Extending tubes in Cinema 4D?
by Steve Roberts on Oct 8, 2004 at 2:18:22 pm
I'd like to learn to extend & extrude 3D tubes, lines and arrows for motion graphics animations. However, it seems (to me) to be an overly complex thing to do in Lightwave, possibly because of the separation of Modeler and Layout.
Is it relatively straightforward to create this sort of thing in Cinema 4D?
Ideally, I'd like to be able to animate the object's growth along a path, then if necessary change its path without having to go back and re-model/re-save the object to the new path. The path doesn't need to change during the animation, so I'm not looking for a writhing tentacle/bones effect.
If there's a tutorial or book covering this, please feel free to send me in its general direction.
Re: Extending tubes in Cinema 4D? by Todd on Oct 8, 2004 at 4:24:33 pm
Just create a spline shape (or choose one of the premade shapes from the spline menu), then draw the path you want it to follow. Drag these two paths into a sweep nurbs object. Look in the manual for "sweep nurbs" for a more detailed explanation.
Re: Extending tubes in Cinema 4D? by Adam Trachtenberg on Oct 8, 2004 at 8:16:00 pm
Just to expand a little: the sweep nurb is totally parametric so you can change the path or the profile at any time--or animate one or both. Only downside is that you can only animate the growth of a sweep, i.e., the end point, not the start point. But there's a plugin called Multiple Spline Attach (MSA) that's great for moving/deforming objects along a spline. http://www.xlentplugs.com
