Hylean Shield plane distortion

Ahoi!

Been working on a model of the Hylean Shield from the Zelda series as a way to help me learn Blender. I have thus far been able to make the edging via Bezier Curves, but have been trying to work with the general front face of it for what seems like a ridiculous amount of time :< What I have right now I am kind of happy with, it was created via selecting the inner vertices of the frame and hitting F, then a series of smoothing modifiers. The only issue now is that it is a whole face and whenever I try to implant the triforce and metallic squiggly (as shown in the link below) the face plate gets distorted all over again with fun new angles etc. From what I have seen Blender is such a ridiculously powerful tool and I know there is a simpler way of doing this, any help at all will be greatly appreciated, thank you!

Shield

Here are the clearer pictures:


Attachments



I am not sure I understand what is going on, but it sounds as if the squiggly and the shield are the same object, and when you move the squiggly, it distorts the shield? If that is the case, you may be in proportional edit mode, which can be toggled on and off with the O key. If that is not the problem, please post a wireframe, or screenshot while in edit mode.


Ugh it wont let me take those other 2 pictures down… here it is when combining the “inlays” with the actual shield. The face plate that they are attached to is originally a single piece, made from filling. I think what I need to do is have a subdivided face so that I can merge the points of the inlays with the face without creating new vertices and sharp edges … I just have no idea how to do it while being able to also smoothly connect the face to the outer frame. Basically wondering what the simplest way to create the simple curve of the front of the shield as seen in the link I provided in OP

Attachments


are you trying to join objects together ?
like one object with subsurf and one with no subsurf ?
that might create some deformations!

happy bl

To avoid ugly topology from converted curves or booleans, i would start like this.

First i model the shield overall shape, using a background image as a guide, like [http://i.imgur.com/li7hTHZ.jpg[/IMG]]that one]([IMG)
http://i.imgur.com/OmA8SaZ.jpg

Then using a bit of proportional editing
http://i.imgur.com/oCvukVR.jpg

I select the central vertex and move it up, once i’m done i disabled proportional editing as i don’t need it anymore
http://i.imgur.com/GD1Afbv.jpg

I add a subsurf and for the parts that aren’t “pointy” anymore, i just extrude the corresponding vertex until it’s pointy enough
http://i.imgur.com/m6cFlHO.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/H38Qq2k.jpg

Then i apply the subsurf, and delete the extrusion that does not serve any purpose now.
http://i.imgur.com/dDdaBU8.jpg

Ok, that was our base shape, this will be useful later

Now on another layer, at the same location of the other shield shape (using the same background image) i model the details trying to keep all quads
http://i.imgur.com/3xdLOlc.jpg

And i complete the shield with manually making faces so it will still end with all quads
http://i.imgur.com/5wTa3hy.jpg

That nice enough shield is flat, it’s where the shield shape we did before will be useful.
Display both objects in view by enable both layers at the same time.
go to Edit mode for the flat shield and enable the snapping (the magnet icon) , set it to “Face” and enable the 2 buttons next to it (as if you would do retopology) :
http://i.imgur.com/fO7SpZJ.jpg

Go on top view, select all the flat shield vertices, press G (as if you wanted to move it) and press Enter/Left Click to validate (without moving anything)

This will project your flat shield on the shield shape object, making it following the shape too.
http://i.imgur.com/qkt1eDY.jpg

Make sure to disable the snapping tool (the magnet) for further work and extruding too
http://i.imgur.com/VfSN9KH.jpg

The next would be to model and place above shield 3f and squiggly, then look around what to connect and where to cut to get the same outlines of shield vertices. If you want it to be shiny and one object.

For the simple render or normalmap bake for use in game it would work without this modeling part.
I took easier route - quick outline, inset, knife to add some detail and then Lattice modifier.


…And this goes to dusty corner :wink:

Great, thanks for the replies everyone! I love blender, get sucked into it losing hours every time I just want to do some light editing. :slight_smile: Much appreciated!