In my slowly developing bathroom scene, I now need to create fixtures for the shower and tub.

Part One: Shower Head Nozzle Assembly.

For the first part of this tutorial, we'll be making the part of the shower head that holds the spray nozzles.

We need to create the dish-shaped face object.

1) Create a profile with the Freeform curve tool.
I'll need to make sure that the two first control points at the top, or crest of the dome shape are aligned with each other - perpendicular to the revolve axis.
This way when you revolve the profile, you'll have a dome shape that is smooth on top.
2) Revolve the profile to make a domed shaped dish.




Next, I need to make a nozzle object.
3) Draw profile.
4) Revolve.




I need some circles at the bottom of the nozzle for future use.
One will be used to cut a larger hole in the dish surface, the other to form a divot area in the surface.

5) Copy the circle at the bottom of the nozzle or make a new set.




You can see the two rings placed somewhere near the bottom of the nozzle.
Make sure that the nozzle sinks a little below the bottom ring.




I went ahead an made the bottom ring a surface.
6) Plannar.




I am going to use Flow to place copies of the nozzle set.
I need a reference plane that is revolved like the dish object, but flat.
It will have a similar internal point/framework arrangement.

7) Select the original profile curve for the dish and activate Show Points.
8) Draw a Freeform curve so that it will have the same spacing of points in relation to the

dish profile curve. Space them as if you were traveling along the side of the dish object.

I pull one of the control points a little high, so that MoI will keep the grid when I revolve it. Otherwise MoI will make a four-point flat plane to simplify the object.
9) Revolve.




Now make the reference revolved surface object flat, so that it is a planar-like disc.




You should now activate Show Points for both surfaces.




I moved the nozzle object set up to the reference surface, with the bottom planar circle in the set just a little below the surface. It does not matter where the ring which will be used to cut into the dish object is. Just close enough.

BTW, it is wise to name your different objects so you can grab them easier later.




We need to array and copy the nozzle objects.

10) Array Direction.




I want to create a nice pattern when I copy the sets, so I'll make a reference cure.

11) Freeform Curve.




12) Rotate.
Use Revolve while snapping in the center position of the disc and the nozzle set, then rotate each object set until your pointer snaps to the reference curve itself.




Here is the array that has been positioned along a curve.
You can use the Array on Curve command too.




13) Circular Array each of the sets.




I arrayed the sets to create a nice pattern.
I started off at a number of 20 for the outside ring, then went down by 5's.




Nicely arranged, but they're still arranged in a flat plane.




14) Here we'll use MoI V3-Beta's Flow command:

I select all the nozzle sets arranged.
You'll be prompted for the reference surface. Choose the flat disc.
Then you'll be asked to select the target surface. Select that, and make sure you select it in the same relative area so that MoI knows by which way to orient the results.

Select the option "Rigid"
This will keep the nozzle object sets intact and in proportion, but will orient them according to the surface normal of the target dish surface where they'll end up.




Instead of a warped or mangled surface in the middle - the center set just disappeared!
I copied one from the original set.




Here they are!



Now hide the nozzle objects sets. - Each item: the nozzle, the circles and etc should have their own name.

I needed to make holes for divots in the dish.
Take the larger circle in each set and run a 15) Boolean Difference on the dish object. They will be close enough that exact spacing will not be crucial.




Show the smaller circles, which will now be recessed according to their arrangement from the Flow tool.




Next, Blend the small circle surfaces with the holes in the dish.

16) Blend the surface edges of the small circles with the circle edges of the holes.
If the surface edge curves are cut into pieces then select them an enter the command "Merge"
If the edge curve on the other object has a seam running to it, then you'll need to match these start and end points in the non-seamed surface.
Use the Trim command, running the add points option to break that curve.
You should be able to blend each curve from each surface respectively.




17) Join all surfaces to become one object.



This is the finished arrangement for the shower head nozzle assembly.




---In Part Two: The Shower Head Handle/Body Assembly will be constructed using Network and other commands.

Thanks for another nice tutorial..

