It’s a basic addon that comes with blender itself. I remember seeing somewhere, though I can’t remember where, some kind of option to add a helical or twisted cyclinder, but now I can’t seem to find it.
A spring? There’s a helix in the Add Curve: Extra Objects, which you can add, bevel, turn into a mesh and array for needed amount of twists.
Or you can just spin a mesh Circle using the Screw modifier. Can even go non-destructive, Screw a single vertex around object origin (to make a circle), and then Screw again around an Empty with actual offset to make the helix. Can keep the amounts of segments editable this way as long as you need it.
Unfortunately I was thinking of “Twisted Torus”, I guess I’ll just have to make it myself.
Ah, Twisted Torus is in the Add Mesh: Extra Objects addon
Actually, is there a way to make this sort of twisted cylinder along a path? I know you can change the tilt of a path, but obviously manually tilting like 200 edge loops is inefficient.
No need to tilt all 200 manually. Tilt the last one, select all before it and go Control Points -> Smooth Curve Tilt.
Or you can add Simple Deform Twist modifier on the cylinder before the Curve modifier.
Thanks, I will give it a try.
When I use alt+S to try and enlarge a portion, I’m finding it does it too sharply, it makes this weird crease really quickly, do you know of a workaround for that?
I also didn’t see a smooth tilt option.
It would do that if you have a lot of points close together on the curve, I’d suggest smoothing the radius too. Both options are there in 2.81, in the Control Points menu.
Is there a way to upgrade the 2.81 interface to the 2.79 interface and hotkeys?