Hi all.  Class assignment the other day was to model an artistically-inspired paper towel holder for an interior kitchen design.  It could be one of those standing ones, or a wall-mounted design, but it had to be unique, and something artistic to compliment a contemporary kitchen (which will be the project for our finals).  I chose to do one of those standing ones, which can be placed on the countertop.

So here's the WIP so far.

Starting with the actual paper towel roll itself; I didn't want to simply slap a cylinder shape in there and be done with it, although it would have been totally sufficient.  I've never really seen anyone take time to model a detailed roll of paper towels (probably because no one ever really needed to render one close up anyway), so I felt like doing some extra detail for the one in this project. ;)

Started off with a simple TUBE primitive, but added a lot of edge loops to the top and bottom cap, for extra resolution:

Then, using "dot selection" in 3dsmax, selected every other edge loop, and pulled them in slightly towards the origin, creating rows of "ridges", which will appear to be the separation of the many clustered sheets in the roll:

Then, since I wanted to have a sheet or two that were "pulled out" from the roll, so I chamfered one of the vertical edges running up and down the entire tube, just enough so I could extrude some polygons out of the resulting faces:

Then I extruded some polygons out of those faces, running parallel to the tube base:

Next, I added some slight thickness to the entire thing, then grabbed a couple of the verts along the edge of the extruded sheet, and bent them a little so it didn't look so stiff:

Then I added some more resolution so that I could push and pull some more, to give a more organic softness to the tube itself:

Finally, slapped on some UV coordinates, and a paper towel texture:

And that's it for the paper towel roll itself. Next, I needed to create the "inner" roll, or cardboard tube, that holds the paper towels together.

For the inner cardboard tube, I didn't start the same way as with the roll of paper towels itself; I started with an extruded helix shape because those inner rolls have a spiral detail to them, so I needed a spiral edge, and this was one of the easiest ways to get it:

Then, I grabbed that spiral edge, chamfered it a little, and pushed it in some, like this:

After dding thickness, and a level of subdivision, I ended up with something that looks like those inner cardboard tubes:

Then I just added a cardboard texture to it:

Here it is all put together:

Next, I'll upload some screengrabs of the actual "holder", which is the main purpose of this whole project.  Shouldn't take long, because it's so simple, but I just started that now.

Really great mini tut. Well done. Thank you for this. :)

Very nice - and with principles easily applied to any modeller.

Yeah the holder will be the easier bit!

I might be tempted to knock it out or round a bit with a magnet or FFD

The card board - I might take a different aproach -Hmm

Pretty good though man.

Quote - Really great mini tut. Well done. Thank you for this. :)

Thank you!  I'm glad you like.  I didn't really intend to make it a tut, but it turned out that way I guess. ;)

Here's what I'm doing for the holder rack:

Started off with just a circular base, with an inner-radius of edge loops that matched the size of the hole in the middle of the paper towel and cardboard tube, and just extruded those inner quads up to the same height of the paper towels, like this:

Then, I wanted to make it look contemporary while still being functional for what it is, so I extruded some more faces, but added some twists to them, and ended up with this object:

I had to play with those twisted extrusions a little, to get them to match up with the paper towels, because they are holding it in place (I'm sure you guys have seen many varieties of these things in real life). So once I got those extruded "arms" positioned snug to the roll of paper towels, I added some support loops to the corners in preparation for subdivision:

After some subdivision smoothing:

I went with a marble texture, just for kicks, but I may change this to something else. I kinda like it though. I tried some wooden textures, and my original idea was metal, but I kinda like the marble look:

Here's the whole thing together:

I think I will do a production render next. I'll post it when I'm done.

RobynsVeil,

Thanks.  And yes, it's all standard poly modeling.  I didn't use anything specific to Max for this. ;)  

airflamesred,

Thanks!  I didn't even think to use FFD here, but that's a good idea.  I might try it for even more subtle deformations on the paper towel before I send it off to render.

subtle would be the key there - but you know what I mean.

I really don't like that curly extrusion - sorry man

Quote - subtle would be the key there - but you know what I mean.

I really don't like that curly extrusion - sorry man

It's ok.  It's just a design element I thought looks cool.  I checked out as many of these racks as I could online, and hadn't seen any like this one. ;)

It just looks a bit cumbersome to me. You've clearly thought about it- how the towel unravels, and that works. It's a good use of max.

I was thinking I need somewhere to present the model for rendering, so I quickly began to block out a little kitchen nook.  Here's the screengrabs so far.  Nothing much here, just a window, some countertop space, and a splashboard.  I'll prob add like a plug outlet in the wall, and maybe cut out some drawers in the cabinets, but this is really just a quick environment for the production render of the papertowel and holder, so I'm not going nuts on making things precise or detailed.

