Hello fellow Shapeways citizens.

I am using Blender for making a kitchen cabinet knob in the shape of a common ivy leaf.
I thought I'd start with a 2D mesh and then pull that into a 3D shape, solidify it, and for last make detailed tweaks for the ribs and so on.

I just finished making the 2D mesh from a photo as base.
Feedback is VERY appreciated.

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Last update this week. More next week.
Made a lattice modifier for the overall shape.
Have a nice weekend!
/Rinblad

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Hello Ssslouter, and thank you for your feedback.
Actually I haven't used subsurf yet. I worked with bsurfaces to be able to get the lines for the ribs. I will use those later on with some extra loop cuts before or if I will apply a subdivision surface. I have noticed quite a few lines that doesn't contribute for making the ribs, and I will remove those. I haven't been able to work on this for a few days, as the flu bounced back on me. Hopefully soon though.

Adding a pic that will make the lines make sense:

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[Updated on: Thu, 05 April 2012 00:24 UTC]

I added a pic in the previous post . I'm not quite sure what you mean with "connecting faces" after the paint job. I will certainly try this strategy since you think it's the best.
My own strategy is to lower the ribs and heighten the "cells" between, then make a "wall thickness" by applying the solidify modifier. I noted that the top side is almost inverted comparing the bottom side, when I studied a real leaf.

[Updated on: Thu, 05 April 2012 00:32 UTC]

I've made outlines for all the ribs on the left side of the leaf.
Figured I'd ought to test to extrude a part of it and to apply a subsurf, just to see how it looks..

... I think I'm getting there..

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oh.. here are the ribs..

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All of the outlines are made now.
I took Ssslouter's advice and reduced the amount of lines. Finally time for the fun part.

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Progress..

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Hi, I was on vacation so i couldn't answer. That's some great progress! I would love to see how it looks once printed.

Also, you have some weird color choices for the blender theme

[Updated on: Fri, 13 April 2012 18:27 UTC]

Thank you. I only wish I have more time for modelling.. I feel like I just "paddles water", as we say here in Sweden.

Yeah, my colour theme is made upon a memory of an article I read some years ago. It said that people who sits by a window with green colours outside are more productive and creative. If nothing else, I thought a theme might help some.

[Updated on: Sat, 14 April 2012 20:47 UTC]

You are absolutely right, TurtlesAreCool.
I have a tendency for getting a bit of too much details.
Today I will start with scaling it down so that 1 blenderunit = 1 millimetres.

Thank you for reminding me.


Btw, I love your work. Right up my alley.

[Updated on: Tue, 17 April 2012 06:58 UTC]

This is how it looks so far.

I have followed TurtlesAreCool's advice to scale it properly. As you would suspect, I had to make some changes in the detail to work with stainless steel specs. f

I've done an extrude and then pulled vertices and used the sculpt tool. Not finished tinkering with it yet.

Thank you SGDesigns, but I have been modelling for many years. Though never professionally. There is always stuff you can learn. I made this thread to get some tips and tricks, and hopefully people will appreciate to watch stuff grow into shape.

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It has been a while since my last post, and that's because I haven't had so much time to work on it.

I have tried some methods to add thickness to the leaf and it turned out that the Solidify modifier didn't work well so I ended up with just making a duplicate of the mesh and flipped the normals for the bottom. After some tinkering I came up with what shows in the image below. I thought that the leaf will be 5 cm from top to bottom and the thickness is now about 3-4 mm and some detail is between 1-2 mm. Time to think about the stem and/or branch or whatever that will make it pop out of the door. (Because this is going to be a kitchen door knob.)

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Good choices...antique bronze would look fantastic (would probably need some surface treatment), and the white ceramic definitely has an appeal as well.

This is somewhat going outside shapeways, but have you thought about using a detailed print to start casting with another company? I'm imagining this in pewter with some dark painted accents on the veins...

[Updated on: Wed, 25 April 2012 14:21 UTC]

Hello again.
I've sketched some concepts for the leaf. Please tell me if you like one concept in partikular by answering this this one question.

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[Updated on: Thu, 26 April 2012 11:31 UTC]