im looking to model a space station like those in the game Elite dangerous, and i thought i could get it done easily by having a few different “panels” of the station (landing pads. cargo pads. general use pads) in an array modifier and have it follow a circle like you have an arry follow a curve. is this even possible or am i chasing up the wrong tree?
yes you can do it with an array mod. put an empty at the center of the circle/sphere. Put the landing pad at the place you would like it to be. Add an array modifier with “object offset” and use the empty as the object. Move/rotate the empty until the landing pads/ panels are circling the sphere as you wish
Hiya I did exactly that with a flying saucer type ship I made works really well. A couple of other things to note that I ran into that may be helpful.
- Apply rotation and scale when using the array modifier or at least be aware or if you have changed them and the impact, sometimes you will want to keep local rotation for ease of positioning.
- Don’t rotate the empty until you are ready and then you can calculate it so say you have 6 panels and the empty and everything is Z up in global and you know the 6 panels should fit the whole circle just divide 360 deg by 6 and rotate the empty 60 deg on the Z and have the array modifier set as 6 copies with offset around the empty then they will all fit. The pics below is all done doing exactly that method for all the panels, lights everything on the circle.
and so i can still place other panels inbetween the first to create a varied look?
yes just run multiple arrays either off the same empty and change the initial rotation of the othe object or use multiple emptys with different rotations on that model you can see where I did that some of the panles repeat 4 times with others in between.
I made a base object that was circular with the amount of verts to get the shape I wanted then just duplicated the verts I wanted to use and separated by selection and used that as a base to work off then you know it will all fit 
my confusion isnt about the arrays and the empties i just didnt understand about the base object maybe if you could clarify that part for me:spin:
that looks like a high poly mesh id love to see it if possible
I’m probably confused as well here’s how I would approach it, doesn’t mean its the best way as I’m learning all the time as well I’m sure there are others here with better ideas!
I literally just knocked this up to give an idea of how I was thinking I’d take more care planing if I was doing it for real I used this pic for general inspiration for the basic outer ring but it’s not supposed to be a copy. So I created a base object had to be quite high poly as it’s on a circle and I applied the sub surf just for that but then everything else just has it as a modifier. Then you can just duplicate bits off the base mesh split them into other objects and you know you have the curve correct and the array is in place and later if you want to redo the base lower poly you can. I’d start like that and then add detail does that help ?
I’ll dig out that model it’s one of the first ones I ever did and I can’t remember how crap the topology is it might be too embarrassing to share but i had to go quite high poly yo get the nice smooth lines especially on that tear drop shape.
I just realised I hadn’t done any panels in my example which was your original question 
Updated blend file
This is a good vid on flat panelling, but for curved stuff I changed it a bit but the principle is the same, if you look at the blend file I subsurf the inner base then hit edit on it d to duplicate whatever faces you want, then p to separate by selection then add shrinkwrap between the sub surf and the array and wrap it back to the base object then add holding loops if you want the corners sharp then add solidify. The shrinkwrap stops you getting those crease lines when you add the holding loops as it pulls them to the shape of the underlying object. Make sure the solidify goes after the shrink wrap I put the sub surf before so there are more verts available to wrap to the underlying object so it’s smoother.
Then you can easily crank up or down the sub surf depending on how smooth you want it all to be and it’s all based off the base object so set that to what you want first and all modifiers except for the edge loops but they are all in one plane pretty much so you can fiddle to your hearts content
You can also do it with bevel or crease or edge split after the solidify but they never look good to my eye on curved services like this I always get artifacts, great on most stuff but not on this from what I have found but again it depends on how fussy you want to be and when it’s all textured it might not show anyway. I like using edge loops.
Also render it out as well as sometimes you don’t need it as smooth as you think when it has a material on it.
here is a render I did of the example I did for you I left the materials in the blend file. Have stopped now was starting to have too much fun and getting distracted
Awesome thanks!
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