Once I texture this "set", i'll send it out to Octane for render. Hopefully have the final render done before I get to sleep soon, but if not, then I'll let it run overnight while I'm sleeping.

I wish more to see the final results! Very well, your good. Add more segments to the top to return to seem it of thinner paper.. It look very good so that I render, so i try. displacement functions well for this. non?

Thanks for taking the time,really helpful and interesting.

Can I obtain assistance to model extrusions twisted in Blender? Anyone know this?

Attached Link: Final Production Render

I ended up adding a few more details, which included some more resolution to make the paper seem softer.  That's about it.

Check out the final render in my gallery by clicking the attached link.  Or, Click Here.

Here's the final production render, done in Octane v1.11, for those who don't wanna go to my gallery. ;)

No post production, except for the slight spectral bloom from the window light.

TRES BON!! It seems real! It is made very well.

Careful tutorial!

That looks great!

I try to match this in Blender, but up to now no success to extrude like the holder. I will announce results if I find the solution.

Quote - I try to match this in Blender, but up to now no success to extrude like the holder. I will announce results if I find the solution.

Zandar, I'm not sure which part you are trying to match, but the extrusions here are a little complex to describe, which is why I didn't get into detail about how to do them.  I"m not suggesting the technique or tools to do them are necessarily specific to 3dsmax, but it does impliment some tools in Max that I would not know what the equivalent would be in other applications.

In the most general of terms, you would begin by selecting the faces you wish to extrude, then make an extrusion from the normals with rotation along both the X AND Z axis.  I have these particular extrusions twisting exactly -15.4 degrees along the X axis, and -22.34 degrees along the Z axis.  The ending orientation of the extrusion is 40.7 degrees perpedicular to the original face(s) location.  If reading this sounds completely alien, don't worry; typing it felt that way too. ;)

I hope this helps in some small way, but in reality, the best thing to do is not worry about matching my results for this object; this isn't something that has a right or wrong design (aside from the fact it must hold paper towels).  You can take the tools you have, and use them to come up with your own original design, and that's the fun part!

No to worry, luxeon, i will not copy work exactly. I just find a way to do it in the Blender, and try to learn it.

Quote - For the inner cardboard tube, I didn't start the same way as with the roll of paper towels itself; I started with an extruded helix shape because those inner rolls have a spiral detail to them, so I needed a spiral edge, and this was one of the easiest ways to get it:

Hey bro, that's not the easiest way to do it in 3dsmax.  Start with a tube primitive.  Then,  go to your modifier panel, and choose the Slice modifier.  Make sure "Refine Mesh" is selected, NOT "split mesh".  Then just tilt the slice plane at an angle to get the same edge loop you got by extruding the helix spline, only you save yourself like 3 or 4 unnecessary steps.  Plus, doing it your way, you end up having to clean up both the top and bottom of your tube manually after you weld all the vertices.  With the slice tool, you have a nice clean new edge loop, and still maintain a perfectly cylindrical shape to the tube at both ends.

I really like what you did for the holder thing.  It does look like some sort of weird modern modern sculpture instead of a plain ol paper towel holder, which some people might find interesting for a kitchen.  I've seen some strange ones in real life, but this one is kind of sexy the way those things curl around it.

Great render.  I've been playing with the Octane demo, and it's pretty slick.

SinnerSaint,

The Slice modifier is no good for making spiral edge loops through a mesh.  Think about it... it's a slicing PLANE.  It's great for making straight cuts in any direction through a mesh, and for quickly adding edge loops in any direction on a mesh, but it's still just a "straight line", or loop; not a spiral.  The image below illustrates what I mean.  I used not just one, but two slice modifiers on a tube, trying to get the same effect as extruding a helix.  It's a geometric impossibility:

As you can clearly see, all the slice modifier will do is create straight loops through the mesh. In this case, it could only create straight, concentric edge loops diagonally through the tube. In order to approximate the way an actual paper towel cardboard looks in real life, you need one continuous spiral edge loop running down the entire tube, without breaks. Next time you finish a roll of paper towels, you could examine the cardboard insert, and you will see what I mean. If you have ever ripped one of those apart, you'd actually end up with a piece of cardboard that is in the shape of a spiral, and simply glued together at the seams. That's exactly what extruding a spiral spline, and welding the verts will do, in a virtual scenerio. :)

Thanks for the input though man, it was worth a look anyway.  I sometimes forget about the slice modifier, and for many things aside from this, it would definitely come in handy.