A bit late, but here is my shoe, modeled in SubD (except the eylets).
I did not start from a sketch, but from a 3D shoe last scan. I started by drawing some essential curves on the last (SnapToMesh is very helpful while doing that).
I missed the option to pull curves to more than one SubD face in one go.
I can Project a curve onto a complete SubD object with multiple faces, or intersect the complete SubD object with another object , but Pull only lets me select separate faces to pull to, instead of the complete SubD object.
I created SubD faces while snapping to the scan, extruded edges of the subD faces, then pulled the editpoints to the last. Then I refined the shapes by dragging the editpoints (one by one) with SnapToMesh on.
I miss the option of dragging multiple points in one go with all the moving points snapping to the mesh, or extruding edges/appending faces, inserting edges etc. while snapping to the mesh.
I think such a “retopo” functionality is a must, dragging points one by one is to much work.
A command Match for SubD edges is missing
so I used the command “Align to curve” to match edges to a curve, but I hope _Match for SubD will become available.
To create the rounded edges of the shoe parts I made two rail sweeps (with the green curves as cross sections). To be able to control the alignment with the surface, I had to change the SubD surfaces into Nurbs Polysurfaces first,
Edges of a SubD are not accepted by Sweep along a rail.
Hope this will become available too.
When giving thickness to the parts, I use Offset as a solid.
But I miss the option to create creased corners for Offset SubD.
After offsetting I have to crease the rounded edges manually. Hope this will become a option for Offset SubD.
Also splitting along edge loops is something I miss.
Finally I ran into trouble again while trying to create a decent render. One of my problems is that the rendered viewport is very different from the final rendering, so I have no clue how the reflections, gloss and bumpmaps in my final rendering wil look, I think my hardware is not good, combined with my lack of experience, but here are 2 rendered viewport captures and a final rendering.
On this Viewport capture the stiches (curves with piping on) are visible as 4 groups, I have no idea why this is happening.
The final rendering
I think SubD is great for shoe design, and I hope that some missing options will become available soon!
