Cutting Square Hole In a Cylinder

Question

I'm trying to model a spot light and couldn't figure out how to cut a perfect hole on the body without having weird artefacts on the mesh. I have been trying to model this thing for months and still stuck in the same point without any progress. hope some one can help.

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It's hard to tell from that screenshot, but you certainly seem to have n-gons there (faces with more than 4 vertices). Possibly you have additional vertices at some of those apparent corners of the cutout. You could try Remove Doubles but don't use a very high threshold or you'll mangle your other close-together vertices. — Rich Sedman, Jun 29 '19 at 10:38
https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/81596/how-can-i-make-a-rounded-indentation-on-a-cylinder/81605#81605 https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/5856/cutting-a-circular-hole-in-a-hollow-cylinder-without-distorting-the-cylinder https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/15633/cutting-rectangular-hole-in-a-cylinder-with-subsurf-modifier — Duarte Farrajota Ramos, Jul 17 '19 at 11:22

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 29 '19 at 12:07

3

Here is a way to do it, but if you want to avoid any pinching it needs more geometry than on your screenshot. Once done, you can delete the useless geometry, i.e. vertical edge loops on the rest of the cylinder:

answered Jun 29 '19 at 12:07

moonboots

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..beat me to exactly the same topo :) – Robin Betts Jun 29 '19 at 12:19
I may be wrong but it looks like it's the only way to make a square hole in a sphere or cylinder – moonboots Jun 29 '19 at 12:23

barkest · Accepted Answer · 2019-06-30T08:44:28.057

2

Here are the steps I used. Disclaimer: I am only a couple of months into Blender with very little prior experience so if I use the wrong setting please point it out so I can learn as well.

I put auto smooth on and added an array, mirror modifier and lattice plus a simple metallic material at the end. Can't yet do materials, lighting etc. Still learning - thanks

Happy to share the blend file but no idea how to add it to the thread