Gregos Posted May 30, 2009 Share Posted May 30, 2009 Dear all, I try and try and try...with no success yet to create a spiral in 3D (not an helix one, just a normal spiral, with a tiny extrusion, in order to re-create a steel ornament of a parisian balcony). And of course, drawing a 2D spiral and extruding it doesn't work (this object can't be extruded...but don't know why). So here is my question : how do you guys do to create a normal 3D spiral ? PS : my english is bad. Really sorry for that. PS : i'm a beginner...so sorry for that dummy question. Quote Link to comment
islandmon Posted May 30, 2009 Share Posted May 30, 2009 There are many different types of spirals. Try: frontview >draw line of any length>select line>goto Menu>Model>3dPowerPack> 'Create Helix-Spiral' > Dialog>insert parameters>draw 3d spiral Quote Link to comment
Gregos Posted May 30, 2009 Author Share Posted May 30, 2009 (edited) Great trick. So far, i've got my spiral ok (just one like in 2D...but in 3D). Ok, next, i try to extrude the spiral. Doesn't work. Then, i make a little cube to "extrude it along path". Doesn't work (i guess that it is because the 3D spiral isn't a 3D object). So i keep this little cube and a "Duplicate along path" with a large number of duplicates. In Wireframe, it look extactly like the thing i want to do. But once rendered, i've got something like a flat surface that fills the space between the turns. (don't know if what i say makes sense for you...hope so). Any idea about what i did wrong (i mean, how to get rid off this surface ?) Edited May 30, 2009 by Gregos Quote Link to comment
islandmon Posted May 30, 2009 Share Posted May 30, 2009 The 3D Helix-Spiral is a Parametric Object . Once you get the correct Spiral configuration , you will need to ungroup it. Result is a NURBS Spiral Path to use with a NURBS Profile for ExtrudeAlongPath. Quote Link to comment
Pat Stanford Posted May 30, 2009 Share Posted May 30, 2009 You could also draw a "profile" of half of the shape and then do a sweep with a pitch and multiple turns (i.e. 720 degrees, 1440 degrees, etc.) Quote Link to comment
Gregos Posted May 31, 2009 Author Share Posted May 31, 2009 Many thanks for your tricks and tips. It works ok now. I also guess that i now understand why it didn't work before. So thanks a lot for your help. Quote Link to comment
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