A question of repetition & splines
polycounter lvl 18
I'm pretty embarrased by this question but somehow I've never run into this situation before.
I've seen many examples of high-poly work where segments appear to repeat along a spline or surface (EG: a single section of a spine that repeats along the natural curvature). Most recently I've seen Ror post a lot of this kind of work but the explanations contained within the thread went way over my head. I also think I saw it on the tubes of Per's UT3 Viper model.
Can anyone explain how this is done or point toward a helpful tutorial?
I've seen many examples of high-poly work where segments appear to repeat along a spline or surface (EG: a single section of a spine that repeats along the natural curvature). Most recently I've seen Ror post a lot of this kind of work but the explanations contained within the thread went way over my head. I also think I saw it on the tubes of Per's UT3 Viper model.
Can anyone explain how this is done or point toward a helpful tutorial?
Replies
Basically you create your geometry in a straight line as one piece of a mesh. Then apply the path deform modifier and select the spline, click move to path and bango
To test this out quick i just made a high-poly cylinder, I apply path deform and select the spline but this doesn't have the expected effect at all, if any, changing the pathdeform axis between x+y also have minimal effect and choosing Z results in the entire mesh disappearing. I'm guessing move to path is the key but I'm struggling to find it.
You might also need to adjust the percent so it travels a good distance along the spline.
It might also help to reset Xform on the object (not the spline) before applying Path Deform(WSM).
It can also be handy to "sweep" a shape along a spline to get different kinds of trim and details.
Not sure if that what you wanted but maybe
Thanks a tonne, that's exactly what I wanted