Bevel modifier not working (Blender 2.9)

[Baka]

I was doing the chair tutorial by blenderguru: https://youtu.be/BgY3QMXQYLI?t=647
The modifier can't change size no matter how I change the "Width Type" and "Amount"
I tried to turn off "Clamp Overlap" it worked but everything is like tearing apart

[*P0P$*FR3$H3NM3Y3R*]

Any chance you got double verticies from extrusions or something. You can megre doubels by distance using the M key.
Also non uniform scale can throw the bevel modifier out of whack so make sure you have your scale applied so it is 1,1,1.

[Baka]

I did what you said but it still not work. I think the "Amount" is broken

[*P0P$*FR3$H3NM3Y3R*]

I just made a simple chair along the lines what he did in the tutorial, using solidify and mirror to get a similar shape. The bevel mdifier worked fine, i set the ammount to 0.005 which is like 5 millimeters (on metric settings).
If you got a screenshot of your mesh and modifer settings we could probably figure what is wrong.

Usually the bevel goes haywire with double verticies or non manifold objects and such.

[Baka]

Here!
https://imgur.com/a/5XvHg28

[The Renderer]

Hard to tell what is going on from your pic. There definitely is a bevel, else there wouldn't be all those black lines. But it seems to be a very small one. Is your chair really huge? Couple hundred m or something? Did you try applying the scale?

You could also upload the file somewhere so we could take a closer look.

[*P0P$*FR3$H3NM3Y3R*]

Originally posted by CUTIE ♥♥♥♥:

Here!
https://imgur.com/a/5XvHg28

very helpful!
I replicated the setup and indeed it wouldn't work, just as you described, anyhow in the bevel modifier set the limit method to 'Angle' it should actually work then. I think it is the subdivision surface so the bevel modfier needs to know the minimum angle at which to bevel the edges. In my case i was able to adjust the bevel and see the result.

Edit: The 'Ammount' value is actually very low with an object like this...as the chairs seat is like only a couple of millimeters thick, so a bevel of 6mm would already round out the whole seat. I actually just used 2 segments tho.

[The Renderer]

Uhm. It did work perfectly fine for me and I also replicated the 4 modifiers with the exact same chair shape (well, the exact same topology, I don't know the size).

So where did you two go wrong? ;)

[*P0P$*FR3$H3NM3Y3R*]

Originally posted by The Renderer:

Uhm. It did work perfectly fine for me and I also replicated the 4 modifiers with the exact same chair shape (well, the exact same topology, I don't know the size).

So where did you two go wrong? ;)

Without the angle limit I could see atiny a bevel, but not control it. Didn't really replicate the exact shape, just a plane with a bit of curve and some control loops for the corners.
Generally not a fan of the bevel modfier when it is buried somewhere in between other modifiers like subsurf.

[The Renderer]

Edit: Nevermind. You kind of did find the issue.

OP, you didn't follow the tutorial correctly. The tutorial does not have those thin polygons at the end of the chair, those lead to the small bevels. Get rid of those and it should work.

That said, you need the angle method anyways so you get a smooth chair surface. See 12+ min in the video.

[*P0P$*FR3$H3NM3Y3R*]

Originally posted by The Renderer:

Well, then you didn't replicate the issue. There are no control loops or other small parts that could lead to those tiny bevels in OPs case. He has a solidify before the bevel, so the bevel should round that one out completely (as it does for me). And he has no control loops anywhere since they aren't needed for this. As you can see in his shot.

That said, OP should use the angle method anyways, else there will be visible edges in the bent surface. Maybe it helps with his bevel issue as well.

I did some tests. This time, no control loops! The solidify is set to 10 cm for readability.
Check this..bevel of 1.2 cm-
https://i.imgur.com/fs0MmQg.png (WRONG)

With Angle method as Limit:
https://i.imgur.com/ypMMiN7.png (Correct!)

If i replicate the exact same shape as shown on the screenshot the bevel actually works...kinda, however as soon as you introduce an extra loop the values you put into the bevel actually doesn't make any sense....there is something going on with the numbers.

