Hi All,

I'm trying to create this stylized 3D clover.



The highlighted profile is how I would like each petal to look in cross section. I've tried lofting, sweeping and everything else (little) I know but can't manage it. I would also like the inner edge of each petal to be rounded, not straight capped.

Could someone please help?

Many thanks,
Gunter

Hi Gunter, one thing that might help is to start out not trying to incorporate the upwards bend, make it all flattened to start with and then use Transform > Deform > Flow to apply the bend.

It will be hard to control the shape by both the given cross section and trying to use the outline with a sweep, and it also increases difficulty a bit with the outline having a sharp point in the upper corner. One approach could be to focus on just using cross sections with Loft using the Loft style = "loose" option. That would be a loft through something like this:




Then adjust the profile curves to manipulate the shape to make it similar to your outline path rather than trying to build a surface directly using the outline and the cross section within a single tool.

I'm still not entirely sure which pieces you want rounded and which should be sharp since there are some sharp corners in both your cross section and your path outlines, if you have any images of the result you're looking for that might help to give better advice. Like maybe it would be better doing the loft in a different direction.

- Michael

Oh and also if you want it to pass exactly through your cross section you'd need to do the Loft with the Loft style = "loose" option in 2 halves because with loose loft the surface only directly goes through the start and end profiles.

- Michael

Hi Michael,

As always, thank you very much for your advice.

After adjusting the profiles you created somewhat I tried lofting in both loose and normal mode and here's what I got:












As you suggested, I tried creating profiles in the opposite direction and came up with a better result:





I'm planning on 3D printing it and then casting in metal. There are 2 issues I see - one is that the actual edge of each leaf is a little away from where it ought to be - marked as 'gap'. Because of this I'm concerned that the central portion where all 4 leaves meet won't have enough contact between each leaf and will therefore not join properly in printing.

Any suggestions?

Many thanks,
Gunter

You can also try bike this:

https://1drv.ms/u/s!AgF6VFezvIYchAhDmYEkhO0jSJEC

Hi Zarkow,

That works beautifully!

So you first extruded the profile and then did a Boolean difference to create the object. How did you get the rounded edges?

Many thanks :)

Gunter

Great thanks Zarkow!

:)
Gunter