How to create a 8-segment curve at equal angle?

[TomD]

Your description sounds like the definition of a circle.
Well in your case you'd need only a portion of the circle.
The three point arc tool will do the trick. In the tool attribute you can select the amount of sections you want.
I hope this helps.

[rock]

Thanks TomD. That's what I wanted. A second question follows as a result:

I have snapped the 11 black curves to the 11 vertices of the blue curve. How would I rotate each black curve so that it is normal to the blue curve at each vertex point? I will eventually loft the 11 black curves. Please see the second attachment.

The very bottom and very top curves are at the right position. I have to rotate the inner 9 black curves so that each is normal to the blue curve at the corresponding vertex.

[stallion151]

you could try an animated snapshot, just attach one curve to the longer one and attach to motion path, then snapshot where you it.

[rock]

Stallion,

When you get a chance, can you describe your steps in more detail? Reading Maya documentation about animated snapshot in addition to your description still leave me puzzled.

Thanks.

[rock]

Or as a corollary to the question posed above, how can you position a curve so that it is normal on a plane or point of a sphere. Please see the attached figure (Snap10.jpeg). What I did was:

1. Create a ellipsical half-sphere
2. Extrude the faces along the outer edge of the sphere so that I can reference the normal.
3. Attach or snap each white curve to the corresponding point on the sphere.
4. Rotate each white curve until it matches the normal using the extruded edge as a reference.

I think this method of rotating each white curve until it becomes normal to the sphere is inaccurate and time consuming. Please let me know of an easier method of get the curve to be the normal of the sphere.

Thanks.

[wrend]

take a look at Constraints (eg, normal), or Motion Paths (and perhaps Animated Snapshot together with them, as suggested). they should be pretty self evident. just play with them.

[dmcgrath]

You will need to attach the little curve to the big one as a motion path, if you want twelve pieces set it for twelve frames.
And then you can create an animatied snapshot off of that. It usually looks great, but trying to make it fit to your sphere at every corresponding vertice is going to be a bigger headache than you can imagine.

Maybe you should tell us what you are building, there might be an easier solution for the creation of what you want.

[misterdi]

Or another way to do it is using extrude.

Extrude the bottom profile with your path curve as tube, and do edit Curves->Duplicate Curve Surface on V direction only.

Delete the surface and you are left will all the curves you are looking for, no need to snap it, it will be on standing normal on each cvs of the path curve (I assume it is a linear curve).

Best regards,

[rock]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I will look into it once I allocate some time. Anyways, this is what I am trying to build. This is taken from a 3dmax model. I have tried extrude method, and nonlinear bend deformer but those 2 methods do not produce the same look as the original model.

[dmcgrath]

It is just a simple segmented arch, I think you would have no problem building that with the Loft method.
After you have created the curves down to where you want them, select them in pairs and then Loft between the pairs. If you leave the construction History on you can select the curve and move it around to tweak it if need be, and the surfaces will be right there.

[rock]

I did use lofting. But I think it would be more exact and quicker if I based it on a half sphere or a line as a template or reference or guide so that I can place the little curves into place before lofting.

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