Have you had some strange disortion making ribbon in Spline Obj room? I used some points to make curves on a ribbon. Some curve point caused opposite stench direction. Is it a bug or I did osmething wrong? Waldoo

When you drag out the handle, if it curves the wrong way, drag the handle in the opposite direction.

Yes but its not good for serious modeller. its very hard to fit the ribbon onto the thin curve tube. Is it something that eovia need to fix? Waldoo

I'm not sure I really understand the problem here but if I wanted to make a ribbon I think I would choose "pipeline extrusion" under Geometry in the spline modeler. Would this help?

In Spline working rooom. Select Extrusion Envelope/Free and Extrusion Method/Pipeline Draw a line on the section with "Pen Tool". Hit Ctrl+Shift+C to center it. Select Sections/Create and Sections/Create Multiple... Put "1" to create multiple cross sections, click ok. Drag the middle section points to make it 6 sided primitive.

Convert the edge points into curve and drag the handle to make curved ribbon. As you can see that its not following the blue line as it should be. Waldoo

Here is other picture to see the disortion better

It would work much better if there were sections for all sides; left to right and back to front and top to bottom for the curve points. It'll be very advanced and unlimited modelling for very complex shaping in spline working room. Waldoo

Maybe someone else can help out better than I but it seems the first problem is that you are not creating a solid just a 2D object and I think the spline modeler is having difficulty with that. Rather than just putting a line on the cross section why not a very thin box. Additionally there should be no need to make any other cross sections to make a ribbon with variations in width as you show here. You will also find that handles on curve points can be adjusted in ALL plains kind of independently. Hope this puts you on target....

OOps for "plains" insert "planes" :)

I played around in C2 using a single line as a cross section. I did NOT use pipeline extrusion. I was able to wiggle the ribbon in two planes as shown here. I did not add any further sections.

If I do add other cross sections I can get some really bizarre shapes but it gets difficult to see what points are doing what!

I'm still confused on this. What kind of ribbon exactly are you trying to make? -Kix

A curved Pipe and curved ribbon to fit on. Its what I am trying to make. Waldoo

First of all the curve point is not working very well in spline modeling. It happens to all my other models. With curve handles on the wall is like magnetic nurbs, its not good because is calculated based on path and and reaching points. It make modeling unstable. I strongly suggest that Eovia make sections for all dimension; left to right, top to bottom, front to back sections. And path branches for separated pipeline. So, the curve points can control the modelling better especially for complex modeling. I think they would make it for Carrara 3. Waldoo

I'm not really sure you needed the extra cross section in the original model you posted. You can simply add another point along the sweep path and change the envelope correspondingly. I can see that there is some difficulty between the sweep envelope that's shown and the final object that's generated. I also think you may have the handle on your first point along the sweep path reversed (hard to tell for sure). -Kix

Is this what you mean by a "curved pipe and a curved ribbon"?

I should've posted this picture before. I just could picture how erronous the curve point could cause on models. Sailor Ed yes but, you can see how unstable this model are with the curved pips and a ribbon.

Here is a picture I tried to flat the blasted pipe. Like I said before the Curved point on the wall is magnetic nurbs and it only attracts any nearest polygons. That is why I think it need X, Y, and Z selection for better curve control (nurbs) including separated paths. It is kinda hard to make separated spline for each object because I would have to use little scene preview to make the ribbon to fit in. IT is very simple with curved pipe and ribbon but not with my other complex models. My other complex models are not just with pipe and ribbon, they are made with some complex shapes. I had to overwork to make it the exact model I had in mind. I can not post my complex models here to preserve my models from copying. I would like to see some improvement in Spline with XYZ selections with ability to separate paths for better curved point control for any polygons within path. It is for advanced and complex modelers. Waldoo.

(scratches head) Ok, just one last thought, though I have not worked with this. it should be possible in the vertex modeler to sweep a cross section along a polyline or if you need various different sections how about doing a loft? Seems like a different approach/program is needed here. Best of luck!

