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Commands

Boolean Union (RhinoArtisan)

Boolean Union

ArtisanBooleanUnion joins two or more solids into one, like the standard Rhino command — with one decisive difference: the originals are not destroyed. They are hidden and kept in the document, and the result is baked into a group that remembers which objects went into it and what operation was applied.

That makes the union editable. Days later you can open the boolean back up, change one of the operands, and rebuild the result — no history to preserve, no need to have kept a copy on a spare layer.

Steps

  • Run ArtisanBooleanUnion.
  • Select solids to union — pick at least two solids or extrusions and press Enter.
  • The result appears as a single grouped object, and the originals are hidden.

The union needs at least two solids; with a single object selected the command reports it and stops.

Editing a boolean afterwards

  • ArtisanEdit on the result dismantles the boolean: the result is removed and the original operands come back, visible and editable. The group and its stored parameters stay behind.
  • Change whatever you need — including running a parametric command on one of the operands, which recreates it with a new identity.
  • ArtisanBooleanUpdate rebuilds every dismantled boolean in the document at once. No selection is needed: it finds them by itself.

If an operand was recreated and its stored identity no longer matches anything in the document, Boolean Update asks you to reselect just that one object and remembers the new one. Everything else is rebuilt silently.

Notes

  • Operands can be polysurfaces or extrusions; surfaces and meshes are not accepted.
  • The result inherits the layer and display attributes of the first object you selected.
  • If the union fails — self-intersections, bad edges, a tolerance problem — the command says so and leaves your objects untouched. Nothing is hidden and nothing is deleted.
  • The operation is recorded as a single undo step, so one Ctrl+Z puts the document back exactly as it was.
  • Results appear in the Outliner, where the boolean is listed as an editable object alongside the rest of the parametric geometry.