danperk

this exercise is excellent. in which program did you render the blue image?
also how you control the density of the pattern applied to the sphere?
could it be twice as dense as on your blue image? ...and how you controle it.
i only had limited chance to play with new tool and for what i do (i am an architect working on large international projects) it seems to be
golden tool. i would appreciate your opinion.

how does flow differ from flow along surface in rhino

regards

Hi Christopher,

> how does flow differ from flow along surface in rhino

It's equivalent to the "Flow" and "FlowAlongSrf" commands in Rhino.

The main differences are that in MoI instead of having a separate command for flowing between curves or flowing between surfaces there is just one command that just pays attention to whether you pick a curve or a surface as the initial base object.

Also one other difference is that in the next v3 beta there will be a new "projective" option that will apply the object in a different way - I don't think that Rhino's flow has an exact equivalent of that.

See here for some examples of the new projective option which will be coming to Flow in the next MoI v3 beta:
http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=4471.15

- Michael

Thanks mario, I'm having fun with the new Beta!

>>in which program did you render the blue image?<<

If you mean the second image in my first post it's just a screen capture of an Adobe Acrobat file,
you can download the attached PDF file that's at the bottom of the first post called FlowCelt.PDF.

>>also how you control the density of the pattern applied to the sphere?<<

The pattern density is controlled by the number of copies in the original which you see on the flat plane
you see in the first image-first post.

Here is the same pattern with double the density mapped to the left sphere:

danperk

thanks for the reply
do we need to do anything else to have it so perfectly applied to the sphere?
does the size of the flat pattern matter compared to the size of sphere you are applying the pattern to?
i am going to try more now!!

regards

mario

it's more the size of the surface under the start volume or curve behing the start volume who are important for the final result ;)
these gives the pourcentage size of Flow on the surface target surface volume!

THANKS FRENCHY!!

I AM STILL PLAYING WITH FLOW. i can't say i understand every detail of FLOW and how it works but i am very excited about the tool
and i will crack it. i may have more questions for you in next few days. i am going to bed now...i am in WESTERN AUSTRALIA

regards

Hi mario,

>>do we need to do anything else to have it so perfectly applied to the sphere?
does the size of the flat pattern matter compared to the size of sphere you are applying the pattern to?<<

When mapping to a sphere the planes dimensions is a 2:1 ratio (w:h), that only means something at the equator as
the pattern will decline to zero as it approaches the North/South poles. ;)

» When mapping to a sphere the planes dimensions is a 2:1 ratio (w:h), that only means something at the equator as
the pattern will decline to zero as it approaches the North/South poles. ;) «

Oh, wow, I didn't know it was that simple – I always thought, it had to be someting like (π) for the aspect ratio.. thx for the hint!

Hi SW03,

It probably isn't that simple, I'm just approaching this like applying objects like a texture. ;)
And as I said it all gets squeezed anyways, as it flows to the poles. But trying this with circular
patterns seems to look relatively undistorted at the equator.

As for the math involved, like Barbie once said "Math is hard!!" :)

Michaels' script link in post #28 can sometimes help extract curve lengths for more unusual shapes.

I'm looking forward to the next Beta where some of these distortions can maybe handled differently.

Yeah for a sphere the 2 to 1 ratio works because a sphere is made up of a 180 degree vertical arc which then revolves around a 360 degree arc. So that 360 to 180 degree arc ratio is where the 2 to 1 would come from.

> I'm looking forward to the next Beta where some of
> these distortions can maybe handled differently.

The next beta will have a new "Projective" option which projects the object along the base surface's surface normal onto the other object. It will be helpful for avoiding distortion for cases where you want to apply an object to a more localized area of the other object, but since it uses ray-shooting type projection it won't be applicable to a pattern like you've been showing previously that wraps around an entire sphere.

I don't know how it would be possible to avoid distortion for a fully wrapped pattern because it's not physically possible to take a 2D object like a piece of paper and apply it to a doubly-curved object like a sphere and not have any bunching in the paper...

Remember - MoI can't do things that are physically impossible... ;)

- Michael

Come on now Michael, all we ask as users is that you break all known laws of the physical universe
and we NEED it yesterday for free!!! ;)

""""""""""Remember - MoI can't do things that are physically impossible... ;)"""""""""""""""

Ahhhhh. Spoke too soon again, didnt ya!!! :o

Burr - There is neither anything wrong with that object, nor was it impossible...

"Do not try and bend the spoon. That's impossible. Instead... only try to realize the truth."
"What truth?"
"There is no spoon."
"There is no spoon?"
"Then you'll see, that it is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself."

(Matrix quote)

@ Burr, that looks like my bed every morning, not impossible ;)

@Mike, are you 4ft tall with a shaved head ;)

Cheers

Hi Burr, I should probably have said "Mathematically impossible" instead... ;)

- Michael

@Danperk
I have made a little video of your concept about the tore ;)
Because some people don't very well undestand this fabulous function Flow!

Sorry it's in French, but as it's visual, you recognize easily your method I believe :)
http://moiscript.weebly.com/enrobage-dun-tore-v3.html
Thx for the exploration!

Superb Tutorial.
I learned a lot.

@bem Your ToroïdalKnots script rocks! Bravo !
Added ;)
http://moiscript.weebly.com/toroiumldal-knots.html

Looks good Pilou!

I'm Canadian, so I understand French, well some French. ;)

I'll try to do a video example of how to use the Curvelength script when I get some time.
It helps to get the correct size for the plane you map pattern to..