Need a bit of help modeling my air conditioning controller

Question Modeling

Hi,

I have taken some pics of my air conditioning controller:

And this is were I am at:

First of all I added a bevel modifier to get that nice and fat bevel around the main form. Prior to the bevel modifier I tried using just the subdivision modifier but certain edges got too sharp because there were edge loops near the ones defining the main rectangular form and was not easy it to keep them as big as needed. 

Also, I have been very careful to reflect the curves in the back and the ones at the top and bottom part. The curve in the back was done adding a loop book in the middle and moving the edge at the bottom down a bit and the subdivision modifier made the rest. The same for the curve at the top and the bottom in the front picture. ¿Is this a good way to do it?. Some pictures below showing the edges I was reffering to:

The modifiers applied to the object are:

Well, the main problem I'm having now is that I loose the beveled edges very easy. For example, I want to create the area where the buttons are. But when I extrude it in a bit, I loose the beveling in certain parts:

Perhaps, I am not proceeding correctly with this object, but can't come across a better way to do it. 

Any tip would be really appreciated.

Cheers.

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Reply
  • Martin Bergwerf replied

    Hi hhexdump ,

    Yes, modeling 'simple' objects can be difficult 😉

    You could try, setting the Width Type in the Bevel Modifier to Absolute (and probably use Bevel Weight as Limit Method). Also, don't use a Subdivision Surface Modifier with a Level of 5...usually (meaning almost always!) 2, or 3 is good enough.

    2 loves
  • hexdump replied

    Thanks Martin. Weighting edges for beveling worked but now I have a doubt because I did not expected that result in my original model. Why did the model loose the bevel when extruding that interior faces?. I have posted a picture to clarify the question. 

    As soon as I press E to extrude:

    I guess it has something to do with the new edges created but don't understand why it interferes in the outside bevel. The edge loops building this face doesn't even touch any part of the bevel.

    Cheers!

    1 love
  • Martin Bergwerf replied

    "As soon as I press E to extrude:..."

    That is probably the Clamp Overlap kicking in (in the Modifier, under Geometry).

    This shouldn't be a problem, when using the Bevel Weight, because those newly formed Edges don't count then.

    2 loves