Creating this canopy???

[jophus14]

I need some help. I have to create a canopy/umbrella that has curved fabric sides, but is more of a diagonal shape. I attached a picture of the CAD drawing to show you all what I mean. The circle in the center of the line work is where the pole will come through. I started to model it with a line spline, but I ran into some problems. I would appreciate any help that I can get. Thanks

[Tommy L]

Is the CAD drawing a plan view or is the canopy at a 3d angle?

Either way, I would probably try making the framework then use the cloth modifier. Other than that, maybe deform it with soft selection after subdividing it.

[jophus14]

Thanks Tommy L. As of right now, I extruded my line then applied a FFD 3x3x3contoured my extrusion until I got the shape. I will try your suggestion and see how it turns out.

 

The CAD image is in plan view.

 

EDIT: I just realized that VIZ doesn't have a cloth modifier option. I have MAx at home, but I'm using VIZ at work.

[Tommy L]

Do you have a screen grab of what you have in viz right now?

[jophus14]

This is as of right now. They seem to look okay.

[Tommy L]

They look like they fall quite naturally. Are you going to model the structure that holds the fabric in place as well? The columns look like they have a very large section.

[jophus14]

Sorry for the late reply. I think that the canopy fabric is held on with an inner cable system, but I might try to give the whole canopy more detail. I think that the columns are huge, but that's how they look in the CAD drawing. I might fake it a bit to make it look better. I will post the entire image tonight or tomorrow morning because I would really like some suggestions to help make my image better. Thanks so far.