-If I have a cyclical Bezier curve with lots of internal points, how may I convert it into the 3D, curved NURBS surface? How may I “fill it in” to turn into into a flat surface, in one hit, not in mesh mode?
-How may I do the same as previous with a series of “cyclical”, “polygonal” mesh lines in mesh mode, in one hit, without doing the whole as a series of 3 or 4 points?
-If I have different ends of two bezier curves touching, how do I merge them? I have found that I may extrude the two points, and <ctrl> + <j> them after that. Are they touching and merged properly then?
-Is there a quick or default way to add a straight, new bezier, where the handles are aligned and the handles are around the right way, or do I just fix this numerically and copy the relevant numbers?
One Bezier loop is not enough to define 3d surface. You’d need several loops where each would have its fixed Z value - isoline.
You can generate approximate mesh surface from such isolines using Bsurfaces addon.
Bezier Curves do not need to be cyclic to generate mesh surfaces using Bsurfaces: https://vimeo.com/26339130
If am constructing straight line edges through all 3 dimensions using straight lines, I use mesh mode.
However, if I wish to have the curvature option and assistance with it, I use beziers in curve mode.
I can create a flat surface by shift-selecting the dots in a mesh polygon and pressing fill.
-How can I do an equivalent “generate surface” if my outline (or less?) is one or more bezier curves, and I want Blender
to auto-generate the most parsimonious curvature surface for me (presumably a NURBS surface)?
Welp. Quite a simple question leaving ontological simplicity aside- do you have some image like “I have this”&“I want it to be like this”, “Before&After”?
As a side note: Blender is a polygon modelling software which (by accident?) happen to have something of Non Uniform Rational B-Spline surfaces in its rudimentary form and this is not much used therefore. Rhino, Solidworks would suit you much better in this regard; i can not name any of FOSS alternatives though.
Second, there is sporadic ongoing discussion concerning introducing CAD features in Blender but so far non CAD opinion prevails (think - modelling ‘by eye’).
Blender is able to generate patch to fill the perimeter shape, if that is what you ask for. There’s even Laplace smoothing on created inside vertices available. All you need to do is to convert Curve to mesh Alt-C and use GridFill (Space bar-search for this).
Note that conversion back to NURBS is not possible. http://www.pasteall.org/blend/41875
Not quite what I’m after. I’m used to just adding a NURBS surface, manipulating that,
putting an adjacent one to that and so forth.
-In terms of construction, while avoiding mesh mode, if I already have the outline I want
for my end result composite/single NURBS surface, how can I assemble an outline
of a 3D curve and then get Blender to generate the curved surface in place for me?
If required, what is the add-on required for this?
Blender curves are as basic as they come .
You get surface on a 2d curve and only bevel on a 3d one.
Only option is to add a nurbs surface and play with it.
I have believed as much so far with Blender. I can create a subdivision surface if my outline
is in mesh mode. However I can’t <ctrl> + <c> the mesh edges afterwards to convert those edges to curve (bezier) mode. At least not while keeping my subdivision surface.
-Does creating a subdivision surface via modifier create a true continuous curved surface, and not
a polyhedron made to look better via shading?
-Is there a way to grant my subdivision surface NURBS surface like edit handles? I am expecting not.
-Why can’t I add/apply a subdivision surface, via modifier, while in curve mode? Is there an add on, development work or other plans to implement this?
-Can my question be referred on to someone else, perhaps more expert who could answer these questions a little more authoritatively?
Also there is no need to use a subdevision modifier on nurbs.
It wouldnt get smoother, nurbs are allready a defination of a curve between two points, and not a straight line.
There is though a resolution option under the curve properties, increasing that, would cause the nurbs to mesh convert to use more segments
Also not sure how well you know blender, but once you made a surface you select al mesh faces and aply smooth shading.