I’ve really been scratching my head over this and it’s probably so simple for you guys.
There are six knobs in this link http://diegomonzon.deviantart.com/#/d3ada5g
I’m interested in the top right, you see that little position marker, it’s sunk into the metal, like a groove.
So the question is how do you go about extrude in two different directions at once and make sure all the corners meets up?
I know you probably couldn’t do it one step like that but I really don’t know where to start.
That’s the blender file so you can see exactly where I am, how to split that top panel is giving me headaches too.
It seems like the knife tool could help but it looks like it’s completely free hand unless you hold shift in which case it splits at mid point (accurately)
I know that this took me quite a while to find a proper way to do it. After I tried a few complicated methods I decided to go with a simple one which worked best.
wow, that is very similar to what I’m trying to do. Glad I’m not the only one who’s had trouble
Now if you could just post a video showing how you did it
So it looks like I wasn’t too far off with the methodology it’s just the execution letting me down.
I’m extruding 0 and then scaling to get my double boxes, hopefully that’s right.
My main problem is cutting a nice square shape into what’s already there.
What I recommend is to not to get too polygon intensive. Here I used Mirror, Sub Surf, and Edge Split modifiers. I used Mark Sharp to harden the edges as well:
I had another go, hopefully the method is a bit better in this one. I managed to make a new plane, scale it and work it into the original shape. I did this on the top and side. Had to make a few splits in the process and I haven’t done the double box thing yet in case it’s wrong.
Let me know if it’s any good
I’ve not heard of edge split or mark sharp, gonna look into them now.
I’d like to not get too polygon intensive but I’ve really struggled to find any decent tutorials on how it should be done. Yours certainly looks alot tidier, care to elaborate?
Sorry but my Internet connection is being buggy right now so I’m having to post this from my phone. I don’t believe that my computer has the processing power to run a video capture software so I will hopefully post a few pictures and a description later today when I’ve gotten a bit of rest. What I recommend for now is that you play with the vertex snapping tool. Also the reason for your subsurf problems is that you have multiple edges occupying the same space. This is causing the creases. You can see what I am talking about by moving around the vertex that is at the bottom of your mesh directly under the center of your indention.
Lol, I was only joking, maybe I should have said ‘now all I need you to do is come round my house and show me how to do it!’. I was just saying thanks and expressing my ineptitude
It’s frustrating being completely new to something and struggling on something that is so basic. Blender is the only 3d program I’ve ever used but even after 2-3 days it does seem ‘quirky’. I come from a fine art/graphic design background but spent many years doing 2d CAD work with tools like “intersect at cursor” “split” “move relative” “merge touching lines” All those things would make blender modelling a lot easier
Now I was doing a ‘merge doubles’ and thought that would take care of things but obviously not
The vertex snapping tool was what allowed to get as far as I did. I was doing subdivides so I had a common central point to ‘lock’ to.
I was then breaking faces and using F to join vertices.
Trouble is I know there’s a ‘right’ way to do it, I can see that ridix has managed to incorporate a circle on the top face and there’s far fewer edges etc.
So here’s what I’m doing in general
New file
Shift a, circle (32 nodes)
select alternative pairs of verts, scale to drag in
subdivide the inner lines and smooth vertex
That gets me to the basic ‘knob’ shape.
I’m then extruding up
extrude again and scale in a bit for the edge crease
extrude 0
scale horizontal
loop tools ‘make circle’
I might scale again or alt-m
For the indent I was then
creating a plane
rotate to correct orientation
etc (I went on to subdivide like I said above)
It’s tough sitting through hours or tutorials (alot of them by incoherent 13 yr olds who can’t string a sentence together btw lol)
Like I said I know this is basic stuff so the help is appreciated.
This is a kinda awkward moment to dive into clever hard-surface modeling techniques in Blender. Almost all tutorials and established workflows are pre-Bmesh… so while you can learn a lot from (for example) the Blendercookie tutorials regarding good end results (unless you want to go for ngons in the final model), the way there isn’t necessarily as described any more.
Bmesh adds a lot of power and potential to modeling in Blender, but the tools that make use of it just aren’t coded and merged yet.
That being said - knowing what to aim for IS the most important part, so watching all modeling tutorials on Blendercookie is hardly a waste of time. Or scouring the net for non-Blender-specific topology knowledge. Just don’t spend more time on research than actual modeling:)
Maybe you’re using an official or older build so this hasn’t been an issue… but it probably affects the response you’ll get. If nothing else, you should probably specify which Blender version you need modeling tips for.
Personally, I’d say jump into Bmesh as soon as possible. Learn to wield the Knife from a young age, so to speak.
Ridix advice is crucial, I think. Start with less polygons, and work your way up.
If you don’t already know about it - To Sphere (shift alt S) allows you to align selected components in a round shape centered on the current pivot point. This can obviously be very useful to keep round shapes round when adding resolution.
Generally… try to learn every conceivable trick using basic transformations, tools and pivot modes. Then the Snap modes and Proportional Edit. It may seem too squishy to be useful with the default settings, but using Linear falloff you can use it for some very precise shape modifications.
And always remember the ability to fine-tweak a fresh operation in the T-panel or with F6. It can be a much faster way to get a good result (or just explore a tool’s different parameters) than undoing and retrying.
I did not use Cube and Cylinder modeling. They are little like Origami you know. You need to come up with exact sequence of cuts and mesh manipulations needed to get to final pattern you are after. It’s a head bender at times. Since I already know what I wanted to have, I just drew it!
Here is the basic workflow I used to form the knob.
The knob photo was used in Blender background as a quick template to layout the features. It was rotated and centered. Circle with 32 vertices with face is added and in edit mode, resized to knob diameter. I subdivided radial spoke edges of a circle object by five. And each “rings” were scaled to fit the knob detail feature:
After circular feature is made, I erased all the vertices leaving one quadrant. Erased quadrant can be easily filled back using Mirror modifier. The indent knob feature was added by using Organic Extruding outer edges manually following background photo. And filled in the part I erased to accommodate the feature. My mesh layout looks simple because I made it that way!
Thanks encn, you’re right I saw the bmesh features and I was like ‘I’ve GOT to get that!’
There’s still a way to go on it though from what I understand and alt-m resulted in an error on this 64bit machine so I put 2.62 back on for now.
Wield the knife ‘tool’ from an early age
Some great info in your post which I will come back to.
I’m just about to search for blender topology basics as that seems to be the buzz word around here and might give me list of do’s and don’ts
and Ridix, you’re a legend! Thanks ever so much for doing that, it really helped my understanding.
The crucial difference is that I was working from the bottom up and you’re working from the top down but also taking into account what needs to be done later.
I also tried the shift d trick and used vertice snap to get the grooves in place.
I haven’t done all the texturing for the top but here’s what I did based on you advice…
I had to give up on ‘mark sharp’ it was driving me nuts.
