Splinerounding 1.2
a plug-in for Cinema 4D XL

 

The tools in Splinerounding are powerful and I believe that you will find use for them in your everyday work. Here are some examples to get you started:

Some of these tutorials refer to the standard values of the plug-in. Because the plugs save the latest entered values it's recommended that you reload the plug-ins (press zero while in the editor window) before you do a tutorial.

 

Rounded objects

With the rounding tool it is quite easy to create rounded objects. Let's say that we want to create the rounded equivalent of a Cuboid measuring 100*200*400 m with a rounding radius of 10 m:

  • First we create a rectangle spline measuring 100*200 m. (Objects->Splines->Polygons->Rectangle...)
  • Then we round it using the standard settings. (10m radius)
  • After that we extrude it. The object should be 400m long but then we will add two 10m rounded endcaps so enter 380m in the Z-field in the extrusion. Then set the endcaps to close and round with 10 points, 10 meters, constrain and convex. Click OK.

Now we have a nicely rounded object:

 

Telephone receiver

The above technique can also easily be used for lofts instead extrusions. We are going to recreate the telephone.c4d example file. (please first take a look at it and it will be easier to follow) Here's how:

  • Create six 250*100 rectangle splines and place and scale them as below:

  • Group them and do a test loft with subdivisions 48, interpolation B-spline and basic closed endcaps. The result should be a correctly lofted but boringly angular receiver. If it looks wrong, check the order of the splines in the group.
  • Now let's round it. Select the group and choose "Round spline 1.2...". Keep the standard values (10m radius) but please note that "Recurse hierarchy" is 1 and the plug therefore will round all the splines at the same time.
  • Do a loft with these splines instead. Make sure that you change the endcaps settings to the same you used for the rounding. (10 points, 10m radius, constrain and convex).

The result is, as you can see, a much nicer shape with rounded edges:

Extruded offsets

The offset function can be used to for example create more correct square rib sweeps, even rounded. Here's how:

  • Draw a linear center spline in a W-shape like below in the XY-view:

  • Choose "Offset spline 1.2...". Use the standard distances (10/-10) but set the method to "Double Offset" (2).
  • Choose "Round spline 1.2...". Set the method to "Distance" (because we have some very acute angles) and the distance to 8m.
  • Extrude 14m (20m-3m*2) and set the roundings to 10 points, 3m, constrain and convex.
  • The reason we use a 3m radius and not 8m is because the 8m isn't the radius of the rounding (we set the method to distance) . Then if we use 8m as beveling radius we are likely to see some errors at the corners. The smaller the angles are, the bigger is the error. When using radius method we can be sure that the beveling will work and can thus use the same radius.
  • Actually, unless you want to deal with all this; just use the radius method. (I just wanted to show you the difference)

This is the result. A nice rounded rib with the same thickness all the way and no errors at the corners as a sweep would create:

Offsetting curved shapes

Now let's do the same with a rounded shape using the linearize command:

  • Create a "Flower" spline with the standard settings. (Objects->Splines->Profiles->Flower)
  • Select it and choose "Linearize spline 1.2..." and enter 512 points. (it's a fairly complex shape and we shan't be niggardly :-)
  • Offset it doubly with 5m/-5m distance. Notice that since the flower is closed the plug creates two splines and put the inner inside the outer (the way to create "holes" in splines with XL). If the two are switched (outer inside inner) select the "Reverse Out/In" option.
  • Extrude the shape 10m with a 2m rounding. (be sure to not use more than 5m since then the rounding will meet in the middle and create errors)

This is what it looks like: (quite cool if you ask me :-)

Automatic bottle

This is IMO the coolest use of all three plugs together and should also give a fairly good picture of how to use the animated versions. Let's create a bottle:

  • First create a "single-walled" bottle spline shape for lathing as below in XY-view. I prefer to use B-spline or hermite. (yes, a single walled spline will suck when lathed but hang on)

  • Go to the time-line and create a Linearize track with a sequence and a key. Enter Number of points = 128.
  • A new object will appear called "Linearized Spline".
  • Create an Offset track with a sequence and a key on that new object. Enter Method=2, Inner=5m,Outer=0m and Close spline=0.
  • A new object will appear called "Offset Spline".
  • We are now almost done, but if you look at the top of the spline it's very angular:

  • Therefore create a rounding track with a sequence and a key. Enter Radius=2m and Angle=110°. Because the angle-limit only these two corners will be rounded.
  • A new object will appear called "Rounded Spline".
  • Create a Loft NURBS and place that new object inside it. Adjust the NURBS resolution to 64 shader/128 render and turn off isobaths. Apply a glass texture. The result is a beautiful bottle:

  • But we aren't quite done yet. Because XL executes each plug-in track from the top and down, reverse the order of the objects so that the original spline is at the top and the NURBS is at the bottom. Now the fun begin:
  • Just adjust the original spline a little and press ctrl-F (redraw) and magically the rest updates as well. You can also change the offset-parameters to create a thicker bottle. Have fun! :-)

XLent Plugs are distributed by

 

 

 

Splinerounding ©1998, Mikael Sterner