Peace,
Rich_Art. ;-)

Hi Magic,

All your images have disappeared and the link to your web site doesn't work anymore. It worked this morning.

I see!

I use 50webs.com and my site usually goes off-line for a bit every day around 1 est for some reason.
It's been down most of the day today.
I can still access my files and structure on their site, but the other side of the server isn't working, I guess.

I would try to contact them, but answers are usually slow from them, and I figure if they are having a problem - I wouldn't be the only one.

...waiting.

Hi Mike,

Just to confirm I have been trying to access your site and links with no success

Steve

I see this everytime he posts a new tute with lots of pictures. It will come back in a bit. I wonder if the host is doing something when a ton of hits come in all of a sudden (On a shared host system)

I'm sure there's some kind of daily traffic limit. They don't say anything about this, but I wonder.

When I have more than a negative balance in the bank, the $3 a month for better hosting will be worth it, if they can promise that this kinda voodoo isn't going to happen.

I don't see your images! And your site is 404 !

Why not use this wonderful easy and free Site Web Builder for store your data....?
2 sites, blogs unlimited, no publicity!
if one image or file is not more than 5 megas ! Sufficient for your case of tutorials!
Number of files, pages, unlimited!
No limitation of Bandwidth !
(Pro: 100 megas for one image or file :)
http://www.weebly.com

here my avatar image from my site free hosted http://piloumaison.weebly.com :)
I suppose you can see it? I have thousand of images hosted! Never a problem!


or some videos of Moi if less than 5 megas! ;)
http://piloumaison.weebly.com/les-booleacuteens-3d.html

Thank you Pilou! I'm going to check Weebly out.

Okay! Site is back up - files flow freely.

My message to 50webs was read and problem fixed.
Seems like it was some technical glitch. (???)

But now that I know about Weebly... we'll lets see what we can do. ;-)

Part Two: Hand-Held Shower Head Body

Here I will create a decorative body for the shower head.
BTW, this shower head is a hand-held model.

I've put a few days of thought into this. It needed to match the decor of my WIP bathroom scene.
I had some fancy designs in mind, but this is a fixture that is used every-day, and since it is hand-held, it needs to be sort of basic in overall shape.
Though, it can have a little pizazz put into it.

We need to draw profiles to make the main body shape with the Network command.

1) Freeform curves to make up a top and bottom profile line to run down the center (looking from the face)
Used the shower nozzle face and it's circle as a reference.



Notice how I made a lip shape to hold the nozzle head...


Now we need a symmetrical profile curve to represent the sides of the shower handle body.

2) Started in Right View and made the lip.




3) Then I continued drawing points for the curve in the Front/Back Views to carry the profile along the body.




4) I went into the Top View and shown the points of the curves, manipulating them to give it a nice curved shape from the top.




5) Mirror Command - to make the symmetrical copy of the side profile.
Note: By manipulating the points of the original shape, adjustments can be made to the mirror copy simultaneously by it's history state.




You can see the arrangement in 3D View...




To make a simple "Axial" Network surface, we now need at least two profile rings at each end of the profile rails created.
This one is simple:

6) Use the Ellipse by Diameter tool, select two opposite end points, then and adjacent point/ (As shown)
Because I used the original circle for the shower nozzle face as reference, the fourth side of the ellipse touched the remaining profile rail end.
However, you don't have to be dead-on for Network to work.




7) Next, I used the same ellipse tool at the other end of the rail set.
Because these were placed at an ad-hock angle, the bottom of the ellipse did not touch the curve-end. I suggest just moving the end point on that rail to touch the ellipse.




Nice...

8) Networked the combination of the rails and rings. All I needed was the two end rings in place and it saw the entire run.
Note: If you get strange results in the middle, using more rings throughout the course will give you more control.




Let's put some detail on that bad boy using the MoI V3's Flow tool!

9) Draw a simple reference plane.
Note: Show Points on the plane to make sure that the corner control points are in the corner and not a half mile down the street as shapes are made with the Planar command.




