Using a boolean for that shape seems to be faster at creating a clean edge there, rather than using chamfer or control edges. I will have the time to figure it out tomorrow after work.
Gotta be really careful when adding edge loops around a consistent smooth curve. Generally it's easiest to start with more geometry and you can terminate those extra edge loops in flat areas where it wont affect smoothing. I'd probably start with 36 or 72 loops around that cylinder.
there are three ways of possibly doing it. 1. Model it flat and use bend 2. Blockout the main shape and make sure you have enough segments to handle the paneling 3. floater. All of them will work fine! I am currently coming down with a bad influensa, so this took me longer then it should, I apologize In your case, if…
One note when using SG workflow is that you must make sure that there is a balanced edge density near corners so that you can get a good amount of contour instead of a mix of super tight edges in one section and blobby edges in another. Of course there are also other ways to work around that but that's my two cents. :)
This seems to work pretty well for me. I made 2 curved planes with equal edge loops : one for the top and one for the side. Then I performed a simple boolean operation and used array and curve modifiers to make it into a circle. EDIT: moving the inner verts along their edge seems to help with making the edge thickness even.
The most important thing is to terminate those edge loops, the way i did it does produce some pinching. On flat surfaces its barely noticeable but its not that great for bent surfaces. You have to experiment some with this to make it look good. I added another edge loop for the left image to make the edge a bit sharper.
If you're using Max, select the appropriate edges, do an edge extrude. Set extrusion height to 0, and then change the extrusion base to get the desired effect. You will get strange results in some cases, for example if one of the edges is not part of a quad. This method only works with editable polys I think, and not…
Would help to see the actual topology, but without knowing anything I would advise you to check for double vertices/edges (i.e. verts/edges sitting on top of each other).
Your edges look pretty tight, this prolly won't really bake enough for you to see any edge highlights and such that make the high poly important. Can you post wires?