Two CableCraft Questions

#1

Hello-

I’m trying to create some cables using CableCraft and I have two problems:

  1. Is it possible to add control points to a CableCraft object? Right now, EI just quits when I try to add a new point to an existing path—even if I remove all the existing control points from the object and then re-add them. The only place CableCraft will allow me to add new points is at the end of the object.

  2. How can I create a single-polygon object (of more than four points) to extrude along the path? If I create a twelve-point circle in Form Z and save it as a FACT, it’s triangulated by default (creating numerous extra polys), but if I save a non-triangulated FACT, EI won’t display the object (and quits when it tries to render it.)

Please advise.

GM

Edit: Plus, it looks like if I rename the control effectors once they’re active, the CableCraft plug-in just loses them completely. Is there any way around this?

#2

GM

  1. Is it possible to add control points to a CableCraft object? Right now, EI just quits when I try to add a new point to an existing path—even if I remove all the existing control points from the object and then re-add them. The only place CableCraft will allow me to add new points is at the end of the object.

You’ll have to add additional effectors to act as control points…but I’ve found the only way to insert an extra control point into the existing spline is to remove all existing effectors from the control groups and then re-add them in the order you wish CC to extrude…otherwise the plugin doesn’t seem to recognize the additional effectors until CC is “reset”.

  1. How can I create a single-polygon object (of more than four points) to extrude along the path? If I create a twelve-point circle in Form Z and save it as a FACT, it’s triangulated by default (creating numerous extra polys), but if I save a non-triangulated FACT, EI won’t display the object (and quits when it tries to render it.)

This looks like a job for Trestle! You can create any 2D profile shape you desire in Trestle and CC will do the rest. Not only that… but Trestle will allow you to move and animate the profile curve’s control points for greater control. Can’t do that with an imported Form Z file.

www.paralumino.com

#3

Hi Brian-

Thanks for the quick response. I think I’m getting the hang of it a little more now.

The problem that’s just come up is more serious, though. When I click on “Apply Changes,” the CableCraft plug-in applies those changes to every CableCraft object in the scene, including the effectors So what’s happening is that when I “apply changes,” all the CableCraft objects in the scene turn into a copy of the one I’m updating. Ack!

Is this a known bug, or am I doing something wrong?

GM

#4

I forgot to mention that you can save out a dxf file out of form Z. Save the DXF as poly lines I think and that will give you the result you’re looking for…

#5

Hmmm ok… I’ve gotten CC to acknowledge the presence of additional points, but they are adding at the end of the spline like you mentioned. The only way to insert that I’ve found so far is to remove the effectors from the Control Group window and re-add in the order you desire. There’s no apparent way to reorder the effectors in the control group window without removing them from the list.

As for all the CC instances in your scene being updated when you click apply, that definitely sounds like a bug. I’ll see if I can replicate it.

#6

“As for all the CC instances in your scene being updated when you click apply, that definitely sounds like a bug. I’ll see if I can replicate it.”

It’d be great if you could look into it…it’s happening consistently to any project with more than one CC object: it updates all the objects to copies of the one being updated. What’s even worse if that if I go back and reassign the effectors properly, EI simply quits when I click on “apply.” :frowning:

GM

Edit: Hm. When I set the subdivisions low enough (25 seems to work well), CC seems a lot happier. I won’t declare the problems solved quite yet, though.

#7

GM,

I cannot get CC to replicate your “global update” bug. I have two independant instances of CC and two sets of separately named locators and CC appears to be happy. Here’s the thing though…CC can be very particular about the names of everything in the control group window. If your profile curve or any of your locators are named the same, it will confuse CC. Make sure everything in your scene has its own unique name first, then add the CC instances and parent profile curves appropriately. After that… go into each CC instance and select only the effectors you need to define the spline. After that, each CC instance should act independantly of each other.

#8

Brian-

First, thanks so much for all the effort you’ve put into helping me out with this!

As you said (or implied) above, CC is just ultra-super-picky about object names and groupings–it “loses” objects (or gets confused in other ways) very easily. The lesson I’ve learned here is to not change any object names or re-order their place in the hierarchy once they’ve been assigned to a CC object.

Thanks again,

GM

#9

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