How to make this abstract Ribbon-y shape in Blender?

Question

I've been wanting to make a shape similar to this:

I tried using a Bezier curve and it didn't look great. I also tried modifying a torus using proportional editing.

Am I completely off or should I work more on the two methods I tried?

Not sure if this information is relevant but I want this object to be thicker than a ribbon, maybe like a thick plastic sheet.

you could use a stretched cicle, give it Array + Curve modifiers, the material will be a bit harder as it looks like there's a bit of refraction? — moonboots, Apr 30, 2021 at 13:28
I'd start with a pseudo Moebius strip. There are tutorials on youtube, like this one. A third "Simple Deform" modifier after you applied the first and second one might get you close to what you want. — metaphor_set, Apr 30, 2021 at 13:41
@metaphor_set thank you for sharing a link (as someone who is still new to Blender), it was super helpful. I added a third SD as you recommended and had an interesting shape (although it wasnt as random as the reference image), thanks! — Der8, Apr 30, 2021 at 17:18

TheLabCat · Accepted Answer · 2021-04-30 18:01:18Z

2

I tried:

Create a short fat cylinder with no caps (the base ring)
Select the edge ring around the cylinder, and subdivide with multiple cuts to make the whole thing into squares instead of long rectangles.
Enable cloth physics on the mesh, and set the cloth to “rubber.” Enable self collision.
In Scene Properties, set gravity to zero.
Add a turbulent force field, and turn it up fairly high.
Run the simulation a bit.
Adjust physics settings as needed.
Add solidify and subdivision surface modifiers.
Create a glass material (you can add together three glass shaders with slightly different IOR values to get a chromatic aberration effect).
Use a noise texture to displace the surface a bit. Note: I actually started with a bezier circle, then converted it to mesh after extruding it.

answered Apr 30, 2021 at 17:14

TheLabCat

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$\begingroup$ Thank you for the steps, they were very helpful! I got a very interesting result from it. $\endgroup$
– Der8
Apr 30, 2021 at 18:34
1

$\begingroup$ @Akr Polite interesting or truly interesting? $\endgroup$
– TheLabCat
Apr 30, 2021 at 18:35
1

$\begingroup$ Hahaha. Truly interesting (like this imgur.com/kTyiP5e). Still working on it though! $\endgroup$
– Der8
Apr 30, 2021 at 18:38

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