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Topic: Curved Bridge  (Read 12631 times)

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December 15, 2012, 08:45:35 pm
Hello,

It would be good to add to the current Bridge tool an option to generate curved bridges, to make it more clear I made a picture using Maya Bridge, it also permits you to use a curve/spline to control how the bridged shape will be.


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December 19, 2012, 10:40:15 am
Done.

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December 19, 2012, 08:25:10 pm
Done.

Thanks a lot!

I haven't specified this, but Maya automatically creates a curve/spline, adding this function too you would speed up the workflow, this spline should be editable after commit the bridge, so that you can change the shape.

Also it needs some way to edit the divisions in realtime, at this point, after you change some parameters, the bridge disappear.

This can also be improved adding a 3ds Max/Cinema 4D approach (with chain modifiers), a semi-procedural approach (Maya/XSI) or a procedural approach, like Houdini; what I mean is to add the possibility to edit parameters, regarding the various functions (bevel, chamfer, extrude, etc) in any situation, when you want, so that you don't have to rebuild the mesh (worst case scenario) if you want to change something.

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December 19, 2012, 10:22:10 pm
Also it needs some way to edit the divisions in realtime, at this point, after you change some parameters, the bridge disappear.

How that happed? After the bridge created, I can adjust the divisions with no problem.

Edit: If you try to bridge from two meshes, you need to merge the two meshes together in mesh mode first.
« Last Edit: December 19, 2012, 10:29:40 pm by IStonia »

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December 20, 2012, 09:00:11 am
Is the "Twist" working correctly?
It appears to be twisting the middle of the bridge, whereas I would expect it to twist the start/end of bridge(change vertex order of connection)

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December 20, 2012, 09:09:53 am
If you want to control the connection order, you need to use the two bottom options. The two 'Twists's are used to control geometry orientation along the curve. In process, the program do two extrudes from each end then blend them. That's why there are two 'Twists's.

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December 20, 2012, 09:21:43 am
I have seen the options for connection order for initial connection, but having twist options as currently implemented are to me quite strange. Certainly not as expected/ seen in other applications.
I am also seeing strange output from the "scale modifier" curve. It is certainly not giving any similar output as from the other tools that use that function, and is not editable during bridge construction.

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December 20, 2012, 09:27:46 am
The scale modifier uses the same code as the other tools. It will be editable in next update. Show me a pic?
« Last Edit: December 20, 2012, 09:29:22 am by IStonia »

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December 20, 2012, 10:44:27 am

How that happed? After the bridge created, I can adjust the divisions with no problem.

Edit: If you try to bridge from two meshes, you need to merge the two meshes together in mesh mode first.

After I create the bridge, if I change something, the bridge disappear, and I have to cancel the operation and re do it, if I want the new changes to show up.

Yes, the two meshes are merged with the Combine (Merge Meshes) option, but that's strange that today the tool works correctly, Windows mysteries.

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December 21, 2012, 08:04:58 am
The scale modifier uses the same code as the other tools. It will be editable in next update. Show me a pic?

I could not get it to repeat after re-loading the file.
I remember seeing similar problems with those functions (I did post to forum at the time) on "slide" + "modify curve", but after saving/re-loading, the problem was not there. It makes it impossible to create a sample file with repeatable example.

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December 21, 2012, 10:47:07 am
It should be better now.