Spun Array Modifier

Support Modeling
1

Hello.
I’m having trouble with the array modifier. I’m trying to apply it to an object consisting of a single edge and use an empty as the offset, in order to create a string art-like pattern (please see attached blend file). It works, but when rendered there seems to be a problem with the z-buffer? Or with something else, I’m not sure what, but it seems that blender thinks some of the arrayed lines are further from the camera than others and thus more of them are hidden by the box (just compare the 3d view and the render). Can anyone tell me what’s going on here?

Second question, related to the same scene. Is there a way to display only the string inside the box? So, essentially a boolean intersection on the two, not showing the box, but without all the extra garbage edges the boolean creates (since I’m rendering the line with a wire material, all those extra edges show up). Is there another way, with masking maybe, to create the same effect?

Thanks for the help! Just let me know if this doesn’t make sense, I’ll try harder.

Trygve

Attachments

test.blend (410 KB)

2

It’s definitely a problem with the wire rendering of the material.
I’m not sure how to fix the issue but you can easily get the effect you’re after by doing it slightly different.
I extruded the edge to make a thin plane and used a surface render for the material.

The second question I would have to think about. I would try turning the alpha to zero on the box without selecting transparency so only the world shows through. Put a shadless plane behind the box to block out the rest of the world then map your lines to the world.

Attachments

test two.blend (514 KB)