Soccer Ball

Just modeled a soccer ball in Nvil.  Overall I think Nvil is a great program. Thanks for all hard work and responses to my questions.

Looks definitely like a soccer ball! Maybe you could in short outline, which tools you used and which came in especially handy. So other folks that are new to NVil could learn how to best achieve this, and maybe there's something in for old hands, too.

Looks definitely like a soccer ball! Maybe you could in short outline, which tools you used and which came in especially handy. So other folks that are new to NVil could learn how to best achieve this, and maybe there's something in for old hands, too.

Sure no problem...i will just "paraphrase" 

1. I created a Geo-sphere (Icosa) with 8 levels from the object menu
2. Went into "vertex mode" then "Math Selection": I choose "Vertices with Edges =" from the drop down menu and I entered "5" as the value and "include" in the "Boolean" drop down menu.
4. I selected "Grow Selection" twice (still in vertex mode) from the "visual tools" menu
5. Switched to "Polygon mode" and pressed "Grow selection" a few more times (I switched to "polygon mode" because it was hard to see what vertices that were selected in "vertex mode") - it would be nice if the polygon was highlighted (not selected) as well in "vertex mode" when growing a selection.
6. Once I had the desired shape (selection) I used the "inset tool" from the "visual tools" panel and entered 0.02 and pressed apply. Note: you cannot enter .02 in the numerical input you have to enter 0.02.
7. Then I grew the selection once more (to select the new inset) and created a "sub object" and called it "black tiles" ("sub object" menu is under Geometry - create). I also assigned a black material to the "black tiles" object I created in the far right in order to distinguish the black tiles from the white.
8. After that it was just selecting edge loops and extruding which can be found in the "visual Tools" panel.
9. At one point I wanted to relax the sub-object I selected in order to smooth out the extrusion I created. It took me while to find the tool but it's under "Geometry - Common command n Tools - Relax".

Most of the tools that I need are in Nvil but they are a bit tough to find. I am constantly using the "Tool Search" tool which is a tab at the very right next to the "Smart Tips" panel. 

Is there a way to get the "Common Command n Tools" to their own toolbar?

When I completed the ball I then sent it to 3d Coat. The problem was that 3d coat interpreted the white and black tiles as separate objects. I fixed this by removing the materials before exporting to 3d coat. I'm hoping there is a way around this.

I hope somebody finds this helpful.

Looking good there jcue.

Hope you do not mind, but thought I would give a try at the football. Basically the same approach, but started with a level 3 Icosa.

Wireframe and smooth snap shots:-

Hello.
I have a slightly different approach:
1.1. I start out with a level 2 icosahedron-based geosphere.
1.2. Subdivide it once and collapse subdivision.
1.3. Select all faces of a single pentagonal patch.
1.4. Convert selection to vertices and deselect the middle one.
1.5. Select similar
1.6. Convert selection to edges.
1.7. Chamfer edges according to your own preference.
1.8. Scale the edges down.
And that's it about the main shape. It's basically several seconds of work. Nvil is superman fast.
And guys! Don't forget about the valve!

To colour the patches, I just:
2.1. Select the middle five faces of each pentagonal patch (unfortunately Select Similar selects also hexagonal patches, so it won't do here). Select middle five faces of a single pentagonal patch.
2.2. Select Similar with threshold of 0.95 to select them all. /new/
2.3. Grow selection.
2.4. Assign black shader.
2.5. Inverse selection.
2.6. Assing white shader.
Done.

EDIT: Corrected the workflow thanks to Steve.

2.1. Select the middle five faces of each pentagonal patch (unfortunately Select Similar selects also hexagonal patches, so it won't do here).

For "Select Similar", did you try changing the "Select similar threshold"? (The setting is in "Preference-> General")

No, I didn't. I was wondering if it could be changed though, but there are only twelve pentagonal patches, so it was faster for me to select them manually than to look for this particular option.
Thanks for letting me know where it is.

P.S. Threshold of 0.95 seems to work in point 2.1.

Looking good there jcue.

Hope you do not mind, but thought I would give a try at the football. Basically the same approach, but started with a level 3 Icosa.

Wireframe and smooth snap shots:-

Of course not 

I'm always happy to see other people's work.  I had no idea idea Nvil had a select similar feature.  Nice to know

Hi jcue,

I had no idea idea Nvil had a select similar feature.  Nice to know

There is also a "Select Similar Facing", which will select, for example, other polygons within a specific(threshold) Normal direction angle of the first selection and "Select Similar Facing(connection only)" that perform the same, but selects only those polygons connected together with the initial polygon. Those function also work with edges and vertex. Those tool are in the selection drop down menu, or in the "Subobject shortcut tools". The Angle setting is in the preference options.

I just noticed this question:-

Is there a way to get the "Common Command n Tools" to their own toolbar?

You can create a custom toolbar with those or any of the tools/functions.
At the moment, I have been using the "SmartTips" again, as it is very easy to add/remove/edit the commands/tools shown.(and the commands/tools can be executed from the smartTips). Although at the moment, I keep changing the UI layout.

1.3. Select all faces of a single pentagonal patch.
1.4. Convert selection to vertices and deselect the middle one.
1.5. Select similar
1.6. Convert selection to edges.

You could fasten that up even more, you know? Open up the 'Math Selection' window and choose 'Vertices with Edges=' and enter value = 3 with replace, hit apply. Convert the selection to edges with 'Vertex Shortcut Tools -> Edges By/In Selected Vertices'. Now you have your edge selection in only 2 steps.

Quick attempt at an jabulani_ball