Is there a coil or spring type curve?

[Inktvlek]

there's quite a few scripts for that, no such thing standard in Maya i'm afraid.

http://highend3d.com/maya/mel/?group=melscripts&section=modeling&sort=file_name

Goomoo Utilities sounds good, but further down there are some nice spiral only scripts aswell... The power of maya lies in it's scripts I guess :buttrock:

[trthing]

Alias' Bonus Tools has a Create Spiral Curve command.
These tools are free for download on their Website.
Kinda tricky to install, sometimes...

[Elliotjnewman]

well I'm on ver. 5 under linux and not sure if im allowed to download stuff. Ill just have to ask.

Cheers, P.s. maya should have one me thinks!!

L.

[pyromania]

You can use this, its just a simple script Alias relased. I think it got build into bonus tools eventually

copy it into a text file and save it as spiral.mel Then from inside maya you can run it from the MEL command line with the command "spiral". The script takes 3 arguments. height, radius, number of turns. So you would type something like

spiral 6 2 8



//
// Copyright (C) 1997-1998 Alias|Wavefront,
// a division of Silicon Graphics Limited.
//
// The information in this file is provided for the exclusive use of the
// licensees of Alias|Wavefront. Such users have the right to use, modify,
// and incorporate this code into other products for purposes authorized
// by the Alias|Wavefront license agreement, without fee.
//
// ALIAS|WAVEFRONT DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE,
// INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS, IN NO
// EVENT SHALL ALIAS|WAVEFRONT BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INDIRECT OR
// CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE,
// DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER
// TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR
// PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.
//
// Alias|Wavefront Script File
// MODIFY THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK
//
// Description: This script creates a curve in the shape of a spiral

global proc string spiral( float $ht, float $radius, float $numRounds )
//
// Description:
// This proc creates a spiral centred about the origin, with a specific
// height, radius and number of rounds/turns/cycles.
//
// This is done by creating a cylinder of the correct size, then
// creating a curve-on-surface on the cylinder (which is in
// the form of a spiral), then duplicating the curve-on-surface
// to get a 3D spiral.
//
{
string $cylinder[] = `cylinder -ch off -ax 0 1 0 -p 0 0 0 -r 1.0 -hr 1.0`;
scale $radius $ht $radius $cylinder[0];
string $cos = `curveOnSurface -d 1 -uv 0.0 0.0 -uv 1.0 ($numRounds*8.0) $cylinder[0]`;
string $duplicatedCrv[] = `duplicateCurve -ch off $cos`;

delete $cos;
delete $cylinder[0];

return $duplicatedCrv[0];
}

[Elliotjnewman]

Bo Selecta! That worked Sweet! thanks pyromania. Sometimes I think A/W leave things out of Maya to make you learn MEL!!!

L.

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