Twisted objects that meet in the middle...

[VTA]

I've spent a number of hours struggling with this and I can't seem to get around it properly... I'm trying to make a twisted flourescent bulb and have come close, but not close enough.

I'm pretty sure my arbitrary way of lathing disks is not the proper way to accomplish this, since hours of doing so hasn't led me to the desired end. Spline paths didn't seem to get me even close enough to what I'm looking for...

The best I can muster with the lathed disks is what's below. The 'feet' are too far apart and I don't know how to make them close without distorting them.

Any ideas would be helpful.
Thanks.
-Vincent

[SplineGod]

You should be able to do with a spline and rail extruding. I did a quick test and it seemed to work fine.

[VTA]

You should be able to do with a spline and rail extruding. I did a quick test and it seemed to work fine.

I actually found it much harder and time consuming to create a spline in the shape of a spring... A spiraling spline would go a long way toward solving a number of my modeling problems. I had the same problem making Caduceus, the medical symbol; I couldn't even begin to figure out how to make such a thing (spiraling splines).

Thanks.
-Vincent

[Surrealist.]

I've spent a number of hours struggling with this and I can't seem to get around it properly... I'm trying to make a twisted flourescent bulb and have come close, but not close enough.

I'm pretty sure my arbitrary way of lathing disks is not the proper way to accomplish this, since hours of doing so hasn't led me to the desired end. Spline paths didn't seem to get me even close enough to what I'm looking for...

The best I can muster with the lathed disks is what's below. The 'feet' are too far apart and I don't know how to make them close without distorting them.

Any ideas would be helpful.
Thanks.
-Vincent

Use the DragNet tool. Adjust the blue circle to fit your needs (RMB Drag). You can gab the end of the tube wholesale and move it into position with a smooth fall off. Then tweak any distortions by hand.

Look also at the sea shell or lathe tool as you have used but rather as a method to create a mesh you can then grab the points from to create the curve. Then use other things such as portions of a disk to complete other parts of the curve perhaps. Once you get the curve that ends on the plugs in the correct positions you are good to go. This is the best way - as Larry pointed out - since you don't have to tweak the shape after the fact.

Take a look at Larry's baseball tutorial for some ideas.

Also LWCAD has a profiler tool that will create this in a snap from the curve.

[Amurrell]

You could use the lathe to define a shape and then delete the polys you don't need and keep a row of points for a template (in which case you kill the polys between these points). Make a curve using the remaining points and then rail extrude. Long way around, I know but this way you're using the lathe tool to create a spiraling spline. I just did a quick go of it and it worked out, however I was just testing the concept.

[Amurrell]

Hope this isn't over simplified, but here's what I'm talking about. I know the twist isn't exactly what you need, but you can tweak it with the lathe tool. And the shape I used wasn't the best, but this is a proof of concept.
50512

Some shapes may work better than others.

Hope it helps a little.

[VTA]

Ok, so to get to the spiral spline, start there?
Looks good, and a trick I'll give a go with.

Thanks as always for the suggestions.
-Vincent

[Simon]

Sorry if this is a silly question but did you try using spline draw with that photo as a backdrop image? It works quite well. I drew out one half ...

[Simon]

Then copy / pasted it and rotated that one 180 deg ...

[Simon]

Then joined them up with another small spline at the top ...

[Simon]

Then did a rail extrude ...

[Simon]

Needed a slight tweak here and there but because it was symmetrical you only had to model half of it. Hope that helps ...

[Simon]

Here's the object ...

[Surrealist.]

Nice job. Some people are uncomfortable doing it by hand.

I used the same technique to thread this guitar string.

[VTA]

Wow, you guys rule. Thanks so much...
After much work, this is what I have (Below). It wasn't done in the same manner as yours Simon, and mine doesn't look as clean. Far more Poly's...

Like Surrealist said, at this point, I'm not all that good at getting it right by hand and I had followed Amurrell suggestion.

Thanks a million for posting that, and the file too, no less.
-Vincent

[Surrealist.]

Hey that's looking pretty good.

You can use Bandglue to clean up some of the parts such as the top where it looks a little dense and uneven.

Also you can play with the settings of Rail Extrude to have less segments.

[VTA]

Hey that's looking pretty good.

You can use Bandglue to clean up some of the parts such as the top where it looks a little dense and uneven.

Also you can play with the settings of Rail Extrude to have less segments.

Thanks!
A quick attempt at Bandglue left me with something scary. I couldn't get an options menu... I couldn't find the tool as a matter of fact, I had to got to 'edit keyboard shortcuts' and search in there and assign it a key.

Yeah I see what you mean with modifying the Rail Extrude settings...

Thanks for the help.
-Vincent

[Surrealist.]

Bandglue works the opposite of Bandsaw. Pick two adjacent polygons that contain an edge between them that is a part of the loop you want to merge. There is no numeric or options panel.

[VTA]

Bandglue works the opposite of Bandsaw. Pick two adjacent polygons that contain an edge between them that is a part of the loop you want to merge. There is no numeric or options panel.

Ok, I see now. I had selected too much and it became a mess.
Thanks for the clarification.
-Vincent

[SplineGod]

I actually found it much harder and time consuming to create a spline in the shape of a spring... A spiraling spline would go a long way toward solving a number of my modeling problems. I had the same problem making Caduceus, the medical symbol; I couldn't even begin to figure out how to make such a thing (spiraling splines).

Thanks.
-Vincent

A spiral shaped spline is the easiest thing to create.
Create a vertical spline( up and down the y axis) with the spline draw tool and give it plenty of points.
Move the spline off axis away from the origin along the x or z axis. This distance will be the diameter of the spring.
Now select the twist tool and use it over the origin to twist the spline into a
helix or spring shape. Thats it.
You can also select just the points you want to twist to leave the 'legs' of the llight bulb.
Once you have one spring copy and rotate it 180 degrees.
Once you do this you can now connect both splines at the top and merge them into a single spline.
From this point you can do a rail extrude.

[VTA]

A spiral shaped spline is the easiest thing to create.
Create a vertical spline( up and down the y axis) with the spline draw tool and give it plenty of points.
Move the spline off axis away from the origin along the x or z axis. This distance will be the diameter of the spring.
Now select the twist tool and use it over the origin to twist the spline into a
helix or spring shape. Thats it.
You can also select just the points you want to twist to leave the 'legs' of the llight bulb.
Once you have one spring copy and rotate it 180 degrees.
Once you do this you can now connect both splines at the top and merge them into a single spline.
From this point you can do a rail extrude.


What takes you guys minutes takes me all day...
Thanks for the tip it's a time saver.:thumbsup:
-Vincent

[Surrealist.]

Brilliant Larry! :)

[Amurrell]

See, there truely is more than one way to do something. Glad I could help though.

[VTA]

It seems like in Lightwave, there are millions of ways. Finding them is the hard part. Some things I would have never even thought of.

Thanks for the help.
-Vincent

[ScrappyRMH]

And don't forget RopeEditor (http://www.next4d.com/)! They even have a CFL example image on the web site. I've used this plug-in when i needed to have a rope tied around another object. Makes it easy to create and adjust until it looks right.