Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Deforming Meshes using the Curve Modifier

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Contents 1 Setting up your Mesh 2 Extruding the Cone 3 Making a Curve 4 Applying the Curve to the Mesh

[edit] Setting up your Mesh

While this example will be done with a cone primitive, you can use the default cube or another shape of your choosing so long as it can be loop subdivided along the axis you wish to curve. Delete the default cube if you're not going to use it as your base mesh, and add your chosen primitive. In this example, we'll be using a Cone.

• Set your view to the X-Y Axis (Top View) by pressing 7KEY, the 7 on the keypad.
• Press SPACE > Add > Mesh > Cone
• A smaller number of vertices are needed, since this cone will become just the tip of the finished shape.
• Right Click and drag to reduce the number of vertices to 12, then click the Ok button.
• Press TAB to enter Edit Mode, or choose Edit Mode from the bottom of the 3D viewport.
• Switch views to the Z-X Axis by pressing 1KEY (1 on the keypad). Your screen should now look something like the picture at left.
• If your cone is selected (one or more faces are pink, one or more vertices are yellow) press AKEY (Select/Deselect All) until they are deselected.
• Select the point of your Cone with the RMB and drag it upwards with the blue arrow. You can hold down the CONTROL key if you want to contstrain the scaling to set units. For this example, 5 squares of height were added to the cone.

[edit] Extruding the Cone

• Still in Edit Mode, press the NUM8 repeatedly to rotate your view to the underside of your cone. Select the center vertex of the circle, and hold down CONTROL, then press the +KEY on the keypad. This will select all of the adjacent vertices of the base. You could also select the whole cone AKEY and deselect the top point by holding down SHIFT and selecting it with the RMB to achieve the same effect.
• Extrude the base of the cone by pressing the EKEY and choosing Region.
• Pull the new verticies away from the cone a distance and click the LMB to set them in place.
• Press the SKEY and widen the new base of the cone a bit.
• Continue extruding the cone, widening the base after each extrusion until you have at least 5 segments. The more segments you have, the smoother your curved cone will be.
• Another way of adding segments is with the Loop Subdivide tool. CONTROL + RKEY to bring up the purple placement ring, then LMB twice to add a subdivision. ( reader note: I can't loop cut a cone (in Blender 2.48 - don't actually know why), as an alternative you can select all the edges that start from the tip of the cone (be sure to be in edge select mode) and subdivide/subdivide multi )
• You may find that your cone is quite large indeed now, so switch back to Object Mode (TAB) and resize it with the scale tool. While you're in Object Mode, try stretching the cone out a bit to make a nice long needle.

[edit] Making a Curve

• In Object Mode, Z-X orientation, make sure you have nothing selected and press SPACE > Add > Curve > Bezier Curve
• Rotate your curve 90° (holding down the CONTROