Overview

CGAL Boolean is a Blender extension for robust mesh boolean operations powered by CGAL.

It is designed for artists who want cleaner boolean intersections and faster boolean performance in many practical cases than Blender's native EXACT workflow.

Current operations:

• Union

• Intersection

• Difference

• Self Union

Supported Blender Versions

• Blender 4.5 to 5.1

• Windows x64 only

Installation

1. Download the extension .zip file from your purchase.

2. In Blender, open Edit > Preferences > Get Extensions > Install from Disk.

3. Select the downloaded .zip.

4. Enable CGAL Boolean.

No extra manual DLL setup is required in the current release.

Quick Start

1. Select the mesh objects you want to process.

2. Open the CGAL Boolean panel in the 3D View.

3. Choose the operation:

   • Union

   • Intersection

   • Difference

   • Self Union

4. Run the operator.

5. A new result object will be created.

The source objects are left unchanged.

How It Works

CGAL Boolean evaluates the selected mesh objects, sends their geometry to the bundled CGAL backend, computes the requested boolean operation, and creates a new Blender mesh object from the result.

This tool is focused on geometry result quality and workflow practicality.

Operations

Union

Combines the selected meshes into one boolean result.

Intersection

Creates a mesh from the overlapping volume shared by the selected meshes.

Difference

Subtracts the other selected mesh from the active mesh.

Self Union

Attempts to union overlapping disconnected pieces inside a single selected mesh object.

Result Behavior

• The result is created as a new mesh object

• The source objects are not modified

• Geometry is generated from evaluated mesh input

• Result naming includes the source object name

• Optional quad restoration may be available depending on settings

Important Limitations

Please read this before purchasing:

• Closed, reasonably valid meshes work best

• Open meshes, self-intersecting meshes, or severely broken geometry may fail

• This tool focuses on geometry only

• Materials, UVs, custom attributes, and advanced data transfer are not preserved in the current version

• Windows x64 only in the current release

If a boolean fails, the extension reports a clearer diagnostic message where possible, but it does not automatically repair invalid input geometry.

Best Use Cases

CGAL Boolean is especially useful for:

• hard-surface boolean workflows

• cleaner intersection handling

• production cases where Blender native booleans may require extra cleanup

• users who want a dedicated CGAL-powered boolean option inside Blender

Support

If you run into a problem, please include:

• Blender version

• operation used

• whether the input meshes are closed

• a screenshot or short description of the issue

This makes troubleshooting much faster.

Update Notes

Updates may improve performance, diagnostics, and supported workflows over time. Please check the product page changelog for the latest release notes.