ray isaacs Posted September 20, 2014 Share Posted September 20, 2014 there must be an easy way to do this, but... how can i stretch a simple sphere into an elongated shape? (i did it in cinema 4d and imported the 3ds file into vw...kind of awkward to say the least, which gives me a chance here to say: still one of those wishing for direct c4d import into vw. the two compliment each other.) cheers, ray Quote Link to comment
mike m oz Posted September 20, 2014 Share Posted September 20, 2014 Convert to Nurbs and then stretch it using the handles. Quote Link to comment
ray isaacs Posted September 20, 2014 Author Share Posted September 20, 2014 thanks, mike. i suspected that and tied it. tried it again after your message. i can see that it should work, but i can't find an easy way to get the simple result i'm after: elongating the sphere along its axis. in c4d i simply click the scale button and drag the vertical handle along the axis to the shape/distance i want. is something that straight forward not possible in vw? it probably is, i just haven't discovered it yet. cheers, ray Quote Link to comment
mike m oz Posted September 20, 2014 Share Posted September 20, 2014 Vectorworks doesn't have that editing mode. You might have to resort to trial and error stretching to get what you want. Quote Link to comment
Patrick Fritsch Posted September 20, 2014 Share Posted September 20, 2014 Would the bulge tool work in 2015 on a sphere? Quote Link to comment
bcd Posted September 20, 2014 Share Posted September 20, 2014 Yes - it does. Nice one - this converts it to a Generic Solid which can then be controlled in the OIP. In VW2014 you can Modify>Convert to Nurbs and then Modify>Scale Objects>Asymmetric Quote Link to comment
mike m oz Posted September 21, 2014 Share Posted September 21, 2014 Good lateral thinking Patrick. Thank you. Quote Link to comment
ray isaacs Posted September 21, 2014 Author Share Posted September 21, 2014 good thinking, patrick. and it worked. not the bulge function itself, which is good addition, but will take some getting use to. (see attached example of one of the weird things i came up with.) however, converting the sphere to a generic solid, as bcd pointed out. i'm sure that the bulge function could work with practice, but is a bit clumsy for my unpracticed hands. and unfortunately you cannot simply convert a sphere to a generic solid using modify>convert objects... that would be simpler and more direct. add to wish list. another quirk is the direction of height, which is not vertical, but horizontal. (see other attachment.) now that the 64 bit hurdle is passed, hopefully attention can be put into making operations like this a lot more straight forward. thanks for all of the input. ray Quote Link to comment
ray isaacs Posted September 21, 2014 Author Share Posted September 21, 2014 still at it... with a little more finesse i got the bulge to work better. the result was more of a lozenge shape (see attached). can this be controlled by settings in the deform tool? i didn't see anything. reading bcd response again and using the suggested the nurbs, asymmetrical scaling, the result is more of an ellipse, which is what i am after. this seems like the best solution given the options. (or do it in c4d.) cheers, ray Quote Link to comment
Patrick Fritsch Posted September 21, 2014 Share Posted September 21, 2014 (edited) I agree the 3d tools really need to catch up with the times. NV should really have a good look at others like Modo's subdivision surface modeling tools and Rhino's nurbs. Even Sketchup with a couple plugins is a pretty hot dang do it all modeler...thankfully imports from these are pretty robust now. Edited September 21, 2014 by Patrick Fritsch Quote Link to comment
Kevin McAllister Posted September 21, 2014 Share Posted September 21, 2014 VW really needs a proper object axis handle with the ability to move/scale/rotate for each axis. If you need a shape of a specific size and proportion, you're better off to draw an oval, cut it in half and use the sweep command to make it 3d. Kevin Quote Link to comment
mike m oz Posted September 21, 2014 Share Posted September 21, 2014 (edited) You can do it reasonably accurately with loft and one rail: Method: - To create the profile curve I drew an ellipse in plan view, converted it to a nurbs curve and then sliced it in half on the long axis with the Split tool. - To create the rail profile I then switched to a left elevation view and drew a circle of 1 mm radius and then converted this to a nurbs curve. - Then with the Loft tool set to one rail mode I clicked on the circle rail nurbs curve first and then on the half ellipse profile nurbs curve. Clicking on the check mark on the Tool Bar and then clicking OK in the dialog box which opens completes the modelling of the egg shape. I always try and model at the origin of the file because it makes it easier. Often I will do that in a separate file and then transfer the result to the file I need the object in. Edited September 21, 2014 by mike m oz Quote Link to comment
mike m oz Posted September 21, 2014 Share Posted September 21, 2014 The method I have outlined above has a circular profile at the mid point of the 'egg'. I tried using an elliptical rail shape to see if it would squash in the other direction but unfortunately it still ends up creating a circular profile at the mid point of the 'egg'. Therefore if you want that you will need to use the first method I suggested which is to convert a sphere to nurbs and then stretch it using trial and error to get it close to the size you want. Quote Link to comment
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