A Hing and a Latch (Early Work)

Artwork Works in Progress
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I have started to play with Blender and would like to get some feedback on two objects that I have put together. I intend to use these for a simple box animation. I currently do not like the rigidness of the edges on the hinge and the latch but I am having a hard time finding a decent way to put some rounded edges on it. I also do not like the blockyness of the weight at the bottom of the latch. I thought that a subsurface modifier would help these two issues simultaneously but I get strange artifacts in the final mesh (lots of little regularly spaced knobs along the edges that poke out). The material needs some help. In the end I would like for it to look like an old timey used hinge and latch… Not necessarily shiny and new…

I am concerned about the number of polygons and triangles in addition to any issues that the mesh may introduce (I am new at this and may miss something very fundamental), that is why I did not pump up the subsurfs too much which has resulted in the blockyness.

Any constructive criticisms welcomed… The Hinge is in layer 1 and the latch is in later 11. Thanks



hinges.blend (1.73 MB)

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You can reduce the poly count and increase the smoothness by using a subdivision modifier while modelling and then tell blender to shade smooth the objects. Your shapes are good, so you’re going in the right direction, but I really can comment on poly flow since I can’t see the wires of your objects.

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Hey justacec!
A subsurf modifier would indeed help. THe problem is that your topology isn’t clean at all. You have lots of triangles connecting to the edges and round parts of your mesh, and the subsurf modifier has a hard time with those.
Clean up your mesh to be all quad faces and the subsurf will work.