Almost like that old 'Pillow Emboss' in Photoshop

Question

I've been trying to create something like the attached, bespoke shapes with this almost Photoshop pillow emboss finish. I've tried knife projecting 2d shapes to create the basic shape then extruding, adding subsurf modifiers, loop cuts through the middle... but I'm not getting the simplicity of this, or the interlocking part.

It might be a style that has a name so would be easy to search myself if I knew it. But I've been at this a couple of days now so putting the question out.

Apologies if it's blindingly obvious...

Actually tried the above and there's one problem - for a rounded profile you need to know the local highest point, which is tricky to obtain. I tried some smoothing techniques, but without great results: https://i.imgur.com/EGLJI09.png — Markus von Broady, Feb 07 '23 at 15:15
Thanks Markus — yes that rounded profile on bespoke shapes is what's catching me out. I had to research your solution but it works for the more straightforward shapes, so thank you!
I can't help thinking that the original (whether or not it was done in Blender) would have had one way of doing it for all the shapes, for consistencies sake. But I'll keep thinking — StewD, Feb 07 '23 at 17:42

score 4 · Answer 1 · answered Feb 07 '23 at 10:13

4

You can create that with curves: Create a curve that has a J shape (cut a circle and extrude), create another curve that will be the Taper Object (profile of the curve all along its length). Duplicate the J curve and scale in Edit mode. For the material, decrease the Specular and Roughness values:

answered Feb 07 '23 at 10:13

moonboots

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Thanks moonboots, just tried this and works well for shapes like this — thank you. What if you wanted to create shapes more like the dark green here though, would you use the same method?
https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62583c9f81a49b50ae4a416b/39417d59-219a-4459-bbc5-f53afba7b442/36Days_AndrewFootit_A.jpg?format=500w
– StewD Feb 07 '23 at 10:54
You're right this one is more complicated, I would use some tricks like convert to mesh, mirror, etc. Maybe directly model a mesh, beginning with a torus? I'm not sure that you could do it with physics. – moonboots Feb 07 '23 at 11:01
might be worth it to try modelling it in 2D, solidifying the mesh then using a soft body simulation with a negative pressure to inflate the mesh like a balloon – Gorgious Feb 07 '23 at 12:33
sure, that said in the reference image I don't see any fold on the surface, so a physics simulation doesn't seem even necessary – moonboots Feb 07 '23 at 13:12

Almost like that old 'Pillow Emboss' in Photoshop

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