Hi I decided to start over and I am making the saucer section and I when I used the follow me tool to sweep the solid around the edge of the saucer where I started is all messed up. How do I avoid this next time? I added my file progress but I would like to be about to do this myself. TIA!
I can’t tell from the state things are in what went wrong or be sure I know what you expected. Can you show what path and profile you started with when doing the followme, and what else was in the model at that time?
If you look at the last image, that is the profile I used for the front and back of this. I connected the two at every point of intersection with arched lines that matched the outline of the saucer section. I then drug it around with follow me.
That profile looks pretty straightforward. I would have expected it to follow me pretty easily. That leaves me to suspect there are issues with the path, which I can’t separate from the result in your model. I’d recommend several things for you to try:
I didn’t reduce the number of edges, but I did the other steps on a copy I pulled off to the side, and it extruded cleanly for me:
So reduce the number of segments in my curves and just weld them together?
Here’s a simple example of how to do it, this is one curve and I have given it 48 segments to make it quite smooth, depending on the complexity of your model, less is better but two few and things look angular, 24 would probably be enough but it’s up to you.
Haven’t made the curve accurate as the camera movements needed would make the gif huge, but this is the concept.
Also, be aware that follow me starts and ends perpendicular to the first and last segment of a curve, this can make for unexpected ends.
That is super helpful, thank you! Quick question: how do I make the follow me follow a certain path? because it wont line up with my blueprint if I follow it the way you showed me. Can I place a curve on the outside of the saucer to constrain the follow me?
To make the profile follow a specific path, you draw the path first, align the profile with it, select the path, activate the follow me tool, and then click the follow me cursor on the profile.
Follow me always projects the profile perpendicular to the first segment of the path. If the profile is not already oriented perpendicular, this will distort its shape along the entire path.
The algorithm used by follow me may have trouble if the path has segments that are too short relative to the size of the profile if the path curves toward the profile.
I have a new question: How do I line these escape pods up where I want them? It feels like Im still kind of stuck in snap mode and I cant get placement accuracy. You can see in the xray where I want them, but placing them in the correct place and orientation has been challenging.
Click in sequence on the scenes tabs of this SU file for ideas.
Circular array for pods.skp (189.4 KB)
