hey guys,
i’m fighting with blenders array modifier currently.
what i’m trying to achieve is in the top left corner of the image.
as long as i use the array modifier in the 3d center everything works fine but if try to make it work somewhere else i get what you can see in the bottom left.
it only works if i create it in the center and then move it to the destination.
is there a way to make this work somehow?
cheers christian
From the bottom left image, it looks like you’re trying to use the curve modifier…
Try selecting the X, Y, Z, and their negative versions to see if that makes a difference.
Though personally, I’d consider using SPIN…
Model one, place it in position and then use SPIN to place the others…
No need for curve or array modifiers.
I may be wrong of course, I’m just going off the image you posted.
hi david,
what do you mean by spin and where can i find it?
It’s in the Toolbox on the left hand side of the screen use the T key if that not visible…
You’ll need to be in ‘edit mode’ this http://www.blender.org/manual/modeling/meshes/editing/duplicating/spin.html explains(*) it though I’d experiment first…
And as your meshes aren’t connected I’d tick the Dupli option too.
(*) It’s a bit old, from way back in the 2.6 era but it still covers the basics.
thanks, this worked great 
still it would be nice to have the possibility to work on one object and the instanced objects follow but at least there is a way
You can do this with the Array modifier, no problem. I did a quick tutorial on this for ya:
thanks ben!
blender really has the best community 
in my case though i already have got a finished object which i want to distribute on another object.
so i cannot create it in the center, parent it and then move it around.
my object has got applied transforms which makes it a bit tricky.
so lets say that cube in the video was somewhere in 3d space with applied transforms … is there still a way to use the array modifier?
You can do it with transforms applied as well – the main difference is you need to make sure you create your Empty (for the Object Offset) at the ORIGIN of your object.
Select your object then use Shift+S to set your 3D cursor to the origin of your object, then create the empty (or Shift+S to move your existing empty to the origin). If you used an Object-Offset Array with that empty, and if there isn’t any scale or rotation for your empty, all the array copies should be in the same spot.
Keep in mind that if you have the Empty aligned with the objects origin, any ROTATION of the Empty will cause the mesh to rotate around the OBJECT’S origin. This can get very confusing very fast when you have an object’s origin that doesn’t align with the object, then an empty that is moving and rotating around.
If you need more precision in your animation or shape, you may want to use the “Group-everything-to-a-master-empty” approach on a new piece, then move that piece into place.
it works!
thanks ben for explaining again
