A man can only take so much coffee and frustration. The object in the image I sketched is critical to my next project,the cylinder bits are not a problem but the offset cam bit has been driving me nuts as I try to build it in Amapi,(free version),I can get the shape ok using an arc and an interpolated curve,I have even been able to extrude to the right thickness but I have been totally unable to get a mesh across the sides so that it will render as a solid.All the rest of the project can be done in Bryce it's just this one itty-bit. Must add that I'm a total beginner in Amapi,I also have Truespace 3.2,(free ver)but I know nothing about how to use that either. Any Tut's,help or suggestions will stop me from going completely madmadmadmadmadmad!!!!????~~~~~.... Cheers GG

Attached Link: http://www.wings3d.com

oh my..you are in a state..;) (I have the same programs,,;). What about Booleans? maybe take a cylinder perpendicular from the plane, and subtract it to the edge of the cam? I dunno..;) If you want a free 3d program that's easier than Truespace (boy am I being mean tonite..;), there's Wings 3d, URL above. hmm..in Wings' I'd probably just take a torus, carve off the excess into 2 semi-taurii..scale it to flatten it, maybe include a cylinder for the center(but you already have that). If you're just starting out in Amapi and Truespace, look for tutorials, which are a good place to start..borrow and steal what you need from them, drop by the forums here.(I don't know about Truespace, but Amapi forum here isn't as lively as it once was). But we'll all try to be helpful, regardless of the forum.

here's my attempt, about a half hour's work. The cylinder's easy, you can scale and extrude to get the necessary shape (or even stack cylinders). The arms are a torus, cut into fourths, then rotated (flipped in this package) to get into position. Then the sides are flattened, and the edges scaled down (ends) or up (the center), then the vertical edges are smoothed to make the curve more convincing..hope this helps.

I'd think that the best way to do the blades would be a spline projection of some sort. The center is easily booleaned. If you want, when I get back to school next week Ill help you out. Don't have a lot on my laptop though.

You could also use a terrain for the whole thing and be done with it already.

Oh boy!! Bring on the coffee,another something new to learn.And no, Bryceing is not a nocturnal tropical fever,is it possums^^^%%$%##^*$#$%)_itsnotnonononot. Cheers GG.

yeah, try what Ornlu suggests, he is my padawan master..I can't tell a spline from a nurb..;)

NURBS - if I remember correctly are Non-Uniform Rational Bezier Splines. Caffiene overload - is that possible?! I am currently CDD! (Caffeine Deficient Disorder) This could indeed be done in Bryce as a terrain object/symetrical lattice. There are some good thread with tips on doing that here.

I made this simple object in wings by modeling the right half, then flipping and mirroring it to the left. here is the download link: http://www.3dfightclub.com/~madmax/uploads/cogpiece.zip (99k, zipped 3ds file, 4000 polygons)

Max You are a little ripper,thanks so much for the download,exactly what Needed. I now have my own copy of wings to play with. Cheers I owe you one GG.