I have to draw this light fixture for my office. I can not figure out how to draw the wavy circle on this light fixture. Usually if I think about long enough I find away…but I am stumped on this one.
Does anyone have an idea?
First thought that comes to mind is to draw a 2D sinusoidal curve and use it as a path for Follow Me with a circle for the profile. Then use True Bend to bend it into a circle.
Quick and dirty example. Amplitude is too high and the ends don’t quite line up. Sine curve drawn with Sine tool in the Curve Maker extension. Circle on end for Follow Me, True Bend to bend it into a circle.
@Box would have the ends meeting up like they were welded together and probably more simply than I did it.
2 Likes
Would the final shape be simpler if the sinusoidal path was bent first, and then used with Follow Me? I haven’t used True Bend, so I’m not sure what are the options and results when deforming the extruded geometry.
2 Likes
Good practice.
@TDahl I expect that would work, too.
There used to be a plugin that would draw a sinusoidal ring but I disremember what it was called and I’m thinking it isn’t available anymore. Will have to hunt.
1 Like
That does work better. I was able to make the path close up more easily when I used True Bend. I did increase the number of sides in the bend to 48 so it’s a smooth bend.
Thanks for the suggestion.
6 Likes
Less amplitude in the sine curve, bent with True Bend before Follow Me per @TDahl’s recommendation .
2 Likes
Would you not do it as a component and array it around a circle 6 times? I ask given the need to also add the candles, etc…would help down the road as well. Nicely done btw.
1 Like
It could be done that way. I guess I would probably leave the ring as a single component. I would set out where the candles need to go by referencing the peaks on original sinusoidal ring.Easy to swap out the the candles for other things (maybe flying monkies) without affecting the ring.
2 Likes
I am getting close. You have been very helpful.
I hate telling my office that I can’t draw something. They expect to see it in the warehouse tomorrow morning.
1 Like
You could certainly make the shape from an array of parts, this would be useful if the geometry was complex. Truebend makes this easy because you can decide how many you want and simply divide 360 by that number to get the bend degrees needed. You then need to find the centerpoint of the bend to get your axis of rotation, easy enough if you have good faces on the ends to inference off, not so easy with just a bent curve.
I doubt there would be much benefit to doing that with geometry this simple. If needed I would make it in one, then split to ‘6 components’.
1 Like
Something to keep in mind, creating a curve like this is one of the rare occasions where I would use an odd number of segments. It allows you to split the curve at a point that is perpendicular to an axis which makes it easy for follow me to start and end correctly.
I’ve used 5 here to show the segments better, note the nice join after the bend which you wont get if either face is off axis.
One of the idiosyncrasies of truebend is it slams two faces together at the join so it is difficult to make the join disappear. I tend to explode the group (mainly because I have keyboard shortcuts for explode then fixit101) and remove the double faces at the join then make it a group or component and smooth the edges. This gives you a clean join.
6 Likes
What no flying monkeys!!! Good job 
5 Likes
Wish I could “like” 
the whole thread! Awesome insights on method! I like when OP posts the result too!
1 Like
The OP touches on something that has been challenging for me–drawing graceful curves and shapes that aren’t necessarily repetitive or a subset of a circle, ellipse, arc, or whatever. For example, drawing a curvy meandering sidewalk–how do y’all do that? I’d love to know if it’s possible to draw a rough freehand shape and then apply a “smoothing” function that takes the kinks out. (I know, I’m asking SU to read my mind!)
You mean something like this. Fredo’s Curvizard. It has many options and settings and can be set to a shortcut key.
Just ask and the forum delivers. Thanks Box!
1 Like
No one mentioned the subtask of simply drawing a sine wave. If you want to do that with native tools, check out this thread:
2 Likes