3D Workshop -
Use of Blender as NURBS/CAD Application
In the next step we select those face loops and separate them, join them together into a new mesh, and finally remove all doubles. Again make sure that your "Remove Doubles" is set to 0.000 and that all surface edges match each other in position and vertices.
Add on each end another Loop Cut. We have now a nice round Blend - however not a radial Fillet.
32 Take a look at the following two images how the Blends are integrated into the iPod model.
In case you desire a radial fillet the situation is not that easy. A 3 point curve cannot produce an arc with polygons. You would have to add an additional Loop Cut and spread out the loops. To create a Chamfer, just remove the Loop at the center of the Blend with hitting "x" and selecting "Edge Loop". This produces a Chamfer with soft round edges flowing into the neighbour surfaces with a matching tangency continuity. In case you want to have very sharp transitions, just remove the the Loop Cuts we just added.
Finishing up the modeling should now be very easy The model is now ready to be imported into Rhino for example for further more complex NURBS applications. Additionally, take a look at these three images showing an early stage of a new project I am working on. Everything in red are Chamfers and Fillets. You can see how useful those are.
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Issue 11 | Jul 2007- Mechanical