Attached Link: Example

I have a problem to accomplish a screw head shape like this example.  Rounded with cross screw driver print, then attachto spiral body?  How to easy accomplish in polygons of four sides?  I model in the Blender.  I have a tutorial for the flat top, but it is not working to my best round.  I remember once that I saw someone model here in the past, but can not find that post now.  I will ask too in Blender forum if I must.

I think LuxXeon did the thread not so long ago. I did a video on youtube as well.

The philips/cross type head was a real pain last time I had a go.

I did some screws like this in various models, but only one or two have been released as freebies.  I think I did a tutorial or WIP thread a while ago with a screw like that as well.  Anyway, I'm actually working on a freebie Philips Head screwdriver and screw to be released in a day or so, if you wanted to wait for that, where I'll have a screw almost identical to this one you posted, as a free item.

However, that won't help you learn to create your own, obviously.  So, I'll post a very quick example in this thread of how I would go about making the cross for a Phillips driver, on a rounded screw head, in quads.  Airflamesred has a great video tutorial about how to make the threaded body, so might wanna give that a look here.  Give me just a few minutes to throw together a few screencaps.

Ok, for a Philips screwhead, the cross section is quite simple, if the top is going to be flat.  To keep it quads, I simply create a plane 5x5 segments, and circularize the outer border edge, then inset the polys in the center that make up the "cross" shape, and bevel them down.  The image here shows an example of that technique on the left.  From there, you can most likely figure out how to create the rest of the head, just by extending polys from the border edge.

However, a rounded top is a little more tricky, but still quite simple.  I usually start with a quad sphere with 24 faces, as seen on the right, in the image above.

Next, I select the middle edge segments in both directions, and chamfer them.  The result can be seen above.  This operation will create the "cross" shape you need around the sphere object.

Select the polys that will become the "cross" at the top (see image above)...

INSET them slightly (the amount is up to you), then make them PLANAR.  The result can be seen above.

Then, with those same polys selected, just move them down a few degrees inside the sphere, and you should end up with something similar to the image above.  Instead of insetting and pulling down, you could have also beveled them with a negative influence, then made the polys planar.  It's up to you, as long as you are keeping the quad topology.

Next, just grab those polys that make up the bottom hemisphere of your quad sphere, and delete them.  You won't need them anymore...

At this point, you have something that resembles a round bolt head, but we need to polish it up a bit.  So I grab that bottom border edge, and regularize (circularize) it, to make it even more round.  Most 3D modeling software these days have commands for circularizing edge loops, and I think Blender has this, so if you don't know the process offhand, you can look up the command to do this.

The result is subtle, but will make a difference in the next step...

Next, simply create an edge loop through the ring of edges in the middle of the object, and regularize (circularize) it as well.

Smooth the result, and you have an excellent base for creating a round Phillips screw head.  The rest is pretty elementary modeling in my opinion; just create some support loops along the cross edges, and create a bottom to the head, then subdivide once or twice (depending on your resolution needs).  The result should be a nice round screw head, with cross insert, all quads.

Like I said, I think the rest of the model is pretty simple after this point, but if you want me to continue with more examples, or get stuck on any step, just let me know.

I made this one from a smoothed cube rather than a sphere.  A smoothed cube keeps parallel edge lines, better for selecting the polygons that make a + shape.  Then duplicate, extrude along normals and make the selection slightly smaller.  Then extrude in just a tad, extrude again and bring in just another small bit and use the size tool to invert the curve from convex to concave.

I did this in XSI.  Maya also allows for the size tool to go "negative."  I was unable to get 3dsMax to do it.

Sorry, I have no clue really about Blender.

Merci! It is very good, Luxxeon. I like the idea of begin with the sphere and add only edges I must use, to control the number of polygons to begin for far away, then subdivide if I need to later. The Blender does not begin with the quad sphere, but i found a python extension to create a polysphere quad, and it could work very well, if I adjust code to create only few segments.

Good stuff Lux, the extrude keeps the support loops under control.

