(beginner Hexagon question) Can't complete a Sweep Line operation on a long, thin primitive
I've been click-click-clicking every which way on this long shape that I made, but nothing seems to be happening. I want it to conform to the shape suggested by the wavy polyline. Any idea what I'm doing wrong or what the issue is?
If necessary you can download my source file here. This file ("long_strip2.zip") is the only file I've posted in that folder.
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Roman,
Is this what you want? I used Bend tool. Select your grid, click on Bend, then select the curve and you should get what I have in my Hex file.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/kfdd5mly7owlgsh/long strip2 bend.zip?dl=0
Sorry, after reading again I see you want Extrude I think, like this file?
https://www.dropbox.com/s/k3gk0wtiybbn08w/long strip2 extrude.zip?dl=0
You want to use the "Bend" tool.
The Bend Tool works along the axis relative to the Camera angle. That's the one thing you have to remember that might get confusing. So, if you bend the line along the X and Y axis, like yours appears to be, then in order to get the object to bend along that axis, look at it from along the Y axis. (Above) In this way, it's possible to bend an object twice, getting it to deviate along three axes. Also - Bends tend to work better if the object has the same or similar number of vertices along the axis to be conformed as the target object.
A) It looks like your target line needs a few more verts for you to get a good bend with the target object. So, choose the bended line, choose the line tool, hit CTRL+A to highlight them all, then click on the Lines tab and click once on "Line Tesselation." (Make a backup of your original line to do this with, just in case it turns out the Bend operation would work better with less verts for comparison.
B) Move your target line and object so that they are on the same plane that you're going to bend the target object on. (ie: If you're bending it relative to the X plane, move it and the target line close to the same value on X. It'll make it easier.
C) Position the camera above the two objects, looking straight down/at them both.
D) With the Object select tool, select the object to be bended.
E) Select the Utilities tab and click on the Bend tool.
F) Then, with your manipulator, click on the bended Line. This tells the bend tool that you want to bend the first selected object, the one you had selected when you choose the Bend tool, to confrom to the second selected object.
G) Dependending entirely upon your chosen camera angle, the object should bend to attempt to conform to the desired curve. Factors involving how smooth the bend are: Camera angle, number of verts in line vs number of verts avg on edges along same axis as the desired deformation, volume of the object (Whether or not Hex can figure it out and keep it relatively the same, throughout), etc.
The Bend tool is very handy, but it works best with simple objects. You shoudln't have any issues using it, here. However, if you were trying to bend an object so that it conformed to a line and that object had a volume that spanned in three directions, instead of along just two, it gets a bit more complicated. It's still "doable" though, since that's how many strip/transmapped hair models are made. (The strips are laid out in just two dimensions, then curves are used for them to match to in order to get them to look like flowing hair.)
Ok re: getting the verteces lined up or similar if possible... in this related operation here I was thinking of bending the capsule shape at about the halfway point, so I spaced out some loops to help with that? Following this I think I accidentally hit "Auto Select" or something, and the loops (and both the top and bottom of the capsule) got highlighted in dark blue? Never had that happen before.
So the Bend tool *always* has to take a polyline guide of some sort???
The points are highlighted in blue because you are in Point/Edge select mode (the last icon of the 5 icons used to set selection mode)
You are right, Bend always a needs a polyline guide. The extra loops are good, and you could make a copy of your capsule and create a few more loops in addition to the ones you have already added (Unless your bend is very slight). You could try your guide polyline on both versions for comparison.
Yes that's it. Here is a quick render of it.
Aha, maybe my problem was that I wasn't starting out with a primitive grid. I had made a cube in DS and then I flattened and stretched the cube.
I tried it on my own with a primitive grid that I stretched. It didn't seem to want to bend so I tesselated it a few times. Then it seemed to bend where the tesselations were, like if I was bending sheet metal in a large vise or jig.
The only place it can bend is where there are verts that allow it to bend. It will not create verts for you, since that would ruin the original object's mesh. (An option for that wouldn't be bad, but, then again, if that's what was desired, why wouldn't it have been built bended, before? :)
That works even better I think - at least your attempt did.
Well I moved towards making the long strip thicker for the time being. I can now replicate objects, like a row of planks say, and I can introduce a bit of variety to them incl. some "chamfering" although I'm doing it my way rather than with the chamfer tool.