How to 3D Design a Wicker Basket in a 3D Modeling Software
A wicker basket is made of woven plant materials that generally use flexible stems or branches of plants like willow, rattan, or cane. The weaving method used to make the basket is called "wicker" in this context. Many cultures worldwide have utilized wicker baskets for carrying, storing, and exhibiting goods dating back thousands of years.
The plant components are woven in a pattern to create a strong and useful container. Wicker baskets are great for carrying several objects, such as groceries, picnic supplies, or even for aesthetic storage in the home because the materials used are often lightweight but sturdy.
Steps for Designing the Wicker Basket Using SelfCAD
How to Play an Interactive Tutorial
SelfCAD provides a variety of tutorials covering different topics and skill levels, from basic to advanced techniques. The tutorials are found on the SelfCAD tutorial web page.
Select the tutorial that aligns with your interests, in this case, the tutorial on how to design a wicker basket.
There are two ways to play the tutorial.
- Click on the tutorial and select Open Tutorial on the Web Version option, and it will open the tutorial as a new project.
- You can as well download the tutorial to your desktop. Click on the three dots and select the Download for the desktop Version option, and your file will be saved to your computer.
Next, open the SelfCAD editor, and on the tool panel on top, click on the Tutorials and select the Play Tutorial option. This will give you an option to Load File. Click on the Load File option, and choose the Wicker Basket Tutorial or the way you saved the tutorial on your computer, then open it.
Starting the Tutorial
Yes, click on Start to begin your tutorial.
Explaining the Design Process and its Challenges
When you take a keen look at a wicker basket, you will realize that designing it may require you to master some key things. The things which you have to note include:
- Accurately recreating the weaving patterns found in wicker baskets.
- Coming with the twists and the circular parts found at the bottom sides of the wicker basket.
- Weaving the object together in a way that the materials do not intersect unintentionally.
- Considering the printed end product.
Creating the Foundation
Creating the foundation of the wicker basket begins with a circle. To draw the circle, use the Drawing option in the toolbar, and select the Circle. Adjust the Number of Edges. In this case, we are using 20, but it all depends on your preference. We have used the circle with less points so that, in the end, we may have less number of edges when doing modifications such as scaling.
Then activate the Precision settings as shown below:
On the grid at the center, a point will appear, and you will click on it to draw a circle.
There we have our circle (Profile 1), which forms the foundation.
Explaining the Technical Drawing Process
The next step is to activate an Elipse in the Drawing Tool, and set the Number of edges to 12. Change the plane by making adjustments on the Plane Settings to Bottom/Top. You can also change individual planes because you have the Rotate X option which in this case, we are rotating by 90. Then click on the circle we drew earlier (Profile 1) to deselect it because by activating the ellipse, we are coming up with a new profile.
On the grid, a point will appear. Draw an ellipse by clicking on the point, and adjust the parameters to your preferred measurements. Here, when designing a wicker basket, we type in the Length Measurement to be 6, Angle Measurement as 90, and then click on the highlighted point to finalize drawing the ellipse. Set the Width Measurement to 1 as shown below:
Our Ellipse (Profile 2) and the circle (profile 1) will look as follows:
Adding a Cylinder as a Base Component
After creating the foundation and the basic components, the next step is creating the base components. In this context, adding a cylinder.
To add the cylinder, activate the Cylinder on the 3D Shapes option in the toolbar. Adjust the parameters of the cylinder. In this case, we are setting both the Top radius and bottom radius as 2 and setting Vertical segments to 16. Click finalize.
The cylinder (Mesh 6) formed will appear at the center of our grid as follows:
Copying the Cylinder Along a Path
Select the Cylinder (Mesh 6) and the Circle (Profile 1) by clicking them. On the Tools category, select the Follow Path option.
Activate the Duplicate option and set the Number of copies to 20, then finalize.
The 20 copies will align along the circle as shown below:
Here, the circle has been used to perform the Follow path. This operation can also be done by using the Copy Offset Tool and activating the Pivot, which makes circular copies.
Combining Non-Intersecting Objects
After making the copies, we have several cylinders. To combine them, on the Edit Menu, activate the Group option.
The objects have been combined to form Group 1.
