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offset paths needed for sweep nurbs
hey hey,
i have multiple shapes offset from the same spline creating animated bands (sweep nurbs).
the scale and rotation of the sweep nurbs are animated to enhance banking and perspective and the end growth of each is slightly offset for a more organic leading edge
what i need is to attach a null to the end of each of the 10 sweep nurbs. i can get the end growth and position linked, but it doesn’t see the scale/rotation changes, so the lights don’t follow the ends correctly.
i posted the scene here… any thoughts? i tried a tracer object, but it wouldn’t give me splines for the sweep nurbs (when placed in cloner or fracture object), it seemed to trace the polygons.. ?
thanks
cb -
5 Replies
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I would attach the null to your sweep spline with an align to spline tag and use Xpresso to link end growth to the align tag’s position parameter. The key is that you have to set the spline’s intermediate points to “uniform”.
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hey, adam, thanks for the reply,
that’s basically what i had, i think…
but the issue is in the null properly tracing the path as the sweep nurb scales and rotates. if i zero out (return to defaults) the scale and rotation on the sweep nurbs, it’s good, but it doesn’t know what to do as the sweep nurb rotates (banks) and scales.
does that problem make sense, not sure i’m describing it correctly…
the scene is here…
https://files.me.com/charlesbartlett/fk0d0uthanks again, cb
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I see what’s going on. The problem is that your profile spline (the swept shape) doesn’t have it’s axis centered, so when the sweep is rotating and scaling it’s doing it from off center. That’s causing it to diverge from the path spline.
To fix it, select your profile splines and run Structure>Center Axis>Center Axis To.
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Take the spline you want to offset
Add it as a child of a sweep nurb with a square profile
Set the distance you want with the square profile shape
Make the sweep nurb editable
Select the edge loop you need and click Edge to Spline
This will give you the same result as Illustrators path offset. -
I know this is an old question, but amazing when you’re searching for answers how these posts pop up and are still relevant.
This may be a newer feature / alternative solution to this 8 year old question. Within the Mesh menu, there is Spline > Create Outline which allows you to offset using a positive or negative values similar to Illustrator’s offset function.
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