Punch It - Manifold Extrusion

shortcut SHIFT + E

Punch It is used to create a negative, manifold extrusion. Unlike a regulare extrusion it can punch-through the mesh and exit on the other side of it, creating a hole, hence the name.
Also, unlike the native Extrude tool, Punch It subtractively extrude along the mesh silhouette, without creating duplicate-faces.

You can chose the extrusion direction from averaged face normal, individual vert normals, or interactively pick any edge from either the active mesh itself, or from any other object.
In addition, you can also extrude along any of the 3 Cursor axes, as of version 1.3.

Selection

Any number faces, but only the biggest face island will be used
or
One or multiple connected Edges

Numeric Input

As of version 1.2 you can TAB into and out of numeric input mode.
In this mode you can enter a precise numeric value for the extrusion amount.

Note

When entering numeric mode, the entire previously interactively set amount will be marked. NumericMarked

  1. You then have the option to directly start typing any amount you want, and everything marked will be erased for you.
  2. Alternatively you can press BACKSPACE to clear everything but 4 digits after the period.
  3. And if you actually want to only remove the very last digit(s), you can use ALT + BACKSPACE

At this point, the numeric amount is no longer marked and you can add to it via any of the number keys, and remove the last input via BACKSPACE.

NumericUnmarked

Proceed to the second finalizing stage using RETURN or use TAB again, to leave numeric input mode, and return to interactive mouse-based extrusion amount adjustment.

Keep in Mind

In numeric input mode, you can ONLY set the extrusion amount.
Any of the other options are disabled, and expected to be set before going into numeric input mode.
See the statusbar for details.

Using PunchIt