Magnets, Curves, Bending and Shear

[spardacus]

Greetings ...

as a newbie both to LW and this forum, I have made some agonizing late night progress yet hope to post what is surely to be an elementary question.

Some of the seemingly simplest things elude me ...

Can the magnet tool be used (or what would you use) to make a convex curve - say the indentation in the seat of a chair, or as in the object attached a multiple surface bend to create a curved copper awning atop a house entrance?

http://www.creativeresource.org/lw/roofcap.html

Also, what is the difference between bend and shear? When I drag the bend tool it seems merely to shear my poly.

Thank you ..

i am spardacus

[evenflcw]

First of all you'll need alot more segments to your mesh to be able to bend it. Second, you don't have to use magnet or such tools to get curvy shapes. Try the Move tool with Falloff set to Linear with a Ease Out preset. Use the rmb to drag out a guide in the viewport to define what region this falloff should affect. Last, for complex shapes it could be wise to use splines and patching. Check manual/online help for more help).

Image below shows a splinepatched shape. The black curves are the splines used.