This is an image of my quandary:
I want to bevel the edges of this puzzle piece so that I can smooth them and make it look more realistic, however I just can’t seem to figure it out! If only there was some sort of cool scaling option or something… Hmmm… Anyways any help on this problem would be greatly appreciated.
Select the edges you want to bevel. press W, select Bevel, move your mouse to adjust its width (for maximum control, hold SHIFT while you move the mouse)
Also, you don’t need so many edge loops (especially in straight lines)
Someone else found a rather elegant solution for this. - Draw it with a curve - then use ‘Extrude’ and ‘Bevel Depth’ in the ‘Curve and Surface’ panel.
…but if you want to keep the one you have you could try Edge Split and Subsurf modifiers.
http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Manual/EdgeSplit_Modifier
http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Manual/Subsurf_Modifier
http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Manual/Modifier_Stack
…and also, what Duhast said about edge loops.
The method posted by organic would be the easiest… But for future reference you can bevel the edges of a mesh rather easily following this method: Create the basic shape of you puzzle piece this means creating a cap on it too not just the outlines. Then select the edges you want to bevel in edge select mode. And simply use Edit-Edges-Bevel on them.
Try alt-s instead of just s, to ‘shrink’ instead of scaling the piece. That should be what you’re looking for.