Note that you can only group objects that do not touch each other, that is, the objects that do not intersect each other since they will make a manifold.
Selecting and Modifying Circle Vertices
To remain with the circle, select and hide away Mesh 6 and Group 1.
After hiding away the mesh 6 and group 1, you will unhide the circle and the ellipse. This will make it easier to see and select the circle to do the modifications. Activate the Solid + Wireframe to set rendering mode, and then select the circle (Profile 1).
The next step, activate the Vertex Selection. Using Marquee selection, choose the vertices of the circle, not all, but select one and skip the next. You can do this by choosing all of the vertices by marquee selection and manually deselecting vertices to form the pattern of one selected and one deselected (selecting every second one).
Selected vertices of the circle will appear as follows:
The first modification is to Scale the circle. Simply select the Scale Tool in the toolbar. Activate the Keep Proportion to ensure that the circle is scaled proportionally. Adjust the parameters to your scaling preference. In this case, we set X axis as 80, as shown below:
Next step, deselect the highlighted vertices by simply clicking on the grid and then select the other vertices which were not selected initially by marquee selection or even manually. Set the X axis as 120, then finalize.
After scaling the circle, this is how it will look like:
Deselect all the objects simply by clicking on the grid or do it manually by activating Object selection.
Extruding the Ellipse Along the Modified Circular Path
Select the Ellipse that we drew, that is, Profile 2, and also our start shape circle (Profile 1). In the toolbar, choose the Follow Path and set Extrude mode, and finalize path.
The ellipse was extruded along the star-shaped object, which was the previous circle. Essentially it was converted to a mesh, as shown below:
Zoomed further:
If the shape is flat, one can still use the Extrusion tool. Here, since the shape was somehow curved, not 100% flat, we had to use Follow Path Extrusion mode.
Rounding and finalizing the main component
The next step is to smoothen the object. We do this by selecting the Round Object in the Modify category. Set Smoothness to 2 and finalize it. The next step is to slightly lift the object from the flow. This is done by activating the Move Tool and set the Y axis to 3. Click on show the Group 1 object, to visualize how it looks like. This is how it looks like when you show objects:
It looks incredible. The cylinders appear to be inside and outside the mesh 27, but actually, they are still in a circular manner.
Creating the Pattern Using the Copy Offset Tool
This is the most important part of designing the wicker basket. In this section, we are now going to design the pattern forming the sides of the wicker basket as follows:
In the toolbar, choose Tools > Copy Offsets. In this part, we are going to form two programs, that is, Position and Rotate at once. In the Position option, set the Y axis as 6. This will ensure that for each copy made, it is raised by 6. In the Add Option, add another column; Rotate and set the Y as 18. Set the Number of copies to 15 and click the Copy button.
When you click the copy button, this is how it looks like:
The pattern has been formed.
Grouping Non-Intersecting Objects: Making the 2nd Group
To group the patterns formed above, go to the Edit menu and click on the Group, to form the Group 2 object. Remember, you can group the objects which do not intersect. Note that in this grouping, we have not grouped together with the poles [Group 1]. The two are grouped separately.
In this case, we now have Group 1 and Group 2 objects.
Tapering Both Groups Together
To taper them into two groups, select Group 1 and Group 2. In the toolbar, click on Modify, and in the Advanced Settings, set the Origin layer to Top. Then adjust the parameters. In this case, adjust the X axis to 30 and also the Z axis to 30 as well, and then close the panel.
The object was tapered from the Top to the Bottom direction, which is the reason why the top looks wider than the bottom.
Creating a Custom Spiral as the Next Component
In this step, we are going to create a spiral using the Generator option. Hide the two objects, group 1 and group 2 such that there is nothing visible on the grid. On the toolbar, choose the Generators, and select the Spiral option.
Adjust the parameters of the Spiral as follows:
The spiral looks like a spline.
Creating a Circular Profile
In this section, we are coming up with a new circle. In the Drawing option in the toolbar, select 3D Sketch, in this case, a Circle. Set the rotation back to 0, and a point will appear at the center of the grid, which you use to sketch the circle to your preferred size; in this case, we are setting the Radius measurement to 50.
