hi, any idea how to create the middle part of this bottle. thanks in advance.

ed

I would make it in two parts. The bottom part is an extruded rounded rectangle with a boolean operation with a sphere. For the different forms of the top part you can use different cross-section and add a spiral. And then marry the parts as one bottle. In short, Boolean operations, based on spline modelled parts would be my first way to achieve this. Maybe the rounded upper part of the lower half (are you still with me) can me created with a 'bulge' modifier. In that case you could keep the rounded bevel from the cross-section in the Spline Modeller. But then you still had to make it in two parts. It is a hard one to tackle. (I think this is really easy in Amapi, but i can't get myself to stare in baffled wonder at that program anymore...) If I have some time I am going to try something myself, just for the sake of it...

I'd make this in the VM. The pic shows you a quick version. It's made in separate bits. For the bottom part I drew a polyline of the cross section then added thickness of 5 inches. Then I added vertices to the top so that I could change the shape neatly. I selected points at each corner and then moved these down a little. The 'cog' I made by dropping an oval into the VM with a definition of 48. Using Top view I Shift-selected every other vertice. I then scaled by 90% and then rotated a tiny bit. Then I selected all and added thickness of 1 inch. HTH Mark

Whoops! That looks clean and fast! I should check out the VM more often! I would try to add the small bevels, but I think that is possible too, with some extra work. And I would be interested in seeing a render of this bottle. How round can you make the rounded parts appear? I now declare to try more vertex modelling. And maybe Amapi again.

The rounded shoulder part looks like the intersection of a sphere with a right rectangular prism (squashed cube). When they make those bottles in the factory, they can't extrude them, so they use a kind of mold injection process, meaning that the finished product has a seam along its lateral line (the sides with less labelling).

Actually, I rethought this modelled again: I drew the side cross-section, added thickness to that, added vertices to model the ends and then added bevels to the faces. An easy way of adding bevels is to use dynamic extrusion (using the mouse) in one of the plane views. Choose (say) Left view, click on the large poly for that face, choose the Dynamic Extrusion tool and then click inside the poly. Moving the mouse creates a new linked poly that you can size how you want. Pull it out a bit in Director's view to create the bevel you want. This model needs refinement but hopefully it will give you some ideas. Mark

I'd have made this in four separate pieces in the spline modeler. The first piece would be the base. The second piece would be the screw teeth section. The third piece would be the main mouth tube. The fourth piece would be the thread. I'll do it tonight and post it. -Kix

Here's my attempt. This is a simple spline object but the results aren't what I really wanted. Ultimately, I think the spline modeler IS your best bet. -Kix

It's cool how Amapi 7 Pro (with NURBS) does bottles now.

Most of the time I tend to think Spline modelling is the best solution, but falconperigot got me thinking about really getting familiar with the VM. I hope Ed is helped (huh? Wasn't that sailor_ed just some moments ago?)

(well, maybe I am wrong) Hoof

thanks guys for all the help. not sure whether my attempt would as good as some created here. still, thanks alot. ed