Washing Machine Part

Veer_P

In an attempt to get better at Sub D and curved shapes I've been working on this washing machine part for a while and finally calling it done. It's done purely as a modelling exercise so it won't be baked or textured. It's my first time making a challenging shape like this so wanted to hear what you guys have to say. I'd like to get some feedback on these 3 factors:
1.) How accurate is it to the reference?
2.) Is the edge flow good or bad?
3.) Am I using polygons effectively?

aumramaram

Here is a workflow which will be sufficient for your needs and much simpler:

1 - model out the major shape without holes in it, as a sub-d cage. <32 vertices should suffice.
2 - model out cylinders for the holes.
8 - boolean the subdivided meshes, possibly with a chamfer along the boolean seam.

Mesh feedback: Manually massaging a bunch of vertices to make a smooth sub-d mesh work should never happen. It leads to shading and topology issues as well as requiring a massive amount of time to do. 

Veer_P

That's pretty much what I did. Worked in stages and subdivided up to get a dense mesh to boolean from. This is what the mesh looked like before the booleans. I'm wondering if there's anything I could've done to make the cleanup process easier.  

aumramaram

You've used booleans on the cage object. Instead, subdivide your operands then perform the boolean and do no more manual work. If you are going to manually clean up vertices one by one like that it will take forever to get done and it's near impossible to avoid shading issues because we can't manually place vertices with such precision. Well, without taking forever. The bevel modifier can work with boolean seams if you need a little rounded corner, but you can just make support loops around the boolean border to make a smooth transition, as wide as you like.

sacboi

@Veer_P

An interesting shape, they're typically fiddly to model in polygonal subd that are usually fabricated using an extruded die cast mould' and also CAD designed, hence indeed a challenge so my approach would be as if modeling a car body shell of some sort with a Shrinkwrap Modifier. Because there's a similarity in manufacture plus class A surfacing as well.

Blender

1. Guide mesh blockout

2. Add a Subd modifier set lvl to 4

3. Duplicate blockout add both Subd set to lvl 2 and shrinkwrap modifier, select target object named *Guide* next create a 6 sided circle place duplicates along central axis poly strip plus subdivide, ctrl + b (bevel operation) these segments serve as 'anchor' points connecting circles to primary mesh

4. Apply shrinkwrap then proxy subd modifiers

Addendum:

Note when necessary manually editing dense geometry, constraint operators such as vertex - edge or loop slide tend to be useful.

Further info - slightly old shrinkwrap tute by Chris Plush an established industry automotive modeler/designer, from whom I've picked up a few tips.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rlMzsBWtPY&amp;t=13s&nbsp;&nbsp;