Thanks Stwert, I was searching for them myself...
I explored putting holes in cylinders a couple years ago. The idea was to create the clean topology in a plane and then use the bend deformer to roll it into a cylinder.
Here is a link to the thread.
https://simplymaya.com/forum/showthread.php?t=33378
There are a couple of video links in there that demonstrate the process.
I made a couple versions as I explored different ways to lay out the topology. These were made a couple years ago and I was just figuring out how to use camtasia and they were not meant to be polished in any way.
Here is a topology that has a punched hole affect...
maya holes in cylinder tut wNarration - YouTube
This is a method that produces a more uniform drilled and smooth affect...
hole in cyl tut2 web - YouTube
and here is a muzzle break example that uses a boolean approach ...
muzzle and heat sync final - YouTube
"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Isaac Newton, 1675
Last edited by ctbram; 13-10-2011 at 12:04 AM.