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I am trying to turn the below 2D image of a "ribbon wrapped around a sphere" into a 3D model in Blender.

So far, adding wire frame does not give the results I need. I can break the image into a "front" and "back" but still lost in possibly mapping them to a sphere.

They are from an Illustrator file so I can import SVGs as well. Any advice on how to create this would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

The Image

Duarte Farrajota Ramos
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frowest
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1 Answers1

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This shape being created in a 2D illustration program is not entirely possible in 3D without some distortion. That being said a close approximation may be achieved.

enter image description here

It's a bit of an involved process so I won't go into full details here, but I'll try to get the main steps. Here's the rough procedure of what I could come up with.

  1. Create a bezier curve circle
  2. Rotate it so it faces the front view
  3. Rotate it 60º in the Z axis
  4. Erase the back half
  5. Duplicate it in edit mode so it is symmetrical along the Y axis
  6. Repeat the process by duplicating the two half circles and rotating them 90º in Y axis so the produce the two frontal horizontal loops.
  7. Now the tricky part is making sure you selecting the correct overlapping end vertex and connect them to the proper corresponding loose end by pressing the F key
  8. Repeat the process 3 times. For the last closing loop just Toggle Cyclic option for the selected spline from the Properties Window
  9. This will make half the necessary loops. Luckily the remaining ones are just a copy of the current ones rotated 45º along the Y axis, then scaled negatively -1 unit along the 7 axis to complete all the loops.

enter image description here

Afterwards you may add a flat segment bezier curve as Bevel Object to make the ribbon shape.

You may also optionally add a Shrinkwrap modifier to a sphere object to approximate the shape into a more accurate sphere.

If you want thickness a Solidify modifier after the Shrinkwrap will do the trick.

enter image description here

Duarte Farrajota Ramos
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  • How did you erase half the circle without distorting the circle? I'm trying various ways of deleting one of the vertices and the circle become warped. – frowest Jan 25 '18 at 19:19
  • Here https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/65877/how-do-you-make-a-torus-telescope-open – Duarte Farrajota Ramos Jan 25 '18 at 19:28
  • I am getting lost in the steps after adding the 4 extra curves paths and when I turn on Cyclic, the last curve disappears. Can you explain how the object removes the unnecessary curves and leaves me with the lines/ curves I need for the final sphere? Or can you send me the project or model you already built? – frowest Jan 25 '18 at 23:39
  • Sorry I didn't save the file I just made it on the go. The "object" doesn't remove anything, you do. What step # exactly are you lost at? – Duarte Farrajota Ramos Jan 26 '18 at 01:14
  • I am able to follow along until step #8. When you say repeat the process 3 times, do I duplicate the whole thing 3 times? It's mostly moving into step 9 I do not understand, going from the object created at step 7 to the finished object. – frowest Jan 27 '18 at 17:52
  • You have to make sure you select the correct end vertex from one spline then select the start vertex from the next spline and press F to connect them no duplication required. The tricky part is the curves are all overlapping so it is hard to select the correct vertex. It might be easier if you just hide the splines not needed for the current step with H key. Just select one point of the spline, press Ctrl+ L to select all linked then H to hide. – Duarte Farrajota Ramos Jan 27 '18 at 18:42
  • https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PIzAsvhgTqGtUeVMGs3KzsDe1pyY1WRN/view?usp=sharing

    I am able to get to step 8 and I have all the vertices connected. From what I see, you are duplicating after step 8 and rotating it 90 along the z axis...? The last frame in the GIF you sent showing how to connect the vertices is what I am unable to create.

     – frowest Feb 01 '18 at 00:31