@SignalFlare07 Welcome to Polycount. Consider checking out the forum information and introduction thread. This reply is a bit late but you're on the right track. Try to match the segments of the intersecting shapes and their support loops with the existing geometry of the underlying curvature. This will help prevent…
You're probably just over thinking it :) The top part of the rail may seem a bit soft, but you can fix that by just using more segments. I used a 32 sided cylinder with the bottom half cut off for the example. You could also add another loop and use a variety of loop terminators, but this will give the cleanest result.
@epistularum There's no matching segment below the bevel to match the new support loops so it causes a pinching shading error. If the side is flat then just terminate the edge loops there. If there's a taper then it's going to need a little finessing. Here's something that could work for either. It's possible to reduce…
@IronLover64 You have the basic idea but the difference is that Wirrexx's cage mesh has support loops. Here's a breakdown of what happens to the shape when subdivision smoothing is applied: The basic shapes look fine on their own but when subdivision is applied the smoothing effect deforms the mesh and the shape melts…