Column Part 4: Adjusting the Column.
It is now time to make the bottom of the column. Luckily the hard work is done. Select your column and make sure you are at the top of the Modifier Stack. Hold shift and drag a copy of your mesh off to the side somewhere. This will serve as a backup since we will be collapsing the Modifier Stack on the original.
Now it is time to collapse your Modifier Stack. Select your mesh, right click on it and choose Convert To > Editable Poly. After you have done this apply a Symmetry modifier. You can find this in the same place you found Lathe.
Right now symmetry is mirroring the left side of our column to the right. We need it to mirror the top to the bottom. Change the axis until you have a result similar to the image below. Depending on which view you drew your spline it you may need to choose X, Y or Z. In my example I had to choose Y. *NOTE* Make sure you check your Threshold value. This value sets the closest distance vertices can be to each other before they are welded together. Set this to a very low number, like .001 or .01.
Now that we have a top and bottom we need to collapse the Symmetry modifier. Before you do this make sure your column has a middle area too. It doesn't matter what size it is, but it needs to have a top, bottom and middle. Right click on your mesh and choose Convert To > Editable Poly.
Next we need to match our column to the refernce. Click the Vertex icon shown below to enter Vertex mode. In Vertex mode drag a box selection around all the vertices that make up the bottom of your column.
Now simply zoom out so you can see your entire reference plane. Move these vertices up or down until the column is the correct size. Your column should now fit the reference image almost exactly.
The round part of the column is almost finished. The last step is optional but recommended. Since we are going to be Subdividing our column the geometry is going to become very dense. It's a good idea to remove any extra segments at this point. Go into Edge mode and select a single edge from any segments you don't need. Pressing Loop will select the entire segment. Hit Control+Backspace to remove any selected segments.
In the image below I removed every other edge on the top, then removed every other edge again to clean it up a bit. Subdivision will smooth this part plenty later anyways.
The column is looking great. We should center our Pivot Point now in case we want to put on more modifiers. Go back to the Hierarchies tab and choose Affect Pivot Only and click Center To Object. If you decide to remove additional segments on the top make sure you use Symmetry again to mirror your changes to the bottom.
In Part 5 we will create the square bases.