One other note here as I revisited this after my post.

THere is another command that worked better. I used the "Merge" command on your original tree edges to unify them then I used that curve without rebuilding it. Satisfactory and faster.

Also, I created a different patch surface using only 5 lines in the direction array, so a total of 10, and was able to bend things around much easier with better results! (didnt need such finite control)

FYI

Here's a better file for comparison using the lessor resolution and the Merge curve.

Hi Anna,

> Yes, I need to apply to each branch, so people would bend the
> tree into a 3d organic shape.

Well, bending the whole shape does bend each branch along with it... But do you mean something like having some individual branches curled more than other ones or something like that?

Maybe if you could describe or show a bit more about what kind of result you want it would help.


> Do you think I should try a polygonal modeling tool, I have a
> licence for Modo, but I am not really efficient in subD modeling...

Well when I was talking about converting to a mesh I was really thinking about keeping that mesh in Rhino and just using that same Flow command on the mesh.

Notice how I drew 2 curves there, which work to deform the whole shape?

If you have a mesh object in Rhino instead, what you would do would be to draw 2 curves again but just around localized areas of the mesh, and select the mesh points so that the Flow command would only impact just those selected points.

Here's an example of how that looks - here I drew 2 smaller curves but notice how they are still arranged as a "starting backbone" and "target backbone":



Also notice that I converted your tree NURBS object into a mesh using the Mesh command, using a "Maximum edge length = 1" parameter to force polygons to be created at 1 unit intervals to make it finely diced up.

Then you select the mesh and turn points on (POn command) and select just the points of the branch:



Then run Flow and it will only work on those selected points:



You will probably need to carefully handle the selection and placement of the backbone curves to avoid too much interruption between the bent part and the unselected portion of the mesh. You may also need to do some strategic smoothing (select some points and run Smooth on them) if there is some roughness between the bend and unmodified areas.


Of course doing things in a sub-d modeling package would also work pretty well for this kind of deformation stuff.

Just in general polygon mesh data is more friendly to mushing / squishing / morphing type manipulations, particularly if you want to apply such things to specific localized zones of the model.


> I wish I could do this in Moi!. Do you think you will add some
> deformers in the future?

I do hope to add some in the future, but it is hard to know exactly when.

It is a difficult area to deform a solid that is made up of many trimmed and joined pieces and still have the joined edges stay connected to one another within tolerance.

- Michael

Thanks everyone, I think Michael approach gives me the most options,

Yes I was meaning that I want to give each branch its own curl, each one unique... like... bend a little and twisted a little.

Sorry for being unclear, but what a help I have got!!!! thank Burrman and Michael

Anna.

Hi Anna no problem!

Another possible way would be a more "construction from wireframe" kind of approach where rather than surface deformation.

That would look something like this:

Draw a line across the base of the branch. Then run Edit/Trim to slice the branch off as a separate surface. Select the outer edge of the branch fragment and use Copy/Paste to duplicate it and then delete the surface, which leaves just the curve portion like this:



Now turn on control points of the curves and move them around in the Top view to give it a kind of bent shape. Avoid manipulating the points nearby the cut, you also may need to insert some more control points in that area so that it won't be affected when you pull the other points around.

Once you have the curves bent, use Edit/Trim to cut them into 2 pieces like this:



Then use Sweep to build a new surface there:



So that's a different approach where you're kind of breaking off the branches and creating replacement ones.


Also sometimes with this kind of a thing it may be good to actually make the new branch come to the base at a sharp angle and then use Fillet to round off the connection rather than trying to keep it smooth more manually.

- Michael

Hi Anna also for mesh deformations (and other methods too) you may want to possibly try working on just a single surface rather than the thickened solid, and only get it into a solid with thickness by doing an offset/shell type operation at the end after you've got it all set up.

- Michael

Thank you Michael,

I can't believe I have not posted here before, now you won't get rid off me:)

Boy that Rhino has some powerful commands in it. I really should invest some time in learning it as a companion for MoI!

.

Hi Anna. Using the methods already mentioned by Michael G , I see no reason you can't keep this as Nurbs when you deform the branches. Just create your flat trimmed shape. Split off any "limbs" by using a line as the splitting object. Run flow as MG described or even use the bend command but be careful that your bending spine is perp to the splitting line and that the bend starts a short distance inwards from the edge of the split, this will keep tangency of the seperate pieces. Bend takes a bit getting used to but good results are super easy once you got the hang of it and you set the Cplane properly to the bending plane. If you decide to use Flow the be sure to set the "stretch" option to "no" so the bent limbs will be accurate size after flowing. Then you could join the nurbs parts, thicken (shell) in MoI or Rhino 5...

Alternatively, you could model this in modo. Just divide a subd mesh to a high-res version and use the bend tool in conjunction with a weight map or falloff to control the localization. But would be difficult to keep the accuracy of the flat production form versus the subd form...

Another idea if you decide to model in subd is to rig a flat high-res mesh with bones in an animation program. A simple weight map could restrict the bent areas to selected regions. Then you're ready for some animation too... hmmm... I'm picturing a bad (really bad!!!) Eddie Murphy movie circa the mid-1980's with a dancing soda can... :•)

jonah

Since you mention that you also have modo,
I would recommend you do this with subd. It will be much easier to control.

The only problem I see using modo, is modeling this 2d shapes or complicated profiles that gets extruded to some thickness...is there something I am missing in modo or are these things just simpler using moi?

Hi Anna,

Also you have consider that Modo only handle polygon data as I know.

right, it is much easier to get precise shapes out of moi.
But it seems you want to have some 'soft' control as to how the shapes are bent, and here modo seems more appropriate.
I like using both apps, depending on the specific task.
in modo, you should create your 2d shape first, making sure you have a god edge flow (use only quads),
after you give your shape some thickness you can either use
edge weights , or use minimal edge loop bevels or extrudes to get a hard shape.