Curved tubes and angles
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Hello out there!
Been a while and hoping you have not all melted out there in this northern hemisphere horrific summer heat.
Question please -
Creating a tube with a half circle and the follow me tool, I find I have two problems. First of all, in spite of the fact that the circle is perfectly round, when I apply the follow me tool my extruded "tube" is not round but elliptical? I then have to scale it to the round shape that I need.
Secondly, the tube forms with the two edges at the beginning and end at 90° and in many cases I would like the ends to be at 45° angles so that the tube could rest on a flat surface. I am pretty sure there has to be a way to fix this, but have no clue how. I tried using the move tool on the edge of the circle at the end with no luck.
I did Google and Youtube this issue but came up blank.
Thank you. -
Hi Kathryn,
Follow Me requires that the profile be perpendicular to the first segment of the path and will make the end of the extrusion parallel to the last segment in the path. If you don't place the profile perpendicular to the first segment, Follow Me will create a projection of the profile and distort it. Knowing this, you need to set up your path with segments that are oriented correctly. I've shown this several times in the past but I'm not sure where the images are so I'll make an example. If your path is semi-circular, it is intuitive to use the Arc tool. Don't. Instead use the Circle tool, rotate the circle so parallel sides cross the start/end line and divide the circle there. This will give you the proper path.
Back shortly with a screen shot or two.
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From left to right.
A circle for the path.
Rotate the circle. I used a 24-segment circle so I rotated the circle 7.5 degrees.
Divide circle between midpoints of sides instead of at vertices.
Use path for Follow Me.I hope this answers your question.
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@dave r said:
From left to right.
A circle for the path.
Rotate the circle. I used a 24-segment circle so I rotated the circle 7.5 degrees.
Divide circle between midpoints of sides instead of at vertices.
Use path for Follow Me.i think it's important to point out that you're doing that at the expense of accuracy.. if the intent is just visual then it's totally fine.. if she's needing accuracy (which her post hinted at) then this method will fail too.. you can't use the followme tool in these cases and will need to go to a plugin such as tig's lathe
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Yeah. That will get it closer to being accurate. It's still a faceted curve so I don't think it makes that much difference.
Results of TIG's Extrude by Lathe on left. My original one in the center. My method on the left with more segments. You can increase the number of segments on TIG's too. Inside face wouldn't create, but sometimes it does.
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You can also use the Quick Lathe by Trogluddite
No more problem of find a perpendicular face,...etc...!
Just draw the axe of rotation!
Careful select only the surface and not surface + the perimeter!
At the end you can move the cap surface with surprise result!
A very, very funny plugin!
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