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Just for curiosity...

From time to time I see a tutorial where the default cube is deleted and recreated. We are supposed to understand why as this comes with no explanation:

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Source, at 1:20

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Source, at 0:30

But actually I don't know the reason for this replacement. What's wrong with the default cube? Is it to remove the default material or anything else?

(All these innocent deleted default cubes end up into the Flaming Forge of Vulcan)

mins
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  • if the default cube fascinates you, this might be interesting https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/267029/why-does-the-default-cubes-mesh-have-a-reversed-vertex-index-position – Harry McKenzie Jul 07 '22 at 11:54

3 Answers3

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I'd say the reason is mostly for comedic purposes.

The default cube is often ridiculed for being a peculiar choice for default startup scene, and a lot of tutorials start by legitimately removing it, but a lot of them also end up needing it again anyway.

The punchline being you could easily have already saved multiple startup templates with your choice of default scenes, as easily as you could have delete it off-screen ahead of time, otherwise if it really is needed you could have just used the cube that was already there anyway; but people seem to keep removing it only to add it back again.

I suppose at this point it became sort of an in joke, emphasizing that the cube may not be that useless after all.

Objectively I don't think there is any measurable advantage in replacing the default cube, other than what Harry McKenzie pointed out which I figure would be irrelevant in most situations.

Duarte Farrajota Ramos
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  • i think the reason is this haha just kidding. – Harry McKenzie Jul 07 '22 at 11:52
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    Ah yes, that is very OCD inducing XD – Duarte Farrajota Ramos Jul 07 '22 at 12:04
  • +1 for providing this interesting and credible possibility, but this "humor" would be so schoolboy It's hard to believe it could survive at this level in a community of professionals. Let's wait some time for additional points of view. – mins Jul 08 '22 at 10:42
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    Blenderheads are all goofy and lighthearted, sadly I don't think there is anything deeper meaning to it, other than what Harry McKenzie pointed out. @HarryMcKenzie care to post it as an answer as well? If you do feel free to @ ping me for an upvote in comments. – Duarte Farrajota Ramos Jul 08 '22 at 12:04
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    Most tutorials begin with "First, let's delete the default cube and " because it's in the way. And it became a meme quickly. – L0Lock Jul 08 '22 at 13:32
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The Default Cube has a reversed index position sequence for its vertices as compared to the new cubes that are added to the scene (via Add > Cube). You would have to go through the hassle to apply a negative one (-1) scale to its x,y,z and then do Apply Scale to make it consistent with all the other new cubes. That would be quite a pain and as such, it is much more convenient to dispose of it.

enter image description here

Harry McKenzie
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  • Thanks, but you also posted a comment (I think the reason is this haha just kidding), I'm a bit confused. I assume prior to 2.92 the spreadsheet was not available, no one knew. If you take the reason as the actual one, could you explain why the reversed (unscalled) cube is a problem while the development team doesn't bother to fix it. – mins Jul 08 '22 at 14:13
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    it's not something that needs to be fixed because its not important, whats important is the winding order and in both default cube and new cubes the winding order is correct and thus the normals still point in the right direction. Since you asked what is wrong with the default cube, i've presented a potential (comedic) reason because there is no other explanation except as mentioned "mostly for comedic purposes". actually your question with "what is wrong with the default cube" is not applicable because there is nothing wrong. – Harry McKenzie Jul 08 '22 at 14:45
  • if you like i can post the correct answer which is "there is nothing wrong with the default cube" so no more need to be confused – Harry McKenzie Jul 08 '22 at 14:47
  • If there is nothing wrong, then Duarte Farrajota Ramos' answer already provides the reason for this practice (Blender meme). Additional details are welcome, but I believe it will be difficult to track back this possible meme to the original author, as it's done sometimes with other memes. – mins Jul 08 '22 at 14:55
  • but cool your question is a good one as it will get us thinking of all the possibilities :) – Harry McKenzie Jul 08 '22 at 14:57
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I'd assumed that the reason is to start with a clean slate. Then the tutor can include the steps to add a cube. If he/she started with the default cube, then I'd bet that he/she would get emails asking how to create a cube.

Enkidu
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  • I think a tutorial for geometry nodes (my two examples) which doesn't bother to explain how to display the geometry nodes workbench also assumes users know how to add a cube to the scene, and perhaps a lot more. – mins Aug 21 '22 at 08:44