Anim8or Community
General Category => General Anim8or Forum => Topic started by: RBT on August 27, 2009, 05:34:55 am
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Hi,
I'm new to the forum, but I've been using Anim8or on and off for about a year now. I've hit a hurdle I just can't figure out though, so I'm seeking expert advice here! :)
I'm trying to get the Extrude along a Spline feature to work properly, but its producing some bizarre results for me currently.
What I'm trying to model is a piece of 'pipe' which includes a fair number of smoothly-curved bends in it, going both horizontally, and vertically.
Using the Spline tools I've got my pathway drawn (see attachment #309), with a mixture of straights and curves. It follows the shape I'm after perfectly.
I then use the Curve Spline tool to make a separate, small, circle which I wish to extrude along that pathway in order to make the pipe.
I highlight the circle, choose Build>Extrude, then set the 'Axis' to 'Path' and click OK. Once the dialogue closes, I select the pathway and I get the weirdest danged results (see attachment #310)!
Can anyone try to explain to me -- in laymans terms please -- what I'm doing wrong and what I need to pay greater attention to in order to get this feature to work?
Thanks in advance for any assistance!
Ross.
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To obtain better results, place the object you wish to extrude centered at the beginning (the "tip") of the spline.
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To obtain better results, place the object you wish to extrude centered at the beginning (the "tip") of the spline.
Thanks Rudy!
That seems to have helped quite a bit. Roughly the first 2/3rds of the pipe is coming out perfectly now -- right up to the point where the pipe heads vertically downwards.
After there, I'm getting a bit of a "twist" effect at various places along the pipe. Any ideas what might be causing that?
Ross.
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You might want to try the script attached. It creates a tube along a path. The help is in the header of the script.
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Here is one thing that might help: the spline that should be extruded (a circle in your case) should be created in the front view.
In other words, extruding along a path is just like extruding along the Z-axis - if you try to extrude your circle along the Z-axis, you'll get a wrong result because you created the circle in the "Left" view. Try rotating the circle 90° along the Y axis and then extrude it along the path, I believe you will get the result you want.