Thanks Michael, was starting to wonder if that was possible. ;-)

Man! I had a doozie of a model about ready yesterday, but a work project required a PC re-boot. ...I'll just have to make it better this time.

LOL! :-) After a long day of flame wars and dirty mouths - it's time for a little oral hygiene!

This following tutorial builds a toothbrush and tube or toothpaste, ready to fight bad breath, plaque and gingivitis...

Create side view center rail for brush handle sweep:


The shape of the handle's body axis. Use a box with rounded corners:


Also, create a side profile for the scaling rail from the top view:


Perform Sweep. Rounded rectangle sits outside of sweep bounds. Use scaling rail:


Smooth the "capped ends" with a Fillet: (If it lets you ;-) )


Extrude a circle to make a bristle:


Array to make copies:


Boolean Trim to make that modern looking cut:


Array, Mirror and Scale to create the bristle grouping:


Use the Rotate command to position the bristle group. Click at one point on the brush head, click at a flat extension for reference, then click a lower spot on the handle:


Good then... hide the bristles, they're intensive on the display:


Make the center rail to express the motion of the toothpaste tube from top to bottom:


Rings are created, copied and positioned to best describe the tube's features:


I've created in one view and then in another, drag them to their positions...


Scale and position them, keeping in mind what the side and forward thicknesses of the tube do:


Check for general shape...


Sweep... Notice that the top transitions too smoothly...


I did a Boolean Trim to cut the top portion, and re-used the profile rings - or edge curves - to rebuild a sharp shape using Loft:


Join the sections and Fillet to liking:


A little work to form the opening...


Make the cap-screw spiral. Since the end is tapered, use a combination of reference construction lines and the Tapering feature of the Spiral tool to make a spiral that matches the end:


Profile shapes often get "twisted" on the rail path... Placing the profiles in the path, and along the path will yield control...


Trim the sweep to have left, only what you need... Again, it seems that using a combo of Merge and Copy/Undo/Paste was the ticket, as the Trim feature failed here...


Create the cap profile... Make a box, Circular Array it, Union:


Go to town with Loft, Extrude and Fillet to make the cap...


Made a few profile curves to make some paste to place on the brush... One of those "crumpled paper" accidents - But hmmm... if kinda added to it's realism... I like it.

And here you have it! - It's really late - Brush your teeth and go to bed!

Hi Magic,

""""""""""Create the cap profile... Make a box, Circular Array it, Union:""""""""""

Polygon-Star-Style Custom.

Nice model!

> Polygon-Star-Style Custom.

WOW! Thanks Burr - Just when I thought I figured out all of MoI's features, something new (I missed over) pops up!

Yeah - I didn't know about it either. Just got done playing with it.

I like these kind of auto-magic tools. I thought I saw a MoI watch makers gear script at one time too.

Ed

Hi Ed, there was a plugin that Petr made for doing gears:
http://kyticka.webzdarma.cz/3d/moi/#SpurGear

- Michael

MoI - Perfect.

;-)

HI here some shapes made with stars rebuild curve (points: multiple off horns )
some combination off stars and circular-array circles ,boolean-union . rebuild curve (points: multiple off horns )
RAIL-REVOLVE(curve to revolve conic-curve)

Nice Lyes... Almost organic!!!!

Is that MoI lighting?? And if it is, will you share the settings???

Hi Burr

hemispheric or headlight
brightness 1
focus 2

Oooh - so shiny! :-D

Those look really nice, Lyes!

I like the lighting setting, looks almost rendered.

Thanks lyes,
Hemispheric.. Nice!

Retro intercom system made from Bakelite, chrome and brass.

To get a better look, I superimposed screen captures of two different view lighting options.

Cool shape!

Marc

Thanks!

There was lots of Boolean Trimming and Fillets.

Design!

I thought I'd present more view pics before having to clear the work.
I love retro-looking stuff. :-)

More detail...

Wow, great stuff. This thread has me teeming with inspiration..

Thank you!

No: Thank you wzhang!

Seeing others find even a little interest and usefulness in my MoI discoveries gives me more fire to create!

There appears to be an immense amount of potential with MoI. It's easy to learn and use. I mean, I remember making things in it the first day I installed the trial.

It's interface is deceptively rudimentary, but you find it gives you much power to envision whatever design is on your mind.

I somehow think that even Michael is occasionally amazed by what we unlock from his creation.

...though, he may know what we design, even before we do! ( ;-) lol! what a nice plug...)

Push-Button:

Say you need a rounded push-button shape, and you may be looking for a more organic shape - not a box. - And not flat on top, but smooth!
You'd start by making the general button shape from either four conic curves or freeform splines.

You could perform an Extrude to raise the shape and then add Fillets to the top edge. You could even control the curvature of the Fillet.
However, you are limited since the radius of the Fillet could never exceed that of the depth of the button extrude and that limits how far into the center
of the button you want the top to be smoothed. This leaves the top to be very flat.

Here are four additional methods in MoI:



A - Loft
Copy the master ring profile a few times upwards in Z until you reach the top. Make a copy by scaling it inwards.
A few extra rings at the bottom will force a more straight shape.
Perform a Loft and choose the "Loose" option so that the loft will interpolate it's new smooth shape.
Make sure to turn "Cap Ends" on.
Note the points structure. Very basic. Plus! You can go back and change the ring's position to change the loft shape.

B - Blend
Extrude the profile ring on the bottom a little to provide an edge for the Blend to launch off of in a tangent.
Make a scaled down copy of the ring at the top.
You can only Blend from single edge curves to single edge curves, so trimming or splitting your top planar face will be needed (as shown).
Blend the edge of the bottom to the flat face edge on top.
Do this for all four sides. The sides of the Blend should match. You can tweak the bulge shape before committing.

C - Rail Revolve
Very simple and the easiest way.
Make a side profile that starts at a bottom point and ends in the center at the top.
Select the rail when performing the revolve and you can adjust the profiles afterwords to tweak the overall button shape.
Not only is this the easiest way, but if you notice the points, they are really simple.
One drawback: Often times you'll notice slight bunching or pinching in the center axis area.
Since I used simple Conic curves, this is not a problem here. But the more points you construct the major bottom profile with the more
points you'll have trying to connect to the center. - This becomes a problem when you want to do things like weld or emboss type on the button face.
So in that case, a button top defined with a more consistent grid point system is favorable.

D - Network Mesh
The bottom profile is split into two halves and the halves are connected with a succession of bridging network profiles sections.
This method will produce the most uneven look and surface consistency, and is harder to formulate.
But the top surface as you can see, is the best for trimming in detail. You can see that the bunching is confined to the lesser seen side-bottoms.
And you can more easily tweak in small convolution details for a more natural look.

There you go, four or five ways to skin a cat.