Model a repeating patterninto an existing mesh?

Support Modeling
1

The short version of what I’m asking is if I have a mesh that makes up a strap on a fabric and I want to repeat a series of sewed thread holes along that mesh whats the best way to do it using modeling and not texturing or texture bump/displacements that would be added to the model at rendering time.
This is a pair of women’s strap sandals, it’s a proof of concept and I may be in over my head with my still limited knowledge of Blender.
Also if you can help by giving me the steps as to how it’s done, I know I’m asking a lot but it helps me very little when someone says “use the Whatcha-McCall-It modifier” and doesn’t tell me how it’s used in this type of project.
I think it would have to be a pattern that would move with the strap if I adjusted the points to accomidate changes in the shape. I tried doing this with a curve and a repeating shape and ran into a lot of problems that I couldn’t get sorted.

again, thanks in advance for any patience and persistence in helping me with this.


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2

For the thread you can use an array of pieces on a spline snapped to the surface. For the little divots where the thread penetrates the leather, I really would recommend a normal map. You will have to unwrap and texture the divots anyway since if you leave them perfectly clean it will look extremely fake.

If you really insist on modelling them, well, you can model just a segment or two and also use an array along a spline, in this case you can model the thread into the segment as well - whether this is feasible depends on how the strap connects to the shoe.

3

another alternative is you could use the sculpting tools and a rake brush with an alpha texture with the shape of the stitching. you’ll probably want to use lazy-mouse to get a nice smooth path… what you really want is spline based sculpting that was worked on previously in GSoC 2013: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jT85PXaWqY

4

This maybe covers what you want https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsmK_wCCnds

5

it did, thanks everyone!