AB is on on the XY plane, parallel to the X axis and CD is parallel to the Z axis.
I want to bend the segment AB to the outside of a cylinder, along the XY plane. I’ve seen some articles talking about this, but I had trouble following them. I can, if needed, make a curve circle to match the radius I need, if it helps in the process.
The main goal is to give segment AB a curve of a specific radius (that matches the radius of another object) on the XY plane.
How can I match the curve/radius of another object on one segment of another curve?
If you turn on Curve Tools addon (comes with blender but off by default) it adds fillet option to right click menu. Distance of fillet is controlled in last operation box:
Okay. One of those things where I saw it so perfectly in my head I thought everyone could. Oops! (Also, I was trying to keep things short and simple without getting into what may be lots of extra details.) Here’s a different shot that should make it clear:
I want to wrap the curve around this cylinder (or one like it). Originally I was thinking that I only had to fit segment AB to the curve, but I realized that would leave the rest sticking out. Once I get that curve right, I’m going to put a bevel around it, like this:
Then convert to a mesh and modify it slightly to this:
I’ve tried working with the mesh shape to curve it, but I’ve had a few issues with that. I think I’d be better off if I could just make the entire curve fit to the cylinder, but I could be wrong. If it’s easier to do the rest of the work and take the mesh and curve it so it fits around the cylinder, I’m open to that as well. This is going to be used for a boolean to create a slot in the cylinder for a nub on another part to slide into and along.
I added it okay, but I’m getting odd results. You can check out what I said above to OkiDoki for clarification, since I added an image for illustration and clarified what I wanted - including my misunderstanding that need the entire curve to follow the curve of a certain radius. I thought I could do it with just segment AB. When I tried using Fillet (is that said “Fillet” or “Fillay”?) I got frustrating results. With just points A and B selected, I went from the curve I had:
Forgot to include that I’ve already tried what I thought was the obvious way to do this: The Shrinkwrap Modifier. I did and the curve went right around the edge, but looks like Segment AB is not fully curved and may even be partly straight:
It becomes really obvious when I add a bevel to the curve:
But after what @Format64 has found about the radius not being applied completely to the curve, either, as I write this up, it occurs to me this might be an overall issue. It’s possible, with both methods, that the vertices are lined up on the curve, but that the line in between is not fully adjusted.
So I can match it by hand, which I was trying to avoid, since this is for 3D printing and I want to be sure things fit smoothly, or maybe I could just subdivide the heck out of that segment of the curve and try that.
There are a few ways to match another object to a curved one. I know these two reasonably well:
Shrinkwrap
stealing geometry from the curved object.
I tend to use the latter a lot; that way I know everything will line up perfectly and will have an appropriate number of vertices too, so there’s less of a chance of intersecting meshes that need to be cleaned manually.
Here I’d make a loop cut, and then duplicate the section of it I need plus one of the vertical edges, and Separate by Selection. Adjust what needs adjusting; like shorten the vertical, and vertex bevel the corner. Then convert the new mesh to curve, add the bevel, offset by enough so it matches. Convert back to mesh (this last step is where one can control the output resolution of the curve so one gets back as much geometry as one needs – it takes a little practice; by default the conversion gives a cactusload of vertices).
I learned most of my initial information about curves from Karim Joseph; his entire Curves Encyclopedia series is well worth watching, but this is the episode that deals with wrapping: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-n6g5AiBkk
I’m experimenting with Shrinkwrap right now - I think that’ll work, I just have to subdivide the long part of the curve. I realize that Shrinkwrap flattens an object to the outside surface, so doing this with the curve, before adding a bevel, might make things work much more easily.
I never thought of this and, when you started describing it, couldn’t be sure what you meant until I backed up and re-read it. I started reading it with preconceived ideas in my head.
Oh - that’s going to be seriously helpful! Bookmarking it so I can watch it when I have time tomorrow to go through a number of his videos.
I was already thinking about Shrinkwrap when @piranha4D made his suggestion. I subdivided the long part of the curve into 64 vertices:
(Shot done after I curved it to the cylinder - forgot to screenshot it before that.)
Then I used Shrinkwrap and it matches the curve of the cylinder:
So it now matches the curve just as I need - but there’s one other issue: I need to delete some edge loops to be able to bevel the end. I’m working on that, but it’s a different issue and if I need help on it, I’ll start another thread.
