How would you apply these beveled cuts into this model?

Question

I'm at a loss on how to even google what to do here. Please see images for reference.

The gold crown made of EVA foam is what I'm roughly modeling here.

[expired image]

Here is an image of my current model in Blender.

How would you go about making those cut lines on the gold EVA one in Blender?

Is there a tutorial you would recommend? A technique you know of? Any ideas on a direction to go?

Answer 1

Since you want to slightly bend it, subdivision modeling is the way to go.
You'll need enough geometry to prevent artifacts :).

1. Create the base topology (follow my gif)
2. Select the three ridges and bevel them with 2 segments
3. Give the shape thickness, and move some of the faces up

Add Subdivision Modifier to smooth it out, 2 levels should be enough.

^{Topology and beveling the ridges}

^{Added thickness, and pushing up the faces}

^{The result can be twisted without artifacts}