Here's my result using Luxxeon's technique.  I used C4Dr15, and followed it exactly.  I'd been using a different technique to create my Phillips screws, and will definitely continue to use a different technique..  I found a few technical flaws using Luxxeon's method, but they can be fixed.  It's definitely a fast, and polygon efficient method, and the results are probably acceptable to most people, but it's not proportionally accurate, and I'm anal.

The Phillips cross should only occupy a small portion of the screw head surface area.. just enough to catch the tip of the Phillips driver.  Luxxeon's technique here creates a Phillips cross that is much larger than any in reality, and spans the entire surface area of the screw head.  To solve this, and make it more accurate to a real Phillips screw, you would need to add 4 more edge loops, at the ends of the cross, before insetting the polygons to create the hole.

EricofSD's example seems ok proportionally, except that it's heavy on the density side, and his technique seems to require a few levels of subdivision before you even make the Phillips cross.  The object's appearance is fine, the technique results in a very heavy mesh for such an object, and not what you'd want to use if you had a situation where you needed dozens of them, and weren't rendering really close shots.

I'm using the C4Dr15 bevel tool to create my screw heads, so posting a tutorial of my technique in this forum isn't going to help anyone.  I will do an example using the improvement on Luxxeon's method later, to show what I'm talking about.

Sinner, I figured the creation of the cross would be self-evident once the basic technique to achieve the cross shape was exposed, but you're right; there are ways to control the size of the hole, just by adding strategically-placed edge loops on the surface.  There's no need to subdivide until you're ready to smooth, and in some cases (like distant camera angles), subdivision might not even be necessary with this technique.

The example image above shows the cross 3/4 of an inch smaller than the original illustration.   All I did there was place some edge loops to create a smaller cross in the center.

The base object is on the left, with the "new" edge loops I used to make it smaller (in red), and the subdivided (smoothed) version is on the right, with a couple support loops added to the cross edges to sharpen them up.  You can also just use edge weight to sharpen the edges instead of support edges if you want the least amount of geometry possible, but keep in mind that some apps ignore edge weights in OBJ import, or replace it with a default value.  So support loops are still the most reliable way to ensure the object appears as intended across all packages.

Quote - The example image above shows the cross 3/4 of an inch smaller than the original illustration.   All I did there was place some edge loops to create a smaller cross in the center.

"3/4ths of an inch smaller"??  Uhm, okay mate, I'll take your word on that one.  Maybe 3mm smaller more like it, but it looks better.  Yea, that's the method I was going to show, and that's a much better proportion.  Looks good now.  The original was just oversized by any standard.

I think it's a good technique, mate, no argument there.  But I have a different solution to these things in C4D I think suits me better, and I'll just as well stick with it.  I agree that your method here would work in most modelling software, and is good for almost total control over topology.

Here's some shots of the screw that I'll be releasing in my upcoming freebie package.  Keep in mind, these are real time screenshots from Ddo Skyshop, and not production renders.  The model is unsmoothed, and raw.  It's just the base model, used to test the texture maps, not intended to show the geometry in it's final state...

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I start with a circle for the edge, then model a cross in the middle for the slots, then connect the two pieces, the result is basically the same thing as Lux's in terms of topology, but I use a few more support edges. Start with the cross by itself tho, allows me to set the proportions how I like them. Additionally, I model it flat, then use a proportional move tool with fall off to get the curve.

Quote - I start with a circle for the edge, then model a cross in the middle for the slots, then connect the two pieces, the result is basically the same thing as Lux's in terms of topology, but I use a few more support edges. Start with the cross by itself tho, allows me to set the proportions how I like them. Additionally, I model it flat, then use a proportional move tool with fall off to get the curve.

Great work.  I like your technique; it provides excellent control over the edge flow, and gives you very predictable and versatile results.  I have used a very similar technique for quickly creating flat screw tops, but this reminds me that I could probably round out the result with the use of a "bubble" or "spherify" modifier in the software I'm using.  Thanks.