes and tentacles!

Conclusion: Less Clicks, More Logic

Extrusion isn’t just about adding polygons; it’s about understanding how light and the structure of your model will react to that new shape.

Now it’s your turn: open Blender, add a cube, and try modeling something using only the Ctrl + Right Click technique. You’ll see how liberating it can be to model by “drawing.”

Happy Blending!

You might also like Blender Workflow: How to Separate and Join Meshes

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January 16 2026

Blender Workflow: How to Separate and Join Meshes

Francesco Blender Basics, Blog Post, Tutorials & Guides 3D Modeling Workflow, Blender 3D Tutorial, Blender Edit Mode, Blender shortcuts, Blender Tips for Beginners, Join Meshes Blender, Mesh Management, P Key Blender, Separate by Material, Separate Objects Blender

Blender Workflow: How to Separate and Join Meshes (The Right Way)

Introduction: Control is Everything

Have you ever downloaded a free 3D model or imported an asset, only to discover it’s one giant, unmanageable blob of geometry? Or conversely, have you found yourself drowning in a scene clutter of thousands of tiny objects that really should be one?

Today, we’re talking about mesh organization and management. This isn’t just about being “tidy” for the sake of it. Knowing precisely when to separate an object into distinct parts or when to join them is crucial for efficient texturing, rigging, and scene optimization.

Imagine you have modeled a complete car wheel: you have the rubber tire and the metal rim. Often, you might model them as a single object for convenience, but when the time comes to apply materials or animate the rotation, you’ll likely need to split them up. Let’s break down how to do this intelligently, analyzing not just the commands, but the logic behind them.

1. Separating Geometry: The ‘P’ Key

When you are in Edit Mode, your magic shortcut is P. This opens the Separate menu. Blender offers us three specific ways to divide our mesh, and each serves a distinct purpose in your workflow.

A. Separate by Selection (The Precision Method)

This is the most surgical approach. It is perfect when you want to isolate a specific part you have modeled within a single object.

The Practical Case: You have your “Wheel” object. You enter Edit Mode and need to separate the metal rim from the rubber tire. Instead of manually selecting polygons one by one—and risking your sanity—use this workflow booster: if the rim and the tire are physically disconnected meshes (even if they belong to the same object), simply hover your mouse cursor over the rim and press L. Blender will instantly select all connected geometry (Linked). Once selected, simply press P > Selection.

Why do this? By separating the rim from the tire, you create two distinct objects in the Outliner. This allows you to manage modifiers independently. Note: If the original object had a Subdivision Surface modifier, the new object (the separated rim) will inherit that same modifier. Blender is smart enough to maintain visual continuity.

Using the ‘Select Linked’ command to quickly isolate the rim geometry before pressing ‘P’ to open the Separate menu.

B. Separate by Loose Parts (The Exploded View)

This option is a lifesaver when you have imported a complex model that has been “collapsed” into a single mesh, but whose geometries aren’t physically welded together.

The Practical Case: Let’s say your wheel also includes 5 lug nuts (bolts). If these bolts are standalone meshes (vertices not merged with the rim), you don’t need to select them individually. Just press P > By Loose Parts.

The Result: Blender will “explode” the object into as many new objects as there are independent islands of geometry. In one click, you’ll have the tire, the rim, and the 5 bolts as separate objects in your Outliner.

💡 3DSkillUp Pro Tip: Be careful when using Loose Parts on very complex objects (like raw 3D scans or dense vegetation). You might end up with thousands of objects in your Outliner, which can drastically slow down your viewport!

C. Separate by Material (The Texture Workflow)

This is an often-underrated but powerful option for the texturing pipeline.

The Practical Case: Suppose you assigned a “Rubber_Mat” to the tire polygons and a “Chrome_Mat” to the rim, but they are still technically the same object. By pressing P > By Material, Blender detects the different material slots and slices the mesh exactly where the material changes.

Why is it useful? This is critical when exporting to game engines (like Unity or Unreal) or texturing software (like Substance Painter), which sometimes handle separate objects better based on Material IDs.

Efficiency Hack: Using ‘Separate by Material’ to instantly split the mesh into different objects based on their material slots (e.g., separating the rubber tire from the metal rim).

2. Joining Objects: The Power of Ctrl + J

The reverse process is just as vital. Sometimes you need to fuse multiple objects to simplify your scene or prepare a model for rigging.

To join two or more objects, you must be in Object Mode.

Select the first object.
Hold Shift and select the object you want to join it to (e.g., the rim).
Press Ctrl + J (Join).

The “Active Object” Rule

Here is where many beginners make mistakes. In Blender, the order of selection matters.

The last object you select becomes the Active Object (highlighted in bright yellow, while the others are dark orange). When you join objects, all other objects are merged INTO the Active Object.

Why is this crucial? The final object will inherit:

The Origin Point (Pivot).
The Modifiers.
The Name of the active object.

Practical Example: If your rim has a Bevel modifier and the bolts do not:

If you select the bolts first and the rim last -> The bolts are absorbed into the rim and automatically receive the Bevel modifier.
If you do the reverse -> You lose the rim’s modifier because the bolts (which didn’t have one) “win.”

💡 3DSkillUp Pro Tip: Did you mess up the origin points after joining? Don’t panic. Right-click on the new joined object and choose Set Origin > Origin to Geometry to recalculate the center of mass for the new mesh.

Mastering the ‘Active Object’ rule: When pressing Ctrl + J, the combined mesh automatically inherits the Modifier Stack of the last selected object (highlighted in yellow).

Conclusion

Knowing how and when to use P and Ctrl+J gives you total control over your scene’s topology. Whether you are prepping an asset for a video game or organizing a complex architectural scene, always remember to check which object is “Active” before joining, and choose the separation method that best fits your goal.

Now it’s your turn: take that car model you’ve been working on and try separating the moving parts from the chassis using the ‘L’ selection trick.