Steven Jones <ste### [at] tsncc> wrote:
> Yeah that would be great Chris.  Is there a way to figure out tangents
> and normals to the curve?

The spline tangent and acceleration (as well as the distance along the
curve) are by default calculated and returned when using the automatic
spline animation and object creation features.  The normal of the spline can
also be calculated, and I might add this as a feature, although you can use
the vector cross product of the tangent and acceleration.

For the animation, the direction of travel and curvature is also calculated
to automatically bank (roll), pitch, and turn the object/camera being
animated.  When creating spline-based objects the component parts (the
macros offer a choice of cylinders/cones, blob spheres, predefined link
objects, torus coils, and torus pipes) are automatically rotated to follow
the spline.

Post a reply to this message