Modelling a hollow wire?

[RyanSpaulding]

Hey guys -

 

I'm trying to wrap my head around something. A client has asked that I render out a hollow, translucent wire (in a studio setting) that has all sorts of bends and curves to it and and is adjustable. What is the best way to model this so that I can tweak and adjust the wire's position and bend as needed? Thanks!

[nelpiper]

Wow, nice challenge (and headache). Maybe you can start with a cylinder, drop a edit poly modifier. Go to edge sub-object mode, select the edges you want to bend and apply a bend modifier. Since you have modifiers in the stack, your cylinder is still editable and ready to give you more segments should you need them for the bending. Hope it helps. Good luck.

[jophus14]

You could create a Loft with a line as your shape and a circle as your tube and then apply a Shell modifier to it. You will be able to adjust the line with the vertices set to Bezier.

[Iain Denby]

Loft -all the way

[JonRashid]

Yep loft for sure makes animation quick too

[Cyberstyle]

Why not use a spline with a pipe sweep modifier?

 

Set up is fast, rendering is fast, you've got all the functionality of changing the verticies to bezier curves or smooth or corner etc.., interpolation settings on the spline and also the options to adjust the sweep settings if needed.