pivot not moving with Bend

Sett

Max 5
I have a line of Omni lights in a row.

I apply a bend modifier to all of them.

The lights move to the new loc. but their respective pivot points stay in the original pos.

I need the pp to centre to the light.Yes I could move them individually but there are hundreds of them.

I've tried:
-making them unique
-centre to Object
-Align to Object
-collapsing the stack

FatAssasin

I couldn't make it work either. Seems that the bend modifier doesn't affect the transform matrix of the objects directly.

So I wrote a quick script that will place an instanced light at every point in a spline. Don't know if that's really what you're looking for, but it might come in handy.

Create a spline with two points, add a normalize spline modifier to add points, add the bend modifier to bend it, collapse the stack to an editable spline, make sure it's selected, and run the script:

n = numknots $
o = undefined
for i = 1 to n do (
p = getKnotPoint $ 1 i
if i == 1 then (
o = omnilight pos:p
)
else (
io = instance o
io.pos = p
)
)


Hope that helps.

Eric Chadwick

Why not just use the Spacing Tool? Same idea, spline-based instancing, right?

Cubik

Yeah, that's what I would try...

Eric Chadwick

BTW, didn't mean to rain on your script. That kind of help is invaluable, and much appreciated.

Sett

Thank you very much FatAssasin that did the trick. You've saved me hours of bs work.

I also tried the Spacing Tool method but that resulted in the same pp problem as above.

FatAssasin

Glad I could help. That script, with a little tweaking, is the basis of many fake GI scripts where you create a hemisphere and place a light at every vertex. Fun stuff.

About the Spacing Tool, I just never really got the hand of it. It's very possible I'm not using it right, but it always seems kind of cumbersome to use and I can never quit get what I'm after.

Eric Chadwick

The Spacing Tool is really helpful, I use it a lot. Try this...

1. Create a spline.
2. Create an Omni.
3. With the Omni selected, go to the menu Tools > Spacing Tool.
4. Pick Path, select the spline.
5. Spin the Count spinner.
6. Uncheck Count, check Spacing, spin the Spacing spinner.
7. Uncheck Spacing, check Count, check Start Offset, spin it.
8. Turn on the checkbox Follow.

What a cool little utility.