Seeking advice on modelling approach.

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I've been trying various methods (Sculpting and 2D Sketching -> 3D Lofting) to model the below flight control grip but have not been able to achieve a 'clean' model.

What is the best approach to modelling such as this ergonomic grip that has some very 'tight' geometry in certain places?

Thanks in advance,

Marc

[tommi.p.laiho]

Well, yes, my school was not the best possible for Class-A surfacing. This all happened to me long ago, in the 1990s, so that things may be different nowadays. 

But to me, Maya is good to go, I love it, and Blender is my tool cos currently, I can not afford Maya. However, Blender is nowadays a severe tool, so it is a natural option with my Ubuntu Linux. So I hope Maya will someday be ported to Ubuntu, perhaps the best desktop Linux there is. Ubuntu Linux is convenient and easy. (I do not want to start a Linux OS war)🤣 But still, I hesitate to pay so much for Maya, which is like a too expensive girlfriend. 

I still would like to know the secrecy behind perfect NURBS surfaces and seams with them, but I can not afford professional education again. Alias is also a costly hobby, so I must say goodbye. So sad. 

[cekuhnen]

Let’s put aside this class-a surfacing as a term

it is kinda nonessential abstract construction

lets rather differentiate between heavy-dirty surfaces vs lightweight with perfect curvature  surfaces

yhe art with quality surfacing is not g2 g3  directly but how smooth each surface patch flows into the next so when Giu then see the model without surface edges and rotate it you don’t see sudden changes in the highlights and the curvature comb shapes are good

wirh good I mean surface to surface you have min g2 transitions along all natural and trimmed edges

What fusion produces as g2 is not what Alias / ICEM would verify as g2 either

tje big question is does it matter in industrial design

a basic understanding of curvature and comb flows is essential 

look here this is a nice visual explanation for surface quality and perfection 

www.bluesmith.co.uk/tutorial4.htm

notice how much he shows CVs and combs 

many cad models show u the patch layout and that is fine but that is only half the deal like here 

what really is important is the cv layout and topology of all patches being aligned to form g2.

in Alias you can use the g2 fillet command but you still might need to had adjust cvs to get the surface check to accept g2 with certain tolerances 

here this is an easy case  enter patch has cvs aligned with left and right patch 

but not let’s match this vertically too

y fillets are hard

check this video : https://youtu.be/KDHoBDBUfB8

Or this video 

https://www.carbodydesign.com/archive/2010/06/y-fillet-class-a-surfaces-tutorial/

Compare to what fusion360 patch does 

That is also why the patch tool often does show bad results - doing it real is painfully hard

Does this help a little with what class-a modeling truly is and why fusion360 class-a workshops / tutorial are kinda funny ?

a lot of rhino models or horrid 

and I as a designer have no interest in being bogged down by class-a and find fusion sufficient for the concept debelopment

if needed a class-a sculptor can rebuild it

fun fact I made some sub-d models for color presents too and they did not see any issues in it 

[TrippyLighting]

@cekuhnen this thread/post went right into my favorites collection! Thank you very much!

[tommi.p.laiho]

Luckily there is this Youtube. That was not the case similarly in the mid 1990s. Some people seem to want to share their alias knowledge on the internet. Very nice!

[cekuhnen]

@TrippyLighting Awww cuddles !!!! I do think that the summery I put into this single post really shows how amazing perfect surfacing is and how much work and how static it is

imagine have way in they say hm lets change the proportions … it would be restart from scratch

thats why clay models are still so important - it is easier to model, better to observe and then you scan and resurface it

for industrial design alias forces you to break up patches equally - if not (you can work as dirty as in Rhino) you will run sooner or later into surface blend issues because the tools start to refuse to verify G2 / G2.

The beer tap I think is a great example of how complicated such a simple object is in Alias and in Fusion it would be so much easier and faster. True in Alias I would have also more control to perfect the surface flow but would this result into a significantly noticeable difference in the end product ?

His old iPhone shell tut is also great showing how much work goes into perfecting a super organic box shape with perfect highlights - and no T-Splines or SUB wont cut as good.

http://www.bluesmith.co.uk/phones.htm

This plane nose demo is also great to explain what technical surfacing ( I like this term more than class-a) can include.

https://youtu.be/PRbf_eGHWtc

In Fusion it is patch n done but probably not as clean again.

it would be fun to have the same base model to start and CNC mill a fusion and alias rebuild and then scan and compare

[cekuhnen]

@tommi.p.laiho yeah fortunately now - 12 years ago also for Alias it was pretty empty

Handlebar3D is honestly very nice for sharing his alias skills. 

https://youtu.be/rl2aRrtEjI0