Making arrows in blender

Support Modeling
#1

Hey all,

I am using blender to do the diagrams for an experiment. Maybe its not the most appropriate program, but at least I know how to use it. I am trying to add arrows to my diagram to point in the direction of motion. I am also trying to add an arrow that signals rotation. I want to add them in blender instead of photoshopping them in in order so that they have a 3d orientation if you know what I mean, as in
http://www.8palm.com/arrow.gif
Of course, I would want my arrows to look professional.
Should I use meshes to model them? Or maybe curves? I was thinking that planar arrows would look better.
Also, is there a way to render some parts of the model in perspective and some (the arrows) in orthographic? Thanks!

#2

Here are a few arrow BLEND files. Basically you can replace the curve the arrow travels along with your own curve that fits your needs.

The arrow stretch to via bones is probably the most useful. You can animate the head and tail bones and the arrow will travel along the curve. Also, if you twist a point on the curve, the arrow will twist as it travels through that point.

The arrows along pipe BLEND file is a texture based solution. It is a way to cause a texture map to travel along a cylindrical surface. Sometimes comes in handy.

The arrow impacts file is a great 2.5 example as well.

Attachments

arrow_StretchTo_via bones2_1a.blend (261 KB)arrows_along_pipes.blend (200 KB)ras_deformable_arrow_1b.blend (388 KB)25_arrow_impacts_06.blend (185 KB)