Chair Modeling Tutorial

Spline technique
Florence Design Academy
www.FlorenceDesignAcademy.com
This is a basic tutorial of the Florence Design Academy www.FlorenceDesignAcademy.com to understand
how to use the SPLINES effectiely in the field of Interior!Furniture Design. This tutorial is based only on
s"lines. It is ery im"ortant that your chair has the correct dimensions# otherwise the rendering with
$ental %ay will not be o"timal. Let&s begin our tutorial.
'reate a rectangle in the T(P iew. $a)e a right mouse button clic) *%$'+ on it and choose convert to
editable spline.
Select the segments li)e in the image aboe and go to the slot DIVIDE. Put the number , in the slot and
clic) on the button DI-IDE. This will create , additional erte.es on each selected segment.
Select all erte.es and ma)e a right mouse button clic) on them. Now choose CORNER *there are /
different ty"es of erte.es0 'orner# Smooth# 1e2ier and 1e2ier 'orner+. This ste" will ma)e the ne.t ste"s
easier.
Now select the erte.es li)e in ste" 3 and moe them down and left to get the sha"e of ste" ,. After this
ste" select the erte.es of ste" , and moe them right to get the sha"e of ste" 4. The end result seems to
be a fli""ed letter '. Important0 remember that in the front iew you see only one side of the chair. $a)e
always a %E5I(N selection to be sure that you are selecting the erte.es on both sides of the chair.
This is now what you can see in the "ers"ectie iew.
To create a 4D (b6ect you must go to the modify "anel and enable , slots which are 0 Enable in Renderer
and Enable in Vieport. This will transform your s"line in a ob6ect in which you can choose to change a
few "arameters. For our chair we need a radial section. 'hoose %adial and write in the thic!ness slot the
diameter si2e .
Select all vertexes and go to the command FILLET. This will round your sharp corners.
Create a new spline with the shape of the letter L.
Check again the slots enable in renderer and enable in viewport. Now select the vertex like in the picture
and fillet it.
Change the left view to a right view. In this way we can see the circular shape of our spline. Now create a
circle (spline) in the center of the circular section of the spline like in the image. ou need to convert it into
an editable spline to !e a!le to work with the vertexes of the circle.
Select the vertex like in the image" and BREAK it. This will split a single vertex in # vetexes and !reak the
circle.
Select the upper vertex and move it to the right side. Transform the vertex with a right mouse !utton click
into a CORNER vertex.
$ove the lower vertex like in the image and use the %e&ier (also %e&ier'corner works very good in this
situation).
Now select SPLINE and MIRROR it with COPY. Move the copy to the opposite side of the chair. Move it
only from the X axis. You can mirror the spline from the modify panel or ust usin! the Mirror tool. If you use
the Mirror tool you have to "##"$% the two splines to &e a&le to weld the vertexes.
Select this ' vertexes. Now !o to the Weld &utton. Insert a &i! num&er in the weld slot and clic( weld. #he
num&er that you must write in the slot must &e e)ual or &i!!er than the distance &etween the vertexes that
you must weld. #he easiest way is ust to write a very &i! num&er li(e *+++++.
Now select SPLINE and outline the spline.
"dd an EXTRUDE modifier from the modifier list to the spline and adust the amount of the modifier.
Now you should have this result.
$opy and rotate the extruded o&ect li(e in the picture.
,rom the -i!ht view create a spline li(e on the ima!e a&ove.
Now outline it .SPLINE/.
Extrude the spline and mirror it to the other side of the chair.
Now you should have this result.
Create a sphere and squeeze (scale) it in only one axis to make it flat.
Create in each marked point a flat sphere.
Create in each marked point a cylinder.
Create an arc (Spline), enale it in renderer and viewport like in the ima!e.
Copy the arc like in the picture
"ere you can see the final result.
# hope you have en$oyed this tutorial.
%est &e!ards
Florence Design Academy
www.'lorence(esi!n)cademy.com