10) Now use the V3's new "Decoration Spray Tool" to add some neat elements...
C'mon silly... This is where you put your own toppings on it like a homemade pizza! ;-)
This tutorial cannot get into the detail of how I made those elements
- but if you like, here is the flourish shape: http://www.mediafire.com/file/upoj1nkvnnigxtx/flourish_shape_01.3dm




11) Used the Flow tool.

Here's a note on my placements: The seam on the Network mesh just happened to end up on one of the sides.
I divided the reference plane into two parts. One would be Flowed to the bottom and the other to the top as the objects were "rolled on".

The big technical aspect to consider when using the Flow tool is that Flow will match reference surface to target surface. And if the points arrangements on one surface is in a warped pattern that is not "grid-like" then the object will be warped to follow suit.
The points on the shower handle body were not straight, but had a strange warp to them. This forced all the objects on the reference plane to skew in accordance to the target surface's point-grid positions.

Remember when I said above that adding rings to your mesh would add control? That may have also "straightened" up much of the grid in the target surface as well.
But I played around with the arrangement a little until it looked good enough.

Working with the new Flow command is an art form within itself. It takes a little practice and understanding, but can become a powerful tool in NURBS modeling.

Step 1 - Select the objects to Flow.
Step 2 - Select the reference surface. When choosing this surface, keep in mind [where] on the surface you are selecting as you will need to match that orientation on the target surface.
Step 3 - Select the target surface. Pick a place on the target surface that will best match the orientation of the reference surface to your objects.
Step 4 - Preview... if the objects are on the wrong side, select the "Flip Normals" option. Done.



Kind of funky... BTW, don't expect to Boolean anything with the main surface the objects are flowed too. The underlying points are too convoluted.
It's best to use a copy of the reference surface to make a "new" surface with the object already attached.


Kind of neat...
Objects are very warped, but it will work for this tutorial.




I need to finish out the bottom part of the shower handle by adding some kind of end where the water supply hose will attach.
There are two things about the arrangement here that makes it a slight challenge: One, the circle on the end is not perfectly flat or "circle". Two, it's oriented at an angle.

I need to make a revolved shape, but regular revolve might not match the imperfect circular end.
I could use a sweep of a profile along the end circle as a rail, but I may get a pinched result at the end as sweep was not meant for perfect revolves.

The easiest thing to do is Revolve by Rail.

12) To get an axis reference from the circle, I'll make this extrusion first, and then use it's ends to find the center with some construction points.




13) Delete the extrusion object and draw a revolve profile shape.




14) Revolve by Rail to make the object.




Now matter what you do, Revolve by rail will only make a flat bottom shape that will not match to the imperfect rail shape it followed...
A Sweep would have done this, and the result would have been nice, if I would have thought to put a small circle at the other end for sweep to follow... ;-p

None the less... I moved the revolved shape apart from the end of the network mesh and
15) Blended the two edges together.




Here is a shot of the final hand-held portion of the shower head assembly.
This will look nice when rendered in antique brass!




Here are a few more views.




---In Part Three: The remaining water hose and adjustable wall mounting parts will be created. And a nice render to follow.

Thanks again for this great workflow "tutorial" :-)
The showerhead looks really great...

Peace,
Rich_Art. ;-)

Art deco ! :)

Part Three: Wall Mounting Parts - Building the Escutcheon Plate

First I'll start with the escutcheon (Gesundheit!). This is the decorative plate that hides the screws and cuts in the tiles on the wall.
I'll be using the one I created for the decorative toilet handle so that it will match, but I'll show one being made here to be a persistent in the progression of this project.

The first one I made was by using the Loft command with many shaped rings. It failed and made an ugly shape. But I "made lemons from lemonade" and used some of the pieces to make something that looked unique.




When making this escutcheon, start off with actually using the inner and outer circle diameter that will be needed.

In this case, I'd like to use a 1.5" OD pipe.

Tell MoI to make a circle with your inner dimension:




If done before clicking the diameter point with the circle tool - simply type in the diameter.
If needed to be done after making the circle - click on the size description at the top of the side-bar and a dialog will emerge.

