Indentations around a cylinder?

#1

Hey guys -

Sort of having issues with something here and I’m drawing a blank. Im trying to model these indentations along the curve of a cylinder. I need the object to be smoothed in the end and hold those edges to be sharp like in the picture. If I add edge loops, it just makes the whole cylinder look bumpy where the extra edges are. I have tried creasing the edges and that didn’t work well either. I’d also like to avoid booleans if possible.

How do I do these indentations in the cylinder while keeping it still smooth all around?

](http://s1005.photobucket.com/user/mobkon/media/06465pk_1_zpsa3e0d1ad.jpg.html)[/IMG]

#2

You have to keep your edges evenly spaced along a curved edge or you end up with “banding”

#3

Yeah I’m fully aware of that. My question is how to keep these edges of the extruded indentation sharp (I need to smooth it in the end) when adding edge loops? Adding the edge loops causes banding and creases in my cylinder and makes it no longer an even smooth cylinder all the way around.

#4

Is this the shape your trying to get?

I would model it with enough subdivisions at the start, so this object would not need to rely on smoothing, and just use the normal smoothing. So here it is modeled with a bevel and the second with subdivision smoothing.

#5

This was perfect. Thank you!