@macaron10 Welcome to Polycount. Consider checking out the forum information and introduction thread. There's a few different topology layouts that would work for this kind of shape but the answer really depends on how "beautiful and correct" is defined... Quad grid topology can be nice to look at but it isn't always…
@Suosa It looks like you're on the right track. If the mesh subdivides cleanly, without any major smoothing artifacts, then it's generally acceptable to use n-gons and triangles in hard surface subdivision models. Since this model is going through a sculpting pass it may make more sense to try and add these minor surface…
@perandall Without a wireframe it can be difficult to provide accurate feedback but it looks like the typical pinching and stretching artifacts caused by either poorly supported shape intersections or unintended deformation. These types of smoothing artifacts are fairly common when adding shapes to curved surfaces. A…
@LouisMarshall There's a few different topology strategies for sharpening those corners while also minimizing the visibility of any smoothing artifacts. Which approach makes the most sense will depend on how accurate the shapes need to be, how visible the area is and how much time was spent creating the rest of the model.…
@guitarguy00 Not a problem. That loop part starts out as a circle with a segment count that's matched to the area it will attach to. The back end of this part doesn't matter that much since it will be lost in the Boolean operation. Land the part between two of the vertical segments and use those segments as support loops.…
@JBurk The underlying topology in both your examples, with some minor adjustments, could work. Which starting topology layout makes the most sense will depend on whether the shapes need a softer or sharper transition. With subdivision modeling there's almost always going to be some kind of minor smoothing imperfection and…
@count23 Correct. Extruding and rotating the new edge into place ensures that the longitudinal edges remain parallel, until they are joined with the surrounding geometry. Constraining the scale operation by length and height ensures the width remains consistent and this helps prevent unintended surface deformation. Without…
@Neox Really appreciate the kudos. @laeion Welcome to Polycount. Consider checking out the forum information and introduction thread. Soft hard surface objects can be tricky to model but taking apart one of these packages or gathering references of them disassembled can provide some insight into how the paper is cut and…
Great to see all of the community input on different approaches for the modeling operations. @abronee Have to agree with @ZacD: The primary issue here is figuring out the basic shapes that the designer used to generate the overall form. Gathering some additional references [Turn around images.] should make it easier to see…
@UhhNope It depends on which critical part is going to constrain the surrounding geometry but the basic principle is the same: match the edge segments of the intersecting geometry. If that's not possible (because of some geometry restriction) then the next best thing is to either spread the error out over a wide area or…