Array along a path

[YOHKOH]

Hi there

 

Hope someonw can help

 

Id there any way to array an object laong a path, incrementally roatating the object as it goes.

 

I need to produce something which looks like this.

 

http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/1838875.jpg

 

Thanks

[Ricardo Eloy]

Tools > Spacing Tool.

[YOHKOH]

Thanks

 

I was hoping to use the spacing tool but be able to incrementally rotate the object as it goes, like a helix but i don't wnat to use twist mod.

 

Ta

[Horhe]

Or ultimately just press shift + i

 

---------------------------

EDIT: i meant shortcut for the spacing tool and not the array

[robkar97]

A very powerful way of creating pretty much any array you can think if is to use the Snapshot tool. Basically, this creates "snapshots" from an animated object, so you can use the timeline to define the array.

 

To make a series of copies of objects that lie upon a spline:

1. Select the object you want to clone.

2. Animate it, so its motion is that of the "array spline" (use eg Motion tab > Trajectories button > "Convert from" button)

3. If needed, animate the rotation as well (right click the Rotate icon and type in numeric values)

4. Inspect the animation and verify it looks ok.

5. Go to Tools > Snapshot

6. Select Range, and specify the start and stop time to just cover the animated range. Instance them if you like to make the update of one object propagate to the others. Also, specify the number of copies, just as an array.

7. Click OK, sit back and watch it go!

 

Cheers,

Robert

[Horhe]

How about createing a helix with desired paramteres and using the spacing tool on that? (you would still need to adjust the pivot appropirately)

 

Ps. Shift + I is the spacing tool in max.... thats what i meant in my previous post

[Dave Buchhofer]

This should work.. go to Maxscript pulldown, New Script, paste the below in there, and just edit the numbers in the rotate_increment line to say how much each object rotates..

run it from File->Evaluate all

oh it should rotate them in the order that you select them too

 

rotate_current = eulerangles 0 0 0 --reset our additive value
rotate_increment = eulerangles 2 0 0
-- where eulerangles says its an angle, and 0 0 15 are 0 degrees X, 0 degrees Y, 5 degrees Z respectively

sel = selection as array 
--for all selected objects we will...
for obj in sel do
(
--add our increment to our current
rotate_current.x = rotate_current.x + rotate_increment.x
rotate_current.y = rotate_current.y + rotate_increment.y
rotate_current.z = rotate_current.z + rotate_increment.z
--and rotate the current object in the loop
rotate obj rotate_current
)

[Dave Buchhofer]

of course in your pic it looks like the pivot points are changing position in the object also from the center point on the left to the end of the 'stick' on the right.. slightly harder, but still easy to loop around either by setting the pivots manually or by setting them in the script also

[YOHKOH]

Thanks Rob

 

Worked a treat, just what i wanted. I'd post the test results but my company blocks image shack.

 

 

 

Dave thanks a lot, i've been loking for something to do that for ages, found one for sketchup but never for max.

 

Thanks everyone

[blowback]

Nice. A simple "tool" that I never took advantage of. and thanks 4 the script dave

[Peter M. Gruhn]

I was thinking Snapshot would be the solution to this particular model too. I'd add "use ghosting" to help get an idea of what it will look like.

[mienq.blom]

Robert ur a genius.. that snapshot stuff really works! )

so what happens if im using this to make road kerbs, but my spline is broken (several loops, not one closed spline)- how do i get the array to happen on all the splines and not just one loop?

[robkar97]

Hmmm... I'm not sure, but I think the Snapshot tool is limited to a single, coherent polyline. I tried to get it to work across multiple splines (in a single object, or multiple individual ones) with no success... sorry!

 

Robert