how to make a tube go through an object??

Support Basics & Interface
1

Hello there!! :wink:

i would like to have a long tube going through a circle.
what im creating looks like a molecule ( there are four circles, placed in a square and i would like to have a tube going through the cirlcles and come out the other end)
how do i make the tube so it will appear as though its inside the circle and coming out the other end please?

thanks
bina :o)

2

I would like to help you, but from your description, i cannot visualize exactly what you are trying to do. Would it be possible for you to add an illustration?

3

heyā€¦
ok i hope i can explain this better!!

http://images.google.co.uk/images?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=molecule&sa=N&tab=wi&meta=

if you click on this link you can see some molecules. im trying to do them on blender, but i dont want that many i only want four circles (or is it spheres?) and the tube (the long tube that links the circles together) to go through the circles so when i render it, it looks as though the tubes go through each of the circles rather than overā€¦

better explanation?? i hope so.

4

Are your molecules going to be transparent or opaque?

5

solid.(opaque)

6

Ok, it sounds like what you want is basically a string of beads. youā€™ll need to use ā€˜bev obā€™ function probably. Make a bezier curve, and a bezier circle. For the curve click the button in edit buttons that says ā€˜3Dā€™, and extrude/tweak the curve into the shape you want, then in edit buttons look for a blank field labelled ā€˜bev obā€™, and in that field, type in the name of the circle, as it appears in the object field. This means, not the name of a the curve, but of the object. you can rename it if you want, but by default it will be called ā€˜circleā€™ i believe. anyway, type the name of your circle in the bev ob field of your curve, and the curve will take on the shape of the circle as itā€™s thickness. Are you following? Is this what you want?
<edit> I think I am going to make a little tutorial to supplement the modelling thread on using bev ob, because the only current tut on it that I know of is not terribly clear.

7

ok im really lost in the bev ob, and allā€¦ ive not used the bezier curve n circle before :-?

im giving it a go to see what i getā€¦ if no go i will ask againā€¦

thank you Modron!!

8

Create several spheres and several tubes and resize and move everything to the intended position.

<EDIT> Example

9

Thatā€™s another way to do it I guess, but if you learn how to use bev ob you will find a million uses for it down the road, and itā€™s the only way to fly if you want to be able to adjust it, since a curve is not a solid thing, you can bend it any old time any old where.

10

do you know of any good tutorials from ur experience, that introduce BevOb? that i may be able to learn from please ?

11

no the only one I know of confused me actually, and i have no idea where it can be found since it didnā€™t work for me, but you might be able to find something by doing a search of the forum using the search function.

12

Theeth once wrote a molecule import script to import the XYZ format and basic PDB format. I didnā€™t use it for a while and now I canā€™t get it to run (suppose has something to do with python version).

If you can name your ā€œmoleculeā€ or have a coordinate file (I hope itā€™s a small one) I could try to make it a blend file. My procedure is a bit lenghty and hard to explain (uses several file convertes).