I remember when i was making Super Blender Galaxy i had need for some kind of curve algorithm for marios flying abilitys, and for the star launcher platforms. I managed to use a script in making an set of orientated empties to produce the curve path.
Now that I am currently working on assets for a new project i want to make all/most of what i was in need for back then. kinda like revamping my style. So in my search for making a custom/procedural curve i found that the Catmull Rom curve worked best, but i didnt know that at firsts so i accidentally stumbled onto other types of curves that may suit other applications other that what i needed.
my needs only were demanding a curved path, but as i moved forward i realized i could access the objects vetex matrix and apply the curve formulas over the entire object allowing for an entire 3d object to move though the curve like a latice(in some sense). This gives rise to trail effects that i had always been wanting in the game engine. I cant stress how valuable i thinks this file is.
So just to show what can be done i’m gonna give some example blends at the basic level of what i’m trying to convey.
please understand that these are just tests.
here are some shader files martinish help out with. I owe him some thanks. it still needs some tweaking though. I dont like how z_axis is aways facing up seems like it makes it flip around.
It looks really great, can’t beleive no one has commented on it.
I’ve done some trails before, but they weren’t anywhere near as complex.
I bet you could do some great stuff with this. The ones from the first post were a little processor intensive, but the shader ran really quickly on my PC.
I went back the the file and was messing with tubes, and i made this demo model. Its not textured good it just has a color gradient. It is able to keep the mesh shape pretty well in the curve. this is perfect for tracers and other things. I will put a file up soon.
the next image is just to show what shader file 2.2 does. Seems like this shoud be getting more outthere a little more. I guess i did explain well what these files can do. so in the fire shader curve. the textures are acually scrolling along the curve giving kinda like a “God of War” sword trail effect.
Oh I just noticed this thread. It’s amazing to see someone using those curve equations to do an amazing simulation like that! Keep it up.
Btw, How about using the bezier function built in mathutils? It might give you better performance and code clarity rather than pure trigonometry.
also here is a weird tweak of that file. its a uvsphere and the curve distance set to .2. so the sphere just wants to stay a sphere. lol
looks like a water drop hence the file name.
yea i made it just for that. i havent looked at it in a while, but doing that should be easy. let me have a go at it. thanks for becoming a member. was hoping this thread wouldn’t get burred. Its actually a very valuable asset.