The Y values of the first and last 2 CVs

Duplicate the lateralProfile and moving the CV create the other profiles as you can see in the pictures below. At the beginning, you don�t need to many lateralprofiles; 12 could be a good number.





Note how the lateralProfiles follow the curveProfile. - The 12 lateralProfiles you will use to build the tortoise-shell



Use this image as reference for the lateralProfiles that will build the front part of the tortoise-shell. (The light blue area gives you an idea of how to move the CVs of those curves).

Since the tortoise-shell is symmetrical, you can simply obtain the curves for the right part of the tortoise-shell by grouping and duplicating the 12 curves you created. (Tip � Nothing in nature is perfectly symmetrical; real world objects and human beings have little differences that make them not exactly symmetrical. This is very important if you want your 3D model to appear photorealistic. So when the tortoise shell is finished, move some CVs to create little differences between the right and left part of your tortoise-shell).

1. Select all the lateralProfiles except the first and the last (otherwise, after the duplication, you will have 2 pairs of curves you won�t use)
2. Edit > Group
3. Rename the group leftCurves
4. Modify > Center Pivot (to center the Pivot of this new group)



Group all the curves except the first and the last.

Select one of the lateralProfiles and then press Shift. This way you have selected the leftCurves group.

You will now change the position of the Pivot of leftCurves to be sure that the duplicated group is tangent to this one.

With leftCurves still selected:

1. Display > NURBS Components > CVs
2. press W on your keyboard to show the Move Tool icon
3. press Insert on your keyboard. (Note the different aspect of the pivot when pressing Insert)
4. Press V (shortcut for the Snap to points) and middleclick over one of the starting CVs of one of the lateralProfiles; the pivot will immediately snap to it
5. Press Insert again to definitively change the position of the pivot









The starting position of the pivot - Snap to point - The new position of the pivot on a starting point





Normal - Whith Insert pressed

Before you duplicate leftCurves it�s better to reset all the values in the Channel Box using Freeze Transformations.

So, with leftCurves selected:

1. Modify > Freeze Trasformations
2. Edit > Duplicate Click Reset in the Duplicate Option window)
3. Set the Scale X : �1 (this will mirror the new group along the Z axis)
4. Rename the new group rightCurves





Using the two groups of curves you can build the tortoise-shell using the Loft command; this will build a surface, a skin through the curves you created.