Creating curved surfaces

I've been toying with the building tools for a few hours, trying to figure out how I can curve certain parts of an object. I'm trying to make a weapon, so I want the grip to have curves. As an example, take a look at this:

http://www.slexchange.com/modules/Marketplace/Images/923ceaeb0f26ee7e81e6e662b40957ba.jpeg

What exactly do you do to get those shapes? I've tried every possible thing imaginable.. cutting holes in tubes, changing paths, etc. etc. Tried it with all the prims too. Do people just use textures with transparency maps for this sort of thing or are they actual prims?

I'm about to lose my mind from the lack of mesh manipulation tools in SL, so any advice would be helpful Thanks!

I think the best way to solve that is buying the item and looking the way it is built. I believe that´s filled with alpha channels and textures.

multiple prims of appropriate shape linked together. Go out there and find a statue or a flower... you can make a curved object by placing many tiny prims together in a curved shape...

I like to build soft, undulating objects to be placed under water. I've had good luck using the torus prim. It's all curvy like.

Looks like a simple combination of cylinders, boxes, flattened spheres and the inner sides of torii. No alpha channel textures there. Have you really tried every possible thing?

LOL, I've tried to my ability, yes. However, I am a programmer at heart, so I think I will stay away from complex prim modelling. My mind thinks in terms of numbers and functions, not pretty patterns. I wish it did, though.

In the meantime, i'll go back to working on an easy to design starwars droid model (ala r2 unit) and mess with programming an AI for that. I guess i'll just make some things that show off my scripting abilities, then find a modeller/texturer to team up with.

Theres no need to shy away from it. Just start with simpler things and aim to work your way up. You'd find that its miles more satisfying than just paying someone to do it for you.

I too had trouble making things match up to look like something. Until I learned a little trick. When you are in edit go to the object tab. All the numbers in every way can be changed a little at a time. Even half points make a difference. If you need help just hunt me up in game and I'll give you all the help I can.

i'm sure you can learn new tricks. your mathematical mind will come in very handing for building complex objects cleanly.

try out the prim university in NOYO. it's an excellent resource for learning building basics (and intermediates i'd argue). it's well documented and everything is illustrated graphically in world as well.

Any curve can be made with enough patience and boxes

Just lay out the frame for your shape, and fill it with sheered/tapered boxes with appropriate params, its how I did the bow for my USS Ronald Reagan.