Modelling a button backed upholstered surface

[Zootsuit]

Hi

Can anyone suggest a method for modelling a button back upholstered surface similar to a Chesterfield Chair?

I suspect its possible with subdivide and smooth or Artisan, but I havent used these plugins before and am unsure how to use them?

I have had semi-success by drawing circles on a surface , extruding them back through the surface to create open ended cylinders ,then using the rounded edge plugin on the open end . But the main surface remains flat where it should bulge between the buttons due to the upholstery stuffing.

I know there is a very good tutorial somewhere on the forum for a Barcelona chair but it seems to need some prior knowledge of subdivide and smooth to create the shapes . In addition the buttons need to be offset, not aligned as on the Barcelona chair

I have attached an image of what Im tring to achieve.

This is for upholstered wardrobe doors so the main surface is flat, not curved, but it would be useful to know how to do it for curved surfaces such as chairs as well

Any suggestions, pointers, or links to existing models would be greatly appreciated!

many thanks

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[Zootsuit]

Sorry, just found Boo's tutorial , will have to try and work out how to use subdivide and smooth !