[Blender] Extrusions along curved paths

Support Basics & Interface
1

Is it possible to extrude and duplicate say a circle along a set path that it has been set to follow over a series of frames? Also, I need the circle to be able to change shape as it goes along the path, starting off large and decreasing in size to a single point at the end. Is this at all possible?

Eraph

2

You can use the BevOb (BevelObject) for curves. Take a look at this file: http://www.blenderbuch.de/tips/Trompete.blend

3

See, the problem with that is the fact that it bevels along the whole length of the curve with exactly the same shape - if there’s a way to have it narrow down towards the end to a point, I would really like to know about it.

Eraph

4

You can achieve this through IPOs after setting an animation for a surface , not a curve or anything else but a surface, along the choosen path

Placing yourself on frame 1 makes things clearer.

Once your animation is made, select the surface and set the “DupliFrames” button in the animation buttons (F5). A series of shadows will show you the eventual result of your extrusion. Create one loc/size/rot key for the surface. By manipulating the resulting IPOs you’ll be able to get all kind of results.

To make your end result real :

  • select the surface and make the shawdows real by ctrl+shift+a > make dupli real.
  • you have now a set of nurbs that you will join together by ctrl+j. This makes them one object.
  • go in edit mode and select all vertices : then skin by pressing the FKEY once.

All this is very basic. There’s a slew of other parameters you can control to achieve all kinds of results and correct problems. Try this, don’t hesitate to ask questions as the power of the method entails complexity, hence the risk I omitted some essential detail or the chance that you’ll want to know more.

Have fun.