(Scratches ear) Loft is not the tool I am talking about. Ok if you want to make snakes on a woman's head like Medusa. How can you make a head and snakes in Spline? Mesh is possible but it does not have curve point tool & path(s) to move snakes. You would need pathes for each snake from a head (Branches from a stem). That feature would save us a lot of work! XYZ selections and multiple branch path(s) with curve tool is must to have. Mesh and current version of spline would be useless if Carrara have that feature. Waldoo

Mesh room is really bad because of the multiple displays. 3 out of 4 perspective camera tilt and pan is disabled instead of limiting its rotation to move the points around. That is one of reasons why I am focused in Spline modeling. Waldoo

In the mesh room you can set how many displays there are by the little buttons on the right top side, but I've found four to be very useful. Why not make one snake in the spline modeler, make a head in the mesh modeler, convert/ copy the snake into the mesh modeler, and link it to the head model (i.e. empty a polygon where you want the base of the snake, and attach the snake to it). (You could then bone the snakes so you can animate)

Yes I know that one. Wouldn't you want to do all in room at once, able to see everything in there, and move snake exactly where you want em to be. With current version of Carrara modeling, you have to jump in and jump out alot. Bones for snake and attach snakes on the head would work. But, you have missed some of my points. Head skin and snake skin would show the line when attached. Sigh, let me think of another example for my universal modeling idea. A lip is complex model. It took me 1 1/16 minute making this lip. The top-middle lip is not following the curve point because of conflicts with other edges and polygons. I am unable to add curve points on the floor because its not close to the top-middle lip. I will post a picture of it with added curve points on floor. Waldoo

Here is added curve points on the floor. You can see the disorted lip. Anyone agree that we need Universal Modeling with XYZ selections and branches for path to control curves better? Waldoo

Here is an image (in about a minute) of what I mean (I think we got crossed up (I was saying you'd make one finished object in the vertex modeler)). I think it is pretty self explanatory, and pretty odd looking. I made the odd spline horn in the spline modeler, and then converted it to a vertex object (model room->edit->convert to..). I then lofted from the terrible vertex whatnot to make one mesh (vertex) object. I then used one shader with a texture map over the entire object (you'd have to do something with uvmapper to make a smooth transition in coloring between skin and snake). Don't get me wrong, we do NEED better modelers (i.e. NURBS please), but for now we must make do. Bye-the-by, sorry if I've gotten the wrong end of the stick again. EMC

good tutorial. I am gonna use it. :-) Trust me with my "Universal Modeling" idea it would make modeling alot easier, fast and easy to understand where the lines are. I am abusing myself with spline and curve points trying to make the exact model I had in my mind. I have full cup of asprins. Waldoo

I want to impress that with XYZ Selection would be very close or on the edge of the object to control the curve points better. Waldoo

Yeah this entire thread didn't make any sense to me. I don't see how the lips was difficult, and couldn't you use shapes for some of what you were trying to do? Anyway, I have no clue what you were trying to do:) It seems you are making things more complex then needed, the spline modeler is meant to be simple. If you want detailed construction use the VM or use Amapi 5 which comes with Carrara. Anyway, reexplain what you are trying to do, maybe we can figure out how to do it in the spline modeler, a ribbon and a pipe? Definetly sounds like something that needs shapes. Brian

I do not think you realize that the curve (NURBS) control is unstable for any serious modelers. And, Yes Spline is meant to be simple. If Eovia add XYZ Section and paths for branches in spline, we could benefit alot from it for simple and complex shapes. You could easily make very detailed human figure. I won't touch Amapi, 3D Studio Max, Lightwave, Softimage, Cinema. All those softwares. I spent too much money on some high end softwares and wasted too much of my time on it. Carrara is a fine software but not best yet. I managed to make some models within hours with Carrara in my evenings. The photo shown is made in spline with limited control points. If I had XYZ sections, it would be more detail than it is and completion time would be much faster. Waldoo

I really would suggest using Amapi, it has NURBS support. The splines in Carrara, use an entirely different method to model. I agree more abilities in the spline modeler would be nice, I'd rather see them improve the VM, the way it subdivides, the tools, etc. Don't forget Amapi comes free with Carrara! Brian

I can't stress enough how useful the vertex modeler is. I initially came from Raydream 3d (much like Carrara 3d Basics), and in it I hadn't the use of the vertex modeler. The thing is really bloody useful, it changed my life... Er modeling life that is. What you've been wanting is, probably, what every Carrara user wants, NURBS. But even if we don't have that, the vertex modeler is extremely powerful next of the spline, and I hardly ever use the spline unless I need a complex extrusion path. The addition of subdivision modeling has made the vertex modeler all the more powerful. So while we are all waiting for Carrara 3, try to remedy yourself with it, its worth the headache and time. EMC