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View Full Version : creating large amount of rollercoaster tracks

cctman
08-16-2007, 08:53 PM
Trying to think of best way to duplicate a large amount of tracks along a spline that I already have made. It's almost like I need to do a duplicate instance along path feature. Just not sure there is a quick easy tool for what I'm trying to accomplish.

I need my tracks to go perpendicular to my spline so I need maybe something like 5000 duplicates along a spline path.

Suggestions?
phudgey
08-17-2007, 12:05 PM
what software are you using?
cctman
08-17-2007, 04:09 PM
I'm using Maya 7.0
TheNeverman
08-19-2007, 08:02 PM
create a small cross-section of the track - (circle or anvil shaped - however your track is shaped) and then shift select the curves you want the track to follow->extrude... then, (if you did this in polys as opposed to NURBS), adjust the divisions for desired smoothness.
cctman
08-21-2007, 02:11 PM
create a small cross-section of the track - (circle or anvil shaped - however your track is shaped) and then shift select the curves you want the track to follow->extrude... then, (if you did this in polys as opposed to NURBS), adjust the divisions for desired smoothness.


Thanks for your help, however, I got some advise from another forum that worked well. I don't need to extrude anything, I was looking for duplicating objects that would follow a path.

What I ended up using was the animation snapshot in combination with parenting my tracks object up to a duplicate track above it using attach motion path. That way my tracks always faced up during an animation and then when I used the create animation snapshot I was able to create thousands of ties following a complex path which would have taken me hours on end had I had to do it by hand manually.

Oh and one more thing when creating my curves I found it easier to use linear curves instead of cubic to keep my objects from rotating when I turned corners.
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