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Bending on the diagonal


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One of my students is trying to curve a large rectangular surface for the deck of a set she's working on. I knowingly brought her over to a computer and with an air of "prepare yourself to be amazed!" I selected the Deform tool and Bend finite limit mode and tried to curl up one corner of an extruded rectangle as she had hoped and embarrassed myself when it failed. I tried all kinds of different objects but could not get a bend on the bias. 

In the attached image you can see the extrusion curled on the 90 and the block I stuck in to be a snapping guide to the bend protractor. So you can see the direction of the curve we are after. 

The only thing I could get to work was to create a much larger surface than required and perform a solid subtraction but that seems like a clumsy option. You can see the result in on the right. I suppose a mesh or Subsurface would work too but that seems like a slow and tedious option compared to the Bend tool. 

I assume it has something to do with the poly mesh aligned to the corners and not wanting to bend on the bias. So is there a way to rotate the mesh on the object? Or some other trick that will allow for what we're trying to do? 

Thanks, 

Sean 

Bend.JPG

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Interesting...  As I suspected, it doesn't want to bend against the grid of polys. So as an experiment I made a giant rectangle. Made a 2nd rectangle the size of our curved floor. Rotated that in 2D on top of the big rectangle and did Clip.  Then I extruded the smaller 45deg rectangle cut out of the bigger one and I could use the bend on the angle. You can see the rotated mesh in the highlight. I was even able to cut a further solid subtraction out of it with no problem.  And to further confirm,  a regular 90deg bend failed.

So I guess this will work but I'd love to learn a more elegant solution. With all the amazingly crazy shapes you can get out of the deform tool, curling up a corner doesn't seem too complicated. The preview in the bend mode even shows exactly what I'm after, but you click and a second or two later you get the dreaded "Failed" chime. 

 

Rotated.JPG

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>> another fast-ish route turns out to be: 

• draw the poly shape

• convert to nurbs surface, adding as much U / V / Weight as desired (3 is a good start)

• if bend is specific height, add 3D locus over corner at desired height

• move vertice to locus

• shell result to desired thickness

Edited by mjm
poor language usage
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Sean,

 

I found it works fine?! Here's my example. I created a rectangle as a guide for snapping and bent the extrude in a side view. I've found that the Deform tool is almost useless in 3d if your bend is on a vertical plane so that's why I used the side view to get the proper snaps.

 

Kevin

 

5a11cc40bdfba_ScreenShot2017-11-19at10_21_15AM.thumb.png.2fd551315e43b54f076369a9f6861d5d.png

Bend on the Bias.vwx

Edited by Kevin McAllister
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So you drew the rec. Rotated and extruded. Created another cube on the x/y and switched to side view. Then selected the "floor" and used the protractor snapped to the side of the cube. 

I forgot I had my snapping off cause I was playing with SubSurfaces-- embarrassed emoji. 
Anyway. It still failed. 

Is that your steps above? 

Edited by SeanOSkea
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Here are my steps -

 

  1. I drew a rectangle centred at 0,0 and rotated it 45 degrees.
  2. I extruded the rectangle.
  3. I switched to side (left) view.
  4. I drew a helper rectangle for snapping on the yz plane.
  5. I switched to the Deform tool (Bend Solid / Finite Length mode).
  6. I clicked on the Extrude and it highlights red.
  7. The protractor appears in the yx orientation (because we're in side view).
  8. My first click was at the bottom midpoint of the helper rectangle.
  9. My second click was at the bottom end of the helper rectangle.
  10. I bent the object until I liked it visually and clicked.

I've had good luck using various 2d (layer plane and screen plane) objects as guides. I think that the Deform tool always fails if the snapped guide points aren't on the same plane (in this case yz). I only have two snap settings active - object and intersection - and I often work within a group to isolate myself from extraneous snaps.

 

Kevin

 

Edited by Kevin McAllister
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5 minutes ago, SeanOSkea said:

mjm
 

Thanks that's great. I was playing with that and that is a viable solution, but we're after a curve that goes beyond 90degs. Shes's trying to create a giant piece of paper that curls back on itself like a wave. 

I think this could work with some added effort. 

 

Thanks 

Sean 

This should still be possible with the Deform tool. What version of VW are you working in?

KM

5a11d1ab92408_ScreenShot2017-11-19at10_46_22AM.thumb.png.9fe066c4288cf39e5045e1764799c248.png

Edited by Kevin McAllister
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Keven

Success! I had done everything you did--EXCEPT that last sentence. I just created a helper any-old-where by extruding a rectangle rotating it and using a side.   As soon as I used the 2D poly in side view on yz, it worked no problem. How odd. 

I had no problem with my randomly positioned helper cube if I was curving on the 90s but as soon as I tried to change the angle--chime of doom. 

 

Thanks for all the help on a Sunday morning.  And Thanks Mark and mjm too. 

Sean 

Edited by SeanOSkea
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4 hours ago, SeanOSkea said:

Keven

Success! I had done everything you did--EXCEPT that last sentence. I just created a helper any-old-where by extruding a rectangle rotating it and using a side.   As soon as I used the 2D poly in side view on yz, it worked no problem. How odd. 

I had no problem with my randomly positioned helper cube if I was curving on the 90s but as soon as I tried to change the angle--chime of doom. 

 

Thanks for all the help on a Sunday morning.  And Thanks Mark and mjm too. 

Sean 

 

Glad to hear you got it to work!

 

I'm sure its related to the orthographic views aren't 3d views except in VW paradigm. VW always wants to snap into or out of the view plane (the screen aligned mode mess). Its why I still use 2d objects for guides.....

 

Kevin

 

Edited by Kevin McAllister
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