Creating tight wraps around organic objects

I know this might sound super specific, but I bet you’ll find some use for this technique… I’ve used it a few times while refining the blockout of the new character concept we started with the new cohort of The Extra Mile course (I’ll share more on this next week).

So basically, if you have something like 3 tubes or something similar and you need to create a wrap around them, it might be tricky since they have different topology… What I do is:

1. Duplicate whatever mesh I want to wrap something around and dynamesh it with a low-res mesh (this is so that it creates a solid and fills any space between the tubes).
2. Use the slice curve to define the ‘wrap’ section, hide and delete the rest that I don’t need:

Now you have a simple piece of open geometry that follows the contour of the group of tubes, and you can run a quick ZRemesher and a bit of Polish by Groups to smooth it out.

Then use Dynamic Subdivision to add some thickness and make the wrap look smooth! (You can also use the Smooth brush to ‘relax’ the transition between the tubes underneath so that it feels like the wrap has some tension):

That’s about it really… super simple stuff, but it’s a very handy technique to know!