Having a Duh! moment

solo · 20 Apr 2012, 18:57

Anyone know an easy way to string chairs to a path, they need to face accordingly.

See image, this is just a test shape so i can learn/remember how it's done, the real project will need 4800 seats.

SKP attached

Thanks. (Solo the noob)

huh.skp

Rich O Brien · 20 Apr 2012, 18:59

Rick Wilsons Copy Along Path

Chris' Component Stringer

Spring to mind.

solo · 20 Apr 2012, 19:11

Stringer is not working for some reason on my rig.

Will try copy along path.

Thanks

ely862me · 20 Apr 2012, 20:45

Copy along path will work , but the chairs will not be rotated in the right direction .

For the attached image i made a normal row and bent it with radial bending from Fredo's scale . Too bad they are not components anymore. I would have create copy on the other rows too, they would have had more space between them , but it would have been pretty nice !

huh-2 - radial bending with fredo-s scale.skp

ely862me · 20 Apr 2012, 20:57

Component stringer seems to work . It rotated the chair downward but i rotated it back and then i copied other instances up to the other rows . They are not nice and even but with a bit more care will do !

huh-2 - component stringer.skp

Rich O Brien · 20 Apr 2012, 21:02

Component Stringer works for me?

You need to align the axis

andybot · 20 Apr 2012, 22:25

That's interesting, so it's not just me. I've had to use the dummy object trick with component stringer too. It does weird things/ doesn't work sometimes with certain components.

solo · 20 Apr 2012, 22:39

This is gonna be one tricky project.

Here is my reference, so you can see what I need to achieve.

pilou · 20 Apr 2012, 22:45

Draw a Component "segment" with axes at its middle
Draw this component segment at any places and orientations you want
Select all components "segments"
Menu Component / Choose Component "Chair" (with same axes than "segment" ) / Replace Selected

= all chairs will be well aligned!

pilou · 20 Apr 2012, 22:47

seems symetric so half work to make

Rich O Brien · 20 Apr 2012, 22:54

I'm gonna pitch a curveball and suggest TGI3D Warper and Terrain tools.

Warper to form delicate curves and Terrain tools to drop them.

Ecuadorian · 20 Apr 2012, 23:58

I can confirm that the latest version of Copy Along Path in SU 8 Free correctly rotates each component according to the path. I guess you're gonna render in something that allows the use of instances, Pete?

jeff hammond · 21 Apr 2012, 02:07

it's not bad at all using vanilla tools… for that theater, i think you'd just need to do a few sections then mirror them etc…

here's a step_by_step .skp:

theater_seating.skp

good luck.