Hello,
I wonder if I am trying something that is impossible. I want to create a
segmented tube, using rings (short cylinders) and the duplication function.
It's easy to make one with spheres, using "orbit", but that doesn't work
with rings, because there seems to be no way to make the rings orient
themselves correctly in relation to the helix, that is, so they form a tube,
rather than looking like a wierd stack of coins. (See the file I have posted
in Moray.binaries) I have tried every combination of rotation I can think
of, and nothing seems to work. Is there a way to do this?
Thank you,
Steve Shelby

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Hi Steve Shelby, you recently wrote in moray.win:

> .... because there seems to be no way to make the rings orient
> themselves correctly in relation to the helix, ...
That is correct, the duplicate function can't do this. But if you
rotate the initial first object you can come pretty close. You can do
this after duplication. Try rotating the first cylinder around the X
axis.

- Lutz
  email : lut### [at] stmuccom
  Web   : http://www.stmuc.com/moray

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Lutz,
Thanks for the suggestion. After experimenting for some time, I realized
that the "orbit" function won't work for this particular application.
However, I discovered that I could make a cylinder, click "local
coordinates", and translate it away from the z-axis, then in the "duplicate"
dialog box, click rotation 0, 0, 6, and translation 0, 0, .5. This makes a
helix with each segment having its origin on the z-axis. That way when I
rotate the first cylinder, all the rest of them rotate in relation to the
axis of the helix. It took tweeking the rotation in x, y and z to get the
desired results, but it works!
I posted the new file (snakeything2) in moray.
Another Question: Is it possible to incorporate I.K. into this?
Thank you,
Steve Shelby

Lutz Kretzschmar <lut### [at] stmuccom> wrote in message
news:jm425uotiatlia4aj7ict0us1iva1qip58@4ax.com...
> Hi Steve Shelby, you recently wrote in moray.win:
>
> > .... because there seems to be no way to make the rings orient
> > themselves correctly in relation to the helix, ...
> That is correct, the duplicate function can't do this. But if you
> rotate the initial first object you can come pretty close. You can do
> this after duplication. Try rotating the first cylinder around the X
> axis.
>
> - Lutz
>   email : lut### [at] stmuccom
>   Web   : http://www.stmuc.com/moray

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Hi Steve Shelby, you recently wrote in moray.win:

> However, I discovered that I could make a cylinder, click "local
> coordinates", and translate it away from the z-axis, ...
You can do the same thing without using local coordinates. 

To use IK with this would be pretty tough. Well, it depends on what
you want to achieve. To make a sort of chain type thing, you don't
need to create a helix like this. You could start with a normal chain.
The way to do this would be to make a CSG object, adding in say a
cylinder and a sphere (so the joints won't cause gaps) and then make
as many segments as you need, making each segment a child of the
previous one (see moray.binaries for a screenshot of the browser)
after setting it up. 

You can't use references for IK (it won't work). Actually, it might if
you turn off 'Inherit Transforms'....

(Unfortunately, I can't post a MDL file since I am using the
development version and I can't create a MDL your Moray can read)...

- Lutz
  email : lut### [at] stmuccom
  Web   : http://www.stmuc.com/moray

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> [...] since I am using the development version [...]
hopefully completely POV3.5-compatible ?

--
#macro J(N,A)#local a=mod(N,3);#local W=<int(mod(A,4)*2),-int(A/4),9>*2;
#if(!mod(a,2))sphere{W,2,2 pigment {color rgb <a,A/10,W.x/A>*5}}#if(a<1)
sphere{x+W+x,2,2 pigment {color rgb <a,A/10,1>*10}}#end#end#if(N>3)J(int
(N/3),A+1)#end#end blob{J(29229171,0)threshold 1translate <-6,3>} // JW

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Lutz,
Thank you for your reply and the helpful instructions for IK. It looks like
it might be a bit too tedious for the number of objects I'm working with. Is
there a way to simplify the process with the use of shortcut keys?
Steve

Lutz Kretzschmar <lut### [at] stmuccom> wrote in message
news:9qp75ug5tcch5vokpg4bqffccdfo805lei@4ax.com...
> Hi Steve Shelby, you recently wrote in moray.win:
>
> > However, I discovered that I could make a cylinder, click "local
> > coordinates", and translate it away from the z-axis, ...
> You can do the same thing without using local coordinates.
>
> To use IK with this would be pretty tough. Well, it depends on what
> you want to achieve. To make a sort of chain type thing, you don't
> need to create a helix like this. You could start with a normal chain.
> The way to do this would be to make a CSG object, adding in say a
> cylinder and a sphere (so the joints won't cause gaps) and then make
> as many segments as you need, making each segment a child of the
> previous one (see moray.binaries for a screenshot of the browser)
> after setting it up.
>
> You can't use references for IK (it won't work). Actually, it might if
> you turn off 'Inherit Transforms'....
>
> (Unfortunately, I can't post a MDL file since I am using the
> development version and I can't create a MDL your Moray can read)...
>
> - Lutz
>   email : lut### [at] stmuccom
>   Web   : http://www.stmuc.com/moray

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Hi Steve Shelby, you recently wrote in moray.win:

> Thank you for your reply and the helpful instructions for IK. It looks like
> it might be a bit too tedious for the number of objects I'm working with. Is
> there a way to simplify the process with the use of shortcut keys?
Well, hard to say, since I have no idea how you currently do it :-)
But I guess there are no hotkeys that will help much in this case. I
made the first link then duplicated it as often as I would need it.
Opened a browser in one view, maximized it, then clicked on CSG001,
clicked Add, Shift-clicked on CSG002, clicked Close, clicked on
CSG002, clicked Add...... etc.

- Lutz
  email : lut### [at] stmuccom
  Web   : http://www.stmuc.com/moray

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> Opened a browser in one view, maximized it, then clicked on CSG001,
> clicked Add, Shift-clicked on CSG002, clicked Close, clicked on
> CSG002, clicked Add...... etc.
Actually, I just remembered that there's a faster way. On the browser
click on the first child, press Ctrl-C. Click on the last child in the
browser. Click into the list of subchildren on the Modify Tab and
press Ctrl-V. This inserts the objects on the clipboard as a child.
This allows you to make long chains very quickly.

- Lutz
  email : lut### [at] stmuccom
  Web   : http://www.stmuc.com/moray

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