bending an object

coldby · 26th January 2007, 06:42 AM

Occasionally the need occurs to bend a (long) object along a predefined path: think for instance of a rope or of the limb of a tree.
As long as the object is regular and has a constant cross-section (the rope) you can just create it by drawing its cross-section, the bending path, and then extruding the one along the other - it works beautifully.
But if the object is complex or has a variable cross-section (the tree limb) there's currently no other way to do the job than carefully selecting the points on a cross-section, rotating them by aproperly guessed angle, and re-positioning them where they belong - all this for each cross-section. It requires plenty of patience, takes a hell of a time and is extremely error-prone.
A plugin to do the job automatically, whatever its limitations, would be really welcome. Would any AC3D expert be willing to run the gauntlet?

(yes, I know, I already wrote on this subject once, but no-one seems to have listened then...

26th January 2007, 06:42 AM	#1
coldby Senior Member Professional user Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 102	bending an object Occasionally the need occurs to bend a (long) object along a predefined path: think for instance of a rope or of the limb of a tree. As long as the object is regular and has a constant cross-section (the rope) you can just create it by drawing its cross-section, the bending path, and then extruding the one along the other - it works beautifully. But if the object is complex or has a variable cross-section (the tree limb) there's currently no other way to do the job than carefully selecting the points on a cross-section, rotating them by aproperly guessed angle, and re-positioning them where they belong - all this for each cross-section. It requires plenty of patience, takes a hell of a time and is extremely error-prone. A plugin to do the job automatically, whatever its limitations, would be really welcome. Would any AC3D expert be willing to run the gauntlet? (yes, I know, I already wrote on this subject once, but no-one seems to have listened then...