Here's what I suspect: The hard edge between the subsurfed plane and the solidify, which simply extrudes outward without subsurfing the extrusion, messes with the detection of the bevel modifier, so it measures distance to the next edge...identifying the crease correctly for the solidify extrusion, however the subsurfed planes individiual edges are much closer to each other (ever increasing with the ammount of subdivision steps), it then does some math with the both values (edge distance solidify/ distance subsurfed plane) and multiplies or averages them which leads to a weird factor of the influence slider of the bevel modifier.

hence the reason I don't like to use that modifier in a stackful of other modfiers, it is more of a guessing game instead of type the value and be sure it is exactly that.

[The Renderer]

Yeah, I edited my post before you replied. You kind of replicated the issue without knowing it by using edge loops, which kind of are like the thin polygons he has on one end.

[The Renderer]

Originally posted by *P0P$*FR3$H3NM3Y3R*:

Here's what I suspect the hard edge between the subsurfed plane and the solidify which simply extrudes em outward without subsurfing the extrusion messes with the detection of the bevel modifier so it measures distance to the next edge...identifying the crease correctly for the solidify extrusion, however the subsurfed planes individiual edges are much closer to each other (ever increasing with the ammount of subdivision steps), it then does some math with the both values (edge distance solidify/ distance subsurfed plane) and multiplies or averages them which leads to a weird factor of the influence slider of the bevel modifier.

Kind of. It's just the thin polygons. After subsurfing those, they are so thin that the bevel can only be tiny else it would jump to the next polygon over. The solidify is fine.

[*P0P$*FR3$H3NM3Y3R*]

Originally posted by The Renderer:

Originally posted by *P0P$*FR3$H3NM3Y3R*:

Here's what I suspect the hard edge between the subsurfed plane and the solidify which simply extrudes em outward without subsurfing the extrusion messes with the detection of the bevel modifier so it measures distance to the next edge...identifying the crease correctly for the solidify extrusion, however the subsurfed planes individiual edges are much closer to each other (ever increasing with the ammount of subdivision steps), it then does some math with the both values (edge distance solidify/ distance subsurfed plane) and multiplies or averages them which leads to a weird factor of the influence slider of the bevel modifier.

Kind of. It's just the thin polygons. After subsurfing those, they are so thin that the bevel can only be tiny else it would jump to the next polygon over. The solidify is fine.

Yeah it must have something to do with the way bevel calculates. It gives inconsistant behavior depending on wether modifiers are live or applied modifiers and such. So I would generally suggest putting on bevel as a finishing touch. It just doesn't work well with other modifiers in line.

[The Renderer]

The bevel modifier works fine and isn't inconsistent, one just needs to understand what it does. ;)

Bevels can only go at maximum to the end of the polygon that's on the edge. And if that polygon is super small, the bevel can also only be super small (if you use an offset amount. Percentage is, well, a percentage). And if the Bevel modifier is below the subsurf modifier, it will use the subsurfed mesh, which makes the polygons even smaller, hence even smaller bevels.

That said, if you have a lot of modifiers, it gets hard to see or understand what exactly is happening, so the bevel modifier can seem erratic indeed.

[*P0P$*FR3$H3NM3Y3R*]

Originally posted by The Renderer:

The bevel modifier works fine and isn't inconsistent, one just needs to understand what it does. ;)

Bevels can only go at maximum to the end of the polygon that's on the edge. And if that polygon is super small, the bevel can also only be super small (if you use an offset amount. Percentage is, well, a percentage). And if the Bevel modifier is below the subsurf modifier, it will use the subsurfed mesh, which makes the polygons even smaller, hence even smaller bevels.

That said, if you have a lot of modifiers, it gets hard to see or understand what exactly is happening, so the bevel modifier can seem erratic indeed.

Wait, the bevel modifiers offset is not a percentage, technically it is giving the exact dimensions of the bevel outcome. The slider reads that it is (in my case) calculating in meters, cm and millimeters (blenderunits or even imperial depending on your global settings). Anyhow in conjunction with other modfiers 1 centimeter doesn't equal 1 cm anymore due to the way it calculates under the hood. Blender default omits the units verbose output in sliders, but you can toggle it somewhere in the userprefs.

https://i.imgur.com/WqMC1OA.png

That it does it in discrete units is actually a very good thing for alot of hard surface stuff as you can use the actual measurements found in reference material.