Flexible Part Questions

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Lttlcheeze started this discussion in Help and Tips

Lttlcheeze

I just used my first Flexible Part in a model, and I have a few concerns.

I can't get the "Subdivide" Feature to work. I assume it is supposed to give you more adjustment points along the part to allow more than one bend.
When your in the "Update Flexible Part" Tool, you can drag the end points to make the part much longer or shorter than the original part. I understand the shape of the part is controlled by the line drawn while in the "Update Flexible Part" Tool. But when you Click "Complete" is it possible to have the part "flow" along the control line, starting at one of the ends, but ending at the correct length of the original part? Possibly even having 2x "floating points" along your control line that represent the beginning and end of the part, so you can see where your part will end up along your control line while in the tool.

I'm sure this isn't as easy to do, as it is to suggest it. But just throwing it out there.

Cheers,
Bill

2 replies · Page 1 of 1

Scrubs

Administrator

To subdivide the curve, select the first point with the mouse and then press Ctrl + click on the second point. This second point has be adjacent to the first one for it to work. When your two points are selected (white), click on the "Subdivide" button.

Regarding the control curve, it actually only represents the flexible part of the piece. For some of them like the spiral tube, the two extremities are solid and therefore the control curve doesn't display them. I know that it is not particularly easy to use in this case. The code for flex parts is quite complex and I add to solve all sort of issues to make this module usable. I also know that it could definitely be improved!

Lttlcheeze

Ah-ha got the Subdivide to work, thanks.

I see what you mean with the Spiral Tube. The Control Curve is shorter than the real part because the ends aren't flexible.

The tool seems pretty easy and straightforward to use, and extremely stable (unlike some of the SW tools), no complaints there. And I won't even begin to pretend that I have any idea of the complexity of the coding involved.

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