Make the outer circle:




I used a diameter of 3.5"

Raise the smaller inner circle up to any height:




Draw a nice side profile shape in a side view with one of the curve tools:




Go to the Top View and rotate it off a little to the side. This will be the edge of one of the detail shapes:




Mirror this curve on center:




Show Points on the original curve, Show Points and manipulate the points to make an interesting shape:
Note that the mirror curve will mimic the points manipulation as part of it's immediate history.




Draw a 3-Point Arc off of the end points at the bottom of the two curves. It should bulge out some.




Make an Arc at the top that matches the curvature of the top circle exactly. Or trim the top circle to get an exact match:
You can make this surface a couple of ways - A Sweep will work. I used a Network because it made the area at the mid-section bow in instead of out.




Circular Array the surface:
Choose enough copies so that there is around the same amount of distance in-between the surfaces.
Choose the center of the circles for the pivot.




Blend a surface between adjacent edges of tho of the detail surfaces:




Since each of the surfaces should be exactly the same - simply Circular Array copy the Blend surface:




All surfaces should Join to one surface. If a part does not, delete it and re-blend that part.




Extrude the bottom ring: Size it a little larger if need be. You only need a planar surface on top of the new cylinder.




Fillet the top edge to make a nice round-over:




I made two lines snapped from the center point and ending snapped to the inner circle created by the fillet.
They should end up close to where the intersecting edges of each smaller body section project to the inner circle.
- You'll see below.




Circular Array copy each set of lines - then run the Trim command with all of the lines and the inner circle:
The lines were put there to cut the inner circle into smaller section curves that will used to Blended to the above surface sections.




Here, I blended the upper body surface section edges to the cut section edges of the side lip of the filleted round-over.
"Drill" select the smaller curve segments on the inner circle and the edge segment curves on each above surface.
Do this all the way around. If you have problems with the sides of the new Blend surface matching, try using Trim to cut the segments into smaller pieces, then try Blend again.




...I did just that when the bottom portion was really two separate segments because of a seam line.
(Worry not - Michael has a better Blend tool in his list where Blend will work across seams and broken separate lines. ;-) )




Everything should Join together into one contiguous surface.




Make the lip for the inner opening to the escutcheon.
Use the Freeform curve tool to make a profile.

I snapped the new curve to the TANgent of the underlying surface's edge.
How did I find a way to snap to the tangent of a surface?
I drew a line along center-X and projected that line to the top of the surface area below, so that when I looked through the Front View port, there was a curve with an endpoint to snap to...




Use Sweep or Revolve to make the lip:




Surprisingly when I went to Join the bottom surface sections to the top lip sweep - everything matched and join into one smooth surface!
It was not this easy when I made the first one. I had to blend sections, cut and everything else to join the matching sections.
This one worked because I made sure the swept surface above was exactly tangent and matching to the underlying surface edge.




Not just revolved or lofted shape, this has some detail. You can add other ridges, floral or leafed patterns, jewels or dots to it as well.

---Next Part: The framework that holds the shower head and other accessories...

Wonderful serial !

It's like watching a foreign soap-opera...

1) The suspense!
2) It draws on forever.
3) You don't know what they're saying for the most part.
4) Nice Shapes and attractive curves. And the shower scenes are worth the wait. ;-) hootchie mama.

(NURBS curves and the rendered shower scene, of course)

Yikes! =:0

That's some intense modeling Magic.

That's gonna be a bathroom even Donald Trump would be jealous of.

Ed

Thanks,

I'll have to render everything in polished 24 karat chrome-gold for Donald then.

Not exactly Scandinavian styling, then. Don't think you'll get a job at Ikea, Mike.

Excellent modelling techniques, by the way.

But then whatz am I gonna do wiz all that goooooold?!

Oh vell... I might of had a very unfortunate schmelting accident.



I can not understand Scandinavian styling because I have a Dusch accent, cantz you tell? Insteadz, I am from Holland! Isn't that viert?


But yesh! My modeling techniques are getting very toight, yesh, toight like a toiger, yesh yesh yesh!



...ahh... it's late. ;-)