Tips on an appropriate approach

[office6PUWT]

I'd be grateful for any advice on the best way forward to 3d model this wobble cushion for SEND children.

all best

Luke

[RobH2]

Shouldn't be too difficult but there are some tricky things, like the spheres placement. There are usually multiple ways in Max to do the same thing. Here's one...

1) Make a 'ChamferCyl' and adjust the settings to give it sufficient faces, especially the 'Cap Segs'. 

2) Put an FFD(Cyl) on it and pull the control points till you have your shape. 

3) Make a sphere and place it. Use the "Array" tool to create a ring. Now make more rings. Spacing them is going to be tricky. 

4) Boolean it all together. 

If you don't know what any of  those steps are, then your basics need some improvement. Google each of them or use the Max 'Help' file to get info on them. The steps above should get you going though. 

[office6PUWT]

I should be able to complete the following these questions

1) Make a 'ChamferCyl' and adjust the settings to give it sufficient faces, especially the 'Cap Segs'.

Can you suggest an approximate number? 

2) Put an FFD(Cyl) on it and pull the control points till you have your shape. 

What does FFD stand for?

3) Make a sphere and place it. Use the "Array" tool to create a ring. Now make more rings. Spacing them is going to be tricky. 

Do you mean a tiny sphere set into the model?

4) Boolean it all together.

Attach tool for this yes?

many thanks

Luke

[RobH2]

I don't have much time today but here's a little more help. 

1) Use the Max documentation and look up 'FFD Cylinder', 'Boolean' and 'Array' .   Here's a start for FFD:

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/3ds-max/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2017/ENU/3DSMa...

2) For 'Cap Segs' use the least that get the job done. Start with 4 or 5. If it doesn't curve under the FFD like you want raise it. You may end up with 8 or 10. It all depends on how it looks. Max is a lot of experimentation. There is no one "right" setting. 

3) For the small bumps, yes, spheres. And use Boolean to union it all. But probably you don't need to. 'Attach' and 'Boolean' are not the same but it's possible you don't need either. Again, it depends on what you do with the final file. If you need to merge it all together, Attach first. If that's not good, then Boolean it. 

Don't be afraid to Google and use the Max Documentation. It's quite good these days. It can answer a lot of questions for you. 

[leeminardi]

Of course there are more than one approached for making such a model.  Here's how I might do it.

1. Start with a profile of the cushion in the front view making sure that its pivot it at the axis end of the profile.
    
2. Note that the bump pattern on the cushion repeats itself ever 60°.  The bottom row of bumps has a count of 60 (10 x 6), the next row up 54 (9 x 6), etc.
   
3. Add a lathe modifier and make the number of segment a multiple of 6 to help ensure uniformity in the final mesh.  I used 36.
   
4. Create a GeoSphere (they will behave better than Spheres for your needs) with as little detail as necessary. Make a few clone/instances of the sphere and position them along the profile.
   
5. Move the pivot of the outer GeoSphere to 0,0 (assuming the center of the cushion is at 0,0).
   
6. Array the GeoSpere 60 times and then group the 60 instances.
   
7. Use ProBoolean to Union the lathe shape with the group of 60 GeoSpheres.
   
8. Repeat the process for the other row of bumps.  You will need to rotate some of the rows of bumps to establish the offset of bumps relative to the other rows.