I am trying to build something non destructively but I am finding it harder and harder to do on more complex pieces. Can anyone give some insight into how they would model something like the attached image? Specifically I am wondering how to make a mesh it alternating holes, that also happen to curve around an object.
I have followed along with tutorials that give pretty good ideas with paid plugins, but I want to know what my options are with vanilla blender.
Thanks again for taking the time.
It’s quite alright. Its not the first that its happened. I have thought about using an image of the circles for opacity, but not sure how to do that properly. Ive been trying to look something up on youtube, but maybe I am not using the correct search terms.
Start with a cylinder with the right about of sides
bevel the top edge with the right amount of segments
select all of the beveled faces
poke all of the faces (search for poke)
convert triangles to quads
deselect any remaining triangles
inset all angled quads
extrude the faces in and delete them, alternately delete the faces before extruding and add a solidify modifier
I started small with the holes, and arrayed and curved me to the result:
started with a 6 sided cylinder in y direction, intruded
duplicated and shifted to generate basic mesh
added 2 curves for circumference and bevel:
(The beziercircle didn’t work for me. Had to recreate it from a beziercurve)
(all Object origins must be aligned. bezier curves start at object origin)
Added Modifier to Mesh Object:
Array:
relative offset x = 1
fit type Fit curve (circumference curve)
Merge = True
Array:
relative offset y = 6/7 (yes, you can just input a fraction!)
Create your “hole” objects. I created a cylinder, set tit to snap to vertex and align rotation and snapped it onto a vertex on the shape. I then duplicated it and snapped the duplicate onto an offset vertex. I repeated this several times.
Join all these objects together. Apply rotation and scale and all that. Snap you 3D cursor to a centre point on your main object and then set the “hole” object to use 3D cursor as its origin point. Add an Empty at the origin.
Add an Array to the “hole” object. Turn off Relative Offset. Turn on Object Offset and set it to the Empty. Rotate the Empty on Z by whatever amount suits your number of holes. Use a calculator to work it out, based on the number of holes you set in your array.
Add a boolean using your hole object on your main object.
I tried the image based approach, too. The difficult part is to get a nice rectangular UV without too much effort.
I did it again with a simple base object and array/curve modifier:
Alternatively you can use only the array > object offset and add a rotated empty right at the center. Have to adjust the curvature of the mesh tho.
Afterwards its just a matter of getting a tiled hole image, scale the uv accordingly and apply the mask to the shader. Using the emission shader will just blackened the holes.
Thanks for the suggestion.
What a great solution! This was my first question ever post here and I am super stoked so many people have decided to help! Thank you.
Thanks for your perspective in the matter. And I am glad you got a good kick out of the challenge. It was a real head scratcher for me. Towards the end I was thinking of using a shrink wrapped mesh over a sphere to get a similar result. It did not go as intended.
I am seriously impressed with how you folks think in blender.
)