I'm looking to do a curved tube that tapers as it moves back in perspective. It would actually be a electrical wire in perspective, but round. like co-ax.
I got the Foundation SWIFT 3D book by ED, but it doesn't touch on this. It only shows using the Torus to do a curved S tube in motorcycle handlebars. But, I would like to create a tube that Tapers as it goes back into "space" and NOT be symetrical!
IS IT POSSIBLE IN SWIFT 3D? Or should I just do it in Illustrator or photoshop?
I would really like to pull it off in Swift if I can.
Draw two circles in the Lathe Editor over to the right of the center line...one inside the other...to create the walls of the tube. The farther away the circles are from the center line, the larger the radius of tube will be when you return to the Scene Editor. Reduce the Sweep Angle on the Lathe page of the Properties Toolbar to taste.
mrush
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Yep, you're right about not being able to draw two sets of lines in
the Lathe Editor...must've forgotten about that one. I'm not
sure if this is exactly how Nitro did his, but I thought I would
illustrate the shape I drew in the Lathe Editor to create the
example below.
mrush
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You're almost there. You need to change the sweep angle to less than 360 degrees. The sweep angle can be found on the scene editor, on the left, when the lathed object is selected, and the "Lathe" property is highlighted.
For example, if you make it 90 degrees, you'll get a quarter circle. Now, you can copy/paste the lathed 1/4 circle, then invert it and put the two together by repositioning... and voila! You have your tubes.
Yeah, I guess I should given a little more information about what to do with the shape once you created it. When you copy and paste your original object, use the Front viewport with the angle constrained to the Z axis and the degrees set to 45 on the Rotation Trackball, to rotate the new object 180 degrees so it lies opposite the original. Then switch to the Top viewport and rotate with the degrees set to 5 until it lines up with the original. This is assuming that you set your Sweep Angle to some multiple of 5. Once you have them lined up you can Group them and move them around as a single unit. In the top wire sheath in my example I made one of the halves a slightly different color so you could see the two separate shapes...might have to squint a little bit to see it.
For making interior wires you would just copy and paste your original half and adjust it so it's smaller in scale, but still has a similar distance from the center line in the Lathe Editor so it matches the curvature of the original, larger sheath/casing. You would then copy/paste/reposition this new smaller wire half just like you did with the first one. Now you can copy and paste this new smaller wire to make any others if you want to have several of them inside the same sheath. With the additional wires, you should just have to adjust the distance from the center line in the Lathe Editor...then copy/paste/reposition. Either that, or you can select each half individually and set the nudge increments to like 50 or 100 then just count the number of times you tap the arrow key. Repeat for the other half. This will be quicker than repositioning a new half, and can be done when all you have to do is move points, rather than adjust angles or curves in the Lathe Editor. Back in the Scene Editor you can select these new wires and give them a slight rotation combined with different radius' to fill the sheath with a small bundle of wires. Does all that make sense?
mrush
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Kinda,
Here is what I have so far. I have 1 question before I get to the bundle thing. How can I make the backside of that tube really small so it really looks like it decends back into space? I created a target camera focused on the frontside of the tube, but it doesn't seeem to make much difference. Any suggestions?
As for the bundle of wires. I think I can just go with solid wires. So can't I just go into the lathe editor and make that "C" a Circle, keep it in the same spot, then just copy and paste? Would I need to do that in a separate document and copy/paste b/c it would effect the 2 halves I currently made if I did it in the same Doc?
Select the camera then go up to the Camera page on the Properties Toolbar and set the lens length to 10 or 15. This will give you the 'fish-eye' or fading perspective effect.
As for the bundle of wires...
Yes, you can just make them a closed circle. And no, you don't have to do this in a separate document...your pasted copy will occupy the exact same space as your original.
mrush
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