Hi all
Blender historically is very poor at sweep to rail, sweep along path tools
I googled today to see if there are some changes to the path tool.
via geometry nodes you can do it better now but this is way to complex for a simple task
does anybody know of some better add-ons easy to use for sweep commands along 2d and 3d profiles?
this is an area a poly modeler like sketchup is really good at.
Something like this? Haven’t tried it.
What is too complex? Make curve, make profile, connect to nodes, done.
if you are familiar with GN then no
interior design students think differently and also for myself a simple task like sweep should not require a geometry node method.
it is just too much to learn and keep in mind for a simple task that in other apps is just a tool button.
Since you mention interior design, custom profiles in the bevel tool & modifier are good for crown molding.
interior design students think differently
what an excuse! Being an interior design student doesn’t give you a freecard for not having to learn how to use the software that you intend to use…
BTT: In the curves data properties you can define a custom profile as the bevel geometry:
Interior design students should be taught to properly use the software by the instructor who is paid to teach them.
You can make setup once, save it, and have that tool one click away every time you need it. But you seem to have strong disregard for nodes. Which is fine, one can always work with tools others created and get good results, but beware that interior designer that decides to learn nodes will always have upper hand on one that doesn’t in the market.
Exactly, what is the difference between using traditional tools and node based ones, you can simply use them both.
Plus with nodes you get the joy of creating them yourself!
Exactly this. One does not have to build the entire node grid every time they want to sweep something. Use an existing group/preset.
Or just keep the students using SketchUp.
@Zebrahead
yeah that case works where you sweep along a smooth path.
Go ahead and make that with sharp corner - wait cannot.
@thorn
I am not sure what that comment is supposed to be about
“taught to properly use the software by the instructor who is paid to teach them.”
@nickberckley and @DNorman
in theory, you are right - students who learn a tick more than just SketchUp always will have an advantage.
Classroom reality is something different - specifically when the industry uses SketchUp because of its ease of use and is very difficult to convince to diversify or move on.
If the built in tools don’t give you the flexibility that you need, you either have to make them on your own or search for them.
But i don’t see the difficulty in using some pre built Geometry Nodes setup as a modifier 
i don’t think it will get much more simpler than that…
I highly recommend checking out zeroskilz z-Curve-Sweeper or higgsas Even Curve to Mesh node
here you can see that in 2D it works well but in 3D it falls apart.
This is an old problem - really old - I am with blender since 2001 
And yes you can use Geo Nodes.
My point is that this is too much work for them.
And if we all are honest this is also excessive for such a basic command.
if you like Geo Node and use it daily also as a tool then it is a no brainer.
but people who don’t spent much time in modeling for them it is a pain.
But you don’t even have to do anything in the Geometry Nodes editor - you can just use it as a modifier (like the Bevel modifier for example) in the modifiers tab.
Ah - that I did not realized
Thank you for pointing that out
