Full Version: How do I tackle table leg like this

Hey guys!

So I'm new to MoI and I wonder what would be the best way to model something like this in MoI ? Thanks!

Side View - https://i.imgur.com/FCC45jN.jpg
Front View - https://i.imgur.com/p0wAAXJ.jpg

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Hi mantaskava, forms that transition between sharp and smooth in an organic type way tend to be a higher difficulty category to model in CAD.

I'd say in this case I'd probably work on it in sections since it's the foot that ups the difficulty. Start by ignoring the foot for now to make progress on the easier part. To do the main part without the foot, make a 2D profile curve using Draw curve > Freeform > Control points, something like this:



Once you have a closed 2D profile like that, you can solidify it by making a copy that's rotated 90 degrees (quickest way is to hold down the Ctrl key while dragging the rotation grip of the edit frame in the Top view), so you have 2 curves arranged like this:



Now select one of those, then run Construct > Boolean > Intersection, then select the other one and you'll get this result:



This is the equivalent of making 2 straight extrusions of both of those and then intersecting those extrusions and keeping only the volume that's inside both of them, boolean intersection can do that all in one step.

I'd recommend working on that part first to get the bulk of your form blocked out how you want it, then we can talk about what to do from there. It will probably be something like doing some fillets to round off the sharp edges a little bit then doing some custom surfacing for the foot and using a Construct > Blend to connect things together. Post your 3DM model file with the main leg how you want it to start with.

- Michael

Image Attachments:
table_leg1.jpg  table_leg2.jpg  table_leg3.jpg 

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Got as far as the Boolean Intersect, which makes a nice leg, (without the roundness).
- Brian

I wonder if another camera angle would help with the rounding?
Say 90 degrees from the "front" picture?

Attachments:
TableLeg08.3dm

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Hi,

A solution would be to project lines on the starting solid, edit the resulting profiles with fillets or blends and loft them afterward.

Marc

Image Attachments:
Screen Shot 2017-04-05 at 10.19.48 AM.png 

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First of all thank you everyone for your suggestions!

So after posting this I thought I could try to model this using C4D as well (have some more experience with it, although I'm not very good at modeling yet) and it went pretty good in my opinion (results in the link).
So I will probably just leave this kind of geometry for poly/subd modeling.

Anyways, what is your thoughts on modeling such type of geometry? do you choose nurbs or poly/subd and why? or maybe even sculpting? I'm kinda new to 3D overall so sometimes I struggle to decide in which cases what programs should I use.

Poly/subd version - http://imagizer.imageshack.us/a/img924/9816/eleSX9.jpg

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Hello,

I'd tackle the model by heavy use of the Blend command. The amount of quick adjustment you can do by Blending with History can save you a bunch of time while preserving continuity, which may be very important to you. The included result is not the best but I got it from less than five minutes of effort. Hopefully it will give you an idea of what's possible.

Image Attachments:
cleg.png 

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Hi mantaskava,

re:
> Anyways, what is your thoughts on modeling such type of geometry? do you choose nurbs or
> poly/subd and why? or maybe even sculpting?

NURBS are best when the design can be specified by 2D profile curves like you'd see in a blueprint. If it has holes drilled in it, that's usually another strong sign of being very good for NURBS.

Things that are kind of smooth and semi blobby tend not to fit in that category and will usually be better to do in sub-d or sculpting.

But some things can be in a grayish area that can be done with either but it will usually mean using a more advanced area of NURBS modeling dealing with freeform surfacing commands like lofting, network, and blend which has a higher learning curve than construction from just 2D profiles and using booleans.

- Michael

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Hello once again guys!
I know this is an old thread but I decided I still want to learn how to properly model something like this using NURBS so I gave it a 2nd shot.
I've attached the file of current state of the model and I'm asking for your insights/ideas how to finish it off, or maybe I need to re-model it from the ground up?
Screenshot of the current state - https://i.imgur.com/JhGTEbz.jpg
Is it some kind of shading error or? - https://i.imgur.com/qzNySew.jpg
Photo front view - https://i.imgur.com/p0wAAXJ.jpg
Photo side view - https://i.imgur.com/FCC45jN.jpg

Thanks!

Attachments:
Table_Leg_01.3dm

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Hi mantaskava,

re:
> Is it some kind of shading error or? - https://i.imgur.com/qzNySew.jpg

It's a display artifact just in the realtime viewport display, it's due to the display mesh being too sparse in that area. When you go to export it you shouldn't see it in the export mesh:



For your construction, usually it is good to make things you want to be smooth to extend to be longer surfaces instead of filling in open areas like you've got here. It's difficult to make the fill in piece be smooth to its neighbors. You might have some trouble with doing that here though since it shrinks in size quite a bit near your end there. One thing you could try though would be to make a fill in piece then trim away some open space near the top and put in a Blend surface there.

It may be hard to get very good shaping with this area swooping upwards while the other side is simultaneously flaring out:



It might help get better shaping if all those profiles were further extended downwards so your surface could be more relaxed and then cut it off at an angle rather than trying to have a surface that directly hugs along those contours.

- Michael

Image Attachments:
mantaskava_shading.jpg  mantaskava_swoop.jpg 

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Hi mantaskava, I've attached an attempt at building in a fill piece and then cutting away some space with Trim and putting in a Blend surface.

But I think it may be difficult to get a good looking transition since these areas are quite flat:



It would be good for those flat shapes to have extended further down if possible.

Or another possibility to get better shaping could be to cut away a larger space so the blend could have a larger transition from the flat areas.

- Michael

Attachments:
Table_Leg_02.3dm

Image Attachments:
mantaskava_flat.jpg 

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