Select each edge of the not so circular holes and apply the looptools addon, ‘circle’. If you don’t have this addon enabled, you are missing out on some great tools. (BTW this can be done without the addon, but it’s quite complicated)
This is to show how to make holes in a nonmanifold surface (not solid) If you want to thicken or solidify it you should use these two modifiers to get a clean result around the holes.
I should mention for completeness (and for future readers) that if you have a newer version of Blender the edgesplit modifier can be avoided and instead you can use the autosmooth feature (in the mesh properties) with an appropriate angle. This has the benefit of being able to apply all modifiers and still have a continuous mesh.
DruBan, thanks for share images step by step. I wrongly would start from create entire fender, then I would make holes… I must to change my 3d modeling thinking
Just to be sure, question to francozero…
English is not my native so i had to ask G gods and sip through images what the “bike fender strut” actually is… Am i right that it’s a separate from fender element to hold it in position above the wheel, kind of support and decorative element at the same time?
Actually I would do it a little differently (more lazily) but I thought that it would make the post just one step too complicated… but here’s that way too - model this little element…
Mirror modifier…
Array modifier…
Subsurf, then solidify, then subsurf again… Wacky, huh. The subsurf sandwich is often very tasty, though!
yep, thats what we call the fender struts… you can find them alot on harleys.
and yes, it is a separate part wich holds up the rear fender. this comes in handy when mounting a passengers seat-pad.
the fender might bend without the struts and with a “not-so-slim” passenger on it…
@druban:
thanx for the tut… but doesn’t this only works if the sides of the fender are flat?
if i’m not mistaken, the holes would be round but the surface (of a rounded fenderside) would end up crooked… meaning, they wouldn’t follow the curve of the fender anymore. or does this only happen when selecting “transform - to sphere”?
btw: i have the looptool addon enabled now and i couldn’t help noticing that there’s quite a lot of addons not enabled.
is there any reason for that? would i scr*w up my blender if i just enabled all of them?
Thanks for the answer!
Enabling all of the addons would cause several hundreds of buttons appear on all available spaces. Each takes certain amount of PC resources. You wouldn’t want that i guess. It takes just several seconds to allow one in addition to some two or three you allow and save your User Preferences so that they always are at hand. For me LoopTools is Nr. 1 on the list of some 4.
If you drill a hole in egg shaped thing contour line gets quite complicated in 3d, still, when viewed coaxial it’s a circle. The question probably is if the approximation looks convincing enough - depends on the fender curvature and material thickness in your case. Well, Blender ain’t a CAD, that’s how the saying goes.
Not at all! Just uncheck the ‘flatten’ option in the circle addon. Really, the writer of Looptools took just about everything into consideration with all the options. I can’t say enough good things about it - and believe me, I’ve tried!
