Hi ! Hmm, this kinda works but I get artifacts and heavy compression/stretching along the resulting object as the target curve (which will need to be bent in all three dimensions) does not have the same length as the base curve. also the whole process gets really, really slow as the flow command takes a while on more complex geometry. I guess I skip the live/interactive part altogether and do it sub-d in rocket. But thanks to the both of you!

Hi OSTexo,

thanks! Just saw your post after my last message to Michael. Will try the Unwrap Curve Plugin tomorrow and see if I'll get better results.

Hello,

I'm sure there isn't collision detection in the Flow command, as distortion will occur in very sharp angles, however this isn't usually an insurmountable issue, it just involves some manual positioning along your unwrapped curve.

Interestingly you could also Flow your core along the curve and use a combination of Offset/Boolean/Fillet which will leave you with even less distortion in the model as well as the core and sleeve as separate parts.

Are you able to share a curve, primitives and their count, as well as a sleeve thickness?

The Flow calculation for this part took less than 5 seconds on old hardware.

Hi OSTexo,

re:
> It would be useful to have a plugin which would call for a specific length of curve, allowing
> one to bend and modify that curve while keeping the length locked, but I'm not sure that
> will ever happen.

The underlying mechanics of NURBS does not really lend itself well to this kind of process unfortunately.

- Michael

The (straight-line) unwrapped curve is the same length as the original curvy curve.

Hi guys, got it to work using the UnwrapCurve plugin and after rebuilding the target curve :) Also actually building the flow object was now instantaneously. My mistake was not to Boolean Union the segments of the cable. History works beautifully now although with the many points on my rebuilt curve it is not very useful. In the future I'll just add some strategic points on the target curve to make it easier to handle. Anyway, it's now a fast and reliable workflow and means one less trip to polyland. Thanks everyone!