Help with twisted model

# 1 02-05-2012 , 05:54 PM

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I am working on some commission wrenches

BUT

How do I make these twisted handles on them?

user added image

Thanks

"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Benjamin Franklin

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# 2 02-05-2012 , 06:33 PM

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Option 1.

Since the twisted part of the wire is straight for this you can use a polygon helix primitive and three cv curves.

1. create the helix and size it for the twisted part of the handle.

2. create 3 cv curves. one that follows the looped part of the handle and one for each of the parts that extend to the gripper (one is threaded so you can also use a helix to create that part).

3. extrude the three faces (one for each of the curves) along the curves you created above.

Option 2.

For a more general solution and one that allows you to create a twisted pair of wires that follows a path you can use my "twisted wire that follows a path" workflow.

Here is a link I did for a user that wanted to create a helix for a kind of orbital path around a atom effect. This demonstrates the workflow for a CLOSED PATH...

howto - model a twisted wire that follows a path final.mp4 - YouTube

Yours is a perfect application for for demonstrating the technique for a OPEN PATH even though the twisted part is straight, so I will put a new video together for you today.

Here you go a video demonstrating how to create a twisted wire the follows an OPEN path....

https://youtu.be/yRqok3lzQ4s

"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Isaac Newton, 1675

Last edited by ctbram; 02-05-2012 at 09:32 PM.

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# 3 02-05-2012 , 08:17 PM

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I've never used CV curves, I find them very intimidating.

I'll watch the video and get back to you.

"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Benjamin Franklin

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# 4 02-05-2012 , 08:41 PM

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Yeah sure. Simple. what a laugh
This is what makes my hair fall out, trying to follow complicated tutorials
I'm gonna do this by hand

"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Benjamin Franklin

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# 5 02-05-2012 , 08:44 PM

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Yep that is why I make these videos to show how to deal with Maya's quirky behavior with Nurb's. My background is Nurb's surfacing in the Auto and Aerospace industry so I am comfortable using them. That being said though, Maya's Nurb's tools have not really been looked at seriously since Maya first came out in 1998.

They were a watered down implementation of the nurb's tools in another alias product called studio tools. Studio Tools is now Alias from (AD) and is still one of the best nurbs surfacing apps on the market. But the maya implementation stripped so much out that it was and still is (in a word) aweful. In an attempt to simplify them so that "artists" could use them more easily they ended up making them nearly impossible to use at all, even for someone like me that has used nurbs for over 20 years! lol

So in the video I give some tips like "always rebuild your curves" and also show how to deal with problems that typically arise when rebuilding, attaching curves and extruduing surfaces. These issues may have been okay 14 years ago, but it's sad they still exist in maya today. It is my hope they will one day update the nurbs and subd tools in Maya.

"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Isaac Newton, 1675

Last edited by ctbram; 02-05-2012 at 11:04 PM.

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# 6 02-05-2012 , 09:07 PM

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It's not really that complex if you understand or want to take the time to understand nurbs curves. Sorry if it was confusing, nurb's frighten a lot of people so I understand if you want to avoid them.

You can avoid nurbs curves all together for your project as the twisted pair does not have to follow a path (it's just 3 twists in a straight line). I just wanted to take the time (my time) to try and help you out with a general method for created twisted curves that follow any path.

But anyway here is the brute force way to accomplish your task....

Just create a pair of polygon helix's then manually extrude the end faces along the path you want.

That will work just fine, it just does not give you the flexibility and control you get by learning to use nurbs.

Best of luck on your project.

"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Isaac Newton, 1675

Last edited by ctbram; 03-05-2012 at 12:23 AM.

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# 7 02-05-2012 , 09:33 PM

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Yeah sure. Simple. what a laugh
This is what makes my hair fall out, trying to follow complicated tutorials
I'm gonna do this by hand

Originally Posted by n88tr

Ctbram has gone out of his way to help, a simple "thanks but thats to complicated for me" would have worked, ctbram has put a lot of years to learn this stuff may be you could put a few hours of your time to understand it.............dave