Quote - I would refer you of course to Douglas Adams; So long and thanks for all the Fish.

 
Haha, yes!  Now wouldn't Wonko the Sane's house be good subject matter for a render?

I'm not sure if Horo from the Daz forums is a member here but when I needed something similar he pointed me at one of his excellent tutorials for a Bryce mdae posable, flexible pipe which might just be what you're looking for.  It's based on a very clever use of a Bryce path and metaballs.

Here's the link to the page on his website:

http://www.horo.ch/raytracing/tuts/online/tut10/minitut10_en.html

Regards,
Steve.

Haha, I just watched the programme and I think you wuz robbed!  Excellent idea, should've won by a mile!!

One question though, would you have had a waterproof version?  I had goldfish as a kid y'see...

Hi, I know exactly how happy you are, I've just bought a Core i7 system myself as an upgrade from my old Pentium D and you're so right, it's staggeringly fast!  Expensive, perhaps ( I went for overclocking and water cooling too) but in the long run as an upgrade from an older generation processor I think it's great value for money, even for a home hobbyist like myself.  In the week and a half since I bought it my productivity has gone through the roof.

There's some Bryce specific render benchtest timings here http://www.alexpensotti.com/bench2.html which may be of use to anyone considering a new PC, and not just the Core i7's.  Top of the chart though (at the time of posting) is a similarly overclocked Core i7 system which does the test render in 2m 22s.  I've mailed Alex my screenshot which is half that at 1m 16s but it's not up on his site as yet.

The freedom a fast PC gives you to really explore your art in general, and Bryce in particular, is a pure joy.

Regards,
Steve.

Ah I see, I misunderstood and didn't realise you wanted to use it outside of Bryce.  I hope you get sorted  :o)

Quote - ...kiwi_gg,

I've already got smartpipe, but can you export the resultant straps?...

I had a similar need for flexible/poseable pipes (rather than straps) and Horo pointed me at a tutorial on his website.  It strikes me that if you flattened the metaballs in his tut you could end up with a poseable strap - worth a look?  http://www.horo.ch/raytracing/sys/index_en.html#DocTop

Regards,
Steve.