In this short Blender modeling tutorial, created using version 5 of the software, we’ll see how to easily and non-destructively create a decorative element generally known as a Forged Steel Basket, which you can see on screen.
Video Transcript
Hello everyone! In this short Blender modeling tutorial, created using version 5 of the software, we’ll see how to easily and non-destructively create a decorative element generally known as a Forged Steel Basket, which you can see on screen.
These are essentially small decorative baskets made of intertwined or helical metal bars, commonly found in parts of railings or used to hold or support candles.
First, in Blender 5, I delete all the elements in the default scene and add a Path curve.
I rotate the curve 90 degrees around the Y axis to straighten it, then move it upward by two units, all in Object Mode. When these operations are done, I set the Origin of the curve to the center of the virtual scene, which matches one of its control points. This can be done with Set Origin To 3D Cursor or with Apply Location.
The Path curve is a bit hard to see in its current form, so I immediately give it a profile using the tools in the Geometry Bevel section of the Object Data Properties panel. Here you can specify different preset profiles, which you can also adjust later, including custom curves using Object. I’m using Round with Resolution set to 0 to obtain a square profile.
I now add an Array modifier to the curve, using the new version of the modifier introduced in Blender 5, which is based on Geometry Nodes. I change the Array type to Circle and set the number of copies to 4. The initial rotation of the copies is incorrect because I haven’t applied the rotation transforms yet. I fix this with CTRL A and then apply both Rotation and Scale.
I space the copies apart by adjusting the Radius value of the Array modifier. It’s not necessary to place the copies too far from each other, because we will modify their central section in another way.
We create the twist around the center of the Array using a Simple Deform modifier set to Twist. We set the vertical axis, Z, as the deformation axis, and then increase the Twist value to at least 180.
If we now switch to Edit Mode and move the control points of the curve sideways, we will move all the copies away from the center. And by selecting just one control point and pushing it away from the original curve, we’ll offset only that section of the curve, across all copies, in a radial fashion.
Even though I moved only the central control point, the deformation seems to begin and end too abruptly near the two ends. To keep the ends a bit straighter, you can move the two intermediate control points closer together, or you can add two additional control points, as shown on screen.
Since the object is still a Path curve with only a few control points, and since we haven’t applied any of the modifiers, we can adjust this object however we like, for example by changing its profile, the number of copies, the twist angle, and much more.
In fact, before converting this object to a Mesh, you can duplicate it in Object Mode and adjust its parameters to create different shapes.
If you eventually need a Mesh object, you can select one of these duplicates in Object Mode and convert it to a Mesh using the option available in the right-click menu.
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