There’s a lot of boring manual work involved when detailing a model, one of which is adding bolts, rivets, panels and various other odds and ends. Just imagine having to duplicate and manually position 2000 bolts on a space ship – and then you realize that you need to change the model a little. Of course you could have been using Linked Duplicates (try Alt+D instead of Shift+D), but you’d still have to manually position each bolt, making sure it fits on the surface properly.
This technique however is really simple, really fast and easily adjustable. No need to place the bolts exactly in the right place and rotate them to fit on the surface properly!


Great tutorial Greg, I always love these quick tip type tutorials like this.
Nice tip (especially about texturing)! Thanks!
Nice technique! In a similar vibe or Rivet, you might also want to check Liero's Parent to Mesh and Parent to Empty.
Thanks Greg. I love the quick tips.
Thank you Greg. I liked it.
thank you for the lesson, this is good
to know.
Thanks Greg, this will come in handy some day :)