Pulling rectangular detail from the side of a cylinder?

Elarionus · Nov 2018

I was hoping to get some advice on modeling a certain piece of a cylinder. I've been trying retaining edge loops and crease sets modifiers (with both turbosmooth and open subdivision) but I can't figure out how to get this to look correct. Here are some screenshots of what I've tried:

These first two show the object I'm trying to get, and the result with no retaining edge loops.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/2t/ljohnmqh9mhm.png

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/1m/a4uwr6wdmkox.png

Here's with the first set of edge loops:

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/xn/vzoryuxdc4le.png

And here's another set...which looks good for the rectangle, but the cylinder is super ridged because of it.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/0j/5veup0ug7nky.png

Eric Chadwick · Nov 2018

Inset/chamfer the quads before you extrude them. This will help isolate the cylinder from the extrusion. Then chamfer the rising edges of the extrusion to retain the rectangular corners.

I did a Google images search for "subdivision modeling extrude cylinder" and found this gem of a thread again:
https://polycount.com/discussion/104331/not-enough-geo

oglu · Nov 2018

if its for normalmap baking would do that with a floating object.

if its a highres object and its made of metal there could be a third object (weldseam) to hide this area.
i would go with a creative solution and not trying todo magic if its not needed.

Elarionus · Nov 2018

oglu said:

if its for normalmap baking would do that with a floating object.

if its a highres object and its made of metal there could be a third object (weldseam) to hide this area.
i would go with a creative solution and not trying todo magic if its not needed.

It's a highres weapon, made out of metal. I'm sure someday I'll get good enough at ZBrush to sculpt really nice looking weld seams, but I'm on a time crunch at the moment.

Mark Dygert · Nov 2018

Eric has really good advice, that is pretty much the standard way of dealing with that kind of extrude.
Oglu has an interesting idea with floating geo, that can work too.

If you're looking to cover up the seam with welds, you might want to check out this script

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mt1Bq-J27O4

Download link: https://jokermartini.com/product/welder/

poopipe · Nov 2018

Unless it's a casting/molding you generally don't get that sort of shape as one piece in real life - even with a casting it wouldn't be a 90 degree connection.

Ergo, slap a weld on it. Since you're in max just proboolean the two bits together, convert the resulting edge selection to a renderable spline with generated uvs and use a displace modifier to make it look like welds. It'll only take a few minutes.

LandeTLS · Dec 2018

Other answers are good solutions. You can also probably get the result you are after by doing like so:

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/lr/eio9bi8uobph.png

if its not tight enough then use creasing, smoothgroups+turbosmoothx2 method or offset the vertical loops out closer to the edge of the face (or just use more segments on your original cylinder so you are working with 3/4 or more edges instead of just 2). I use this method all the time, The key here is that the "supporting edges" are similar in width to the topology on your extrusion. hopefully this helps

Pulling rectangular detail from the side of a cylinder?

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