After setting the rotation settings to 0, click on the points you see appear at the center of the grid. Then cancel the advanced settings. Let us call this circle Profile 3 and Spiral 1.
Bending the Spiral Along the Circular Path
Select the Spiral (Spiral 1) and the circle (Profile 3) as well. On the toolbar, choose the Tools category and click Follow Path. Activate the Wrap option in the Top direction. This operation will take the spiral and bend it around the circle to form Mesh 28, as shown below:
You will notice that the object Mesh 28 does not close.
Closing the Small Gap: Creating a Bridge
In this section, we are looking at how to close the gap formed by Mesh 28. The first step is to do away with the inner faces formed. This is done manually.
Activate the Polygon Selection and select the inner faces facing each other, then Delete them by either using the delete option in the workspace or just hitting the delete button on your keyboard.
There you go:
To close the gap, first of all, we have to simplify the object. In the toolbar, select the Modify option, choose Resolution, and reduce the Detail Level to 0, and now we are left with quads.
Loop Selecting Edges
Activate the Edge Selection and turn on the Loop Selection. On the object, click on two edges which will automatically select all the edges of the parts we want to bridge, as shown by the purple arrow:
Ensure you have selected all the edges as shown:
Creating a Bridge Using the Loft Tool
Once you have selected all the edges, go to the Tools option on the toolbar and select the Loft Tool. In the segment settings, choose Settings and set Resolution to 1.
There you go, we have created a bridge:
Loft vs. Bridge (Surface vs. Polygon Modeling Tools)
The Loft Tool creates a surface and generally works as a parametric modeling tool. This loft tool in SelfCAD works as the bridge tool. Therefore, we have successfully closed the gap:
Fixing and Stitching the New Bridge With the Base Object
You notice that extra faces were created to fill the gap. It did not connect automatically with the other faces and edges of the two parts to be joined together. Therefore, in this section, we need to connect them together with all their edges to form a watertight.
In the toolbar, go to the Utilities category, choose Geom Clean, and in the settings panel of the Geom Clean, deactivate the Remove Duplicates, and then turn on the Cut Intersecting Edges and Remove Inner Face then finalize.
When you finalize, you notice that new cuts are made, connecting the edges and vertices forming a manifold, which is a new element.
Converting the New Element Into the Final Component
In the Tools category, choose the Copy Offsets, and in this case, adjust the parameters of the Rotate as the set operation. Set the Y axis to 14 and the number of copies to 3.
This operation will lead to the formation of objects which are intersecting together, as shown below:
Combining Intersecting Objects Using the Union Tool
To combine the objects together, we are not going to use the Group tool. This is because the objects are intersecting and touching each other. In this kind of incident, we use the Boolean operation. In the tools panel, go to the Stitch and Scoop tools, select Union, and finalize. This tool combines, solidifies, and even creates extra cuts. The object formed is named Union 1.
In this case, we will not use the Geometry Clean Tool because here we had multiple objects which are intersecting.
The Union tool combines the objects by finding the cuts and the intersections and bringing them together. Using the Move Tool, move the object slightly up by adjusting the Y axis to 2.
Creating a Torus
To create a Torus, go to the 3D Shapes, select a Torus, adjust the parameters, and finalize as shown below:
Therefore, the Torus will be a bit smaller in size.
Copying the Torus Along a Path
Select the Torus and the circle (Profile 3). In the toolbar, choose Tools > Follow Path > Duplicate and set the number of copies to 12.
There you go, we have our 12 copies:
Set the direction in the parameters to the Top, as shown below, to make the torus stand vertically, as shown below:
The top direction can also be achieved by simply rotating the torus. The next step is to combine these objects. Select the Toruses and also the Union 1 objects and using the Stitch and Scoop Tool, click the Union option and finalize it to combine them, forming Union 2, as shown below:
Remember, here we are using the Stitch and Scoop Union tool to combine instead of the Group tool because the objects here are intersecting and touching each other.
Creating a Cylinder
In this section, we are going to create a new cylinder. On the 3D Shapes, select the Cylinder and adjust the parameters as follows:
Finalize, and here we have the small cylinder.
Inserting the Top Polygon to Create a Pattern
The cylinder above is the same size as the circle, and it is well-positioned in the grid. Activate the Polygon Selection and select the top polygon of the cylinder.
In the Modify category, select the Inset tool, and set the Inset Amount to 8. In the Advanced Settings, set the number of copies in the Repeat to 4 the finalize the Inset. This Inset operation is meant to create the loops inside the cylinder and make the pattern by the repeat times.
Splitoff the Top Into a New Object
To split the highlighted region, in the Modify category, select Split and finalize it.
This way, we only remain with a polygon without thickness.
Using Advanced Chamfer to Make a Nice Pattern
In the Modify section, choose the Chamfer. Set the Chamfer to 1. In the Fill Settings, ensure you turn off the Fill Polygons and finalize it.
This will leave us with a sieve-like shape, as shown below by the highlighted region:
It deletes the inside and keeps the chamfered pieces.
Adding Thickness to Make it Manifold/Watertight
To add thickness, go to the Modify option, and choose Add Thickness by setting the Thickness to 2.
Finalize it, and again, in the Modify category, select the Round Object tool and set Smoothness to 2. Turn on the Solid to set the rendering settings, and this is how it will appear:
Aligning, Scaling, and Combining all Parts
As well observed, there is a need for proper alignment.
In the toolbar, select the Scale Tool, activate the Keep Proportion button, and then adjust the parameters. In this case, for proper alignment, change the X-axis to 94.
Switch directly to the Rotate Tool in the toolbar and set the parameters of the Y axis to 12.
Scaling and rotating ensure proper alignment of the object. The parameters were pre-calculated, which is why they give proper and accurate alignment forming mesh 49. The next step is to combine Union 2 (which was the combination of the spirals and torus) with Mesh 49 as follows:
Activate the Object Selection and select Union 2 and Mesh 49. In this case, also we will combine using Stitich and scoop because the objects are intersecting. After selecting the objects, in the toolbar, choose the Stitch and Scoop tool and use click on Union and finalize the combination to form Union 3.
In the View menu, select the Isolate option so that you remain with the Group 2 piece, which is a nice manifold.
Now, the next step is to visualize the objects created and how they are positioned. To do this, click on Show the selected objects on your right side. This is how it looks like so far:
As you can see, it is not perfectly aligned, and we need to align everything well. This is done by scaling. On the toolbar, choose Scale Tool, activate the Keep proportion, and set adjust the parameters to perfectly align the objects. In this case, set the X-axis as 80.
Using the Move Tool, set the object down on the grid by setting the Y axis to 0 and then close the panel.
In this next section, we want to make the wicker basket lid. This is done by making a copy of this:
To do this, in the Tools category, select the Copy Offsets option. In the Position option, set the Y-axis parameter to 103. This ensures that the copy made is moved up. This operation would have also been done by simply moving the copy up manually. In the Add Option, add a Scale column and set the X parameter to 28 and the Z parameter to 28 as well.
There you go; you have a copy on top.
Select the Group 2 and Group 1 objects, and using the Move Tool, raise it up by setting the Y parameter to 4. In the next step, select all the objects except the copy we made on top. Then group all of them using the Stitch and Scoop tool > Union and finalize to combine all of them together. The process of uniting the objects together may take time because we are dealing with over a hundred thousand faces.
Coloring the Final Shape
Finally, the Wicker Basket is ready. The next step is to color the basket. Select all the objects again, then click on the Color Picker as shown below:
The different colors will be displayed; pick the color of your interest and then finalize it. Finally, your Wicker Basket is ready.
You have now finaly managed to create a wicker basket in SelfCAD. If you would like more resources for learning, you can check the video below showing how to design a basketball.
Create Perfect 3D Objects With Finesse
Designing a wicker basket is an artistic and satisfying endeavor that combines the art of traditional weaving with modern design techniques. You may create beautiful and useful wicker baskets by embracing imagination, paying attention to detail, and using the right materials. While adding extra components improves both functionality and aesthetic appeal, weaving calls both patience and accuracy. You may make distinctive wicker baskets that highlight your creativity and workmanship with a little experience and competence.
Enjoy powerful modeling, rendering, and 3D printing tools without the steep learning curve.
Need to learn 3D modeling? Get started with interactive tutorials.