Modeling a trumpet style tube

Hey guys, I need help.
I need to model a shape that I drew for an architectural project at university.
I need help cause it’s a weird object and I’m not able to do it, alone.
Is there anybody who can help with it?
I mean, giving me instruction on ‘how to’ or for someone really skilled is a chinc and so do it for me…
I don’t know!
Thanks guys!
Ben.

Dear Ben,
It may help to think about modeling the piece in much the way it would be fabricated for real in, say, a metalworking shop. In other words, the two bell shapes at each end would be done separate from the straight tapered piece, with two elbows joining everything. The bells and the straight tapered section can be modeled with the Follow Me tool; they’re simple extrusions. The elbow sections that join the straight part to the bells are probably the hardest parts to model. They might be easiest to do with a plug-in like Curviloft; it allows you to model an elbow shape with different diameters at either end. Actually, you’d model just half of each elbow, then copy, flip along, and connect the two halves to make the curved section. I’d also advise modeling everything at 100x its finished size. That will allow you to avoid a problem with SketchUp–not filling in very small faces in extrusion or lofting operations. When you have the 3D shape you desire, scale everything down to its actual size. Or, make the necessary profiles 1:1 and make each a component; make a copy of each component, scale up the copy, and do the extrusions and lofts. Then simply delete the copy. The original should come out just right.
Hope this helps.
Best,
dh

Here’s a nice video from Dave where he uses the plugin Shapebender for this kind of task:
http://www.finewoodworking.com/item/104584/more-details-a-bail-pull

I’ve attached an example file for this…

cotty_trumpet.zip (249.6 KB)

thanks david, really detailed instructions here. I’m going to try it!

thanks cotty!!! that’s what I was looking for!!
Did you made it with the shape bender tool? Because I’d like to adjust just a bit the shape and I would try it by my self…
And one more last thing:
This model works great for the isometric view, that I’m working on, but soon I’ll need a detailed one, with the hole in it. for example. How do I do it?
Thanks guys!!

Yes, with shapebender as shown in Daves video.
You can modify your profile as you like …

cotty_trumpet_b.zip (435.9 KB)

ok!! thank you guys!!!