Hi folks, This is probably not very difficult but I cant get it to work quite right and think I might be going at it the wrong way. I made this object in the spline modeler but to add thickness to it I couldnt think of anything other than switching it over to the vertex modeler. Adding the thickness works the way I want but my nice circular object with a nice circular hole in the middle isnt so circular any more. I tried boosting the fidelity when converting to facets parameter but that didnt help much. I also tried applying the subdivide function to the object in the vertex modelling room but that didnt really work either. Any suggestions? By the way this object is eventually going to be the cover of a pocket watch. Thanks all, Max

1.) Cool idea for a pocket watch! 2.) If you have your original spline model, go back to it and increase the surface fidelity in the spline model to be as high as you want. What this will do is increase the number of subdivisions the spline model will hack into your cross section and make it much more smooth. The problem you're seeing is very common in spline modeling using the default fidelity. 3.) Then convert the much higher fidelity model to a vertex and add your thickness. You could have modeled this as a torus in the spline modeler as well (just another idea). You might have also tried using a thin ring and changing the sweep path width between two points and using the pipeline extrusion (not to sure about that one though). I think the method you chose for this is just fine. You should be able to get the result you need with no problem. -Kix

-Kix

Thanks Kix, Im off to try out your suggestions. Im basing this on a picture of a real pocketwatch that I found on the net. It looks realy nice with the opening in the center of the cover that allows you to see enough of the hands to read the time without having to flip it open. Cheers, Max

I think its possible in spline only Make a torus (I hope thats the name because I have the german carrara version) and draw the cross section as you want (including thickness) in the front view See attached file (save it locally and rename it to ring.car)

Thanks lindnan and Kix, The Torus solution proved to be the simplest. I should have thought of doing it that way from the start. My Carrara instincts arent yet fully developped. :0) Kix, I tried uping the surface fidelity in the spline model but even boosting the heck out of it I still ended up with those hard edges. Anyway, thanks guys, Ill post a picture of my pocketwatch when its done. Cheers, Max

Well even when using the torus I function I still had some problems. Basically the inner circle was never exactly round, it always had a slight squarish look to it. So I cheated and did the first way and then hid the hard edges of the circle with a small ring. It actually looks nicer with the ring anyway. Thanks for your suggestions guys. Heres what I got so far. By the way, if the watch looks like it has no back part, thats because it doesnt yet. This is only the front cover (well, with the watchface and hands showing through the hole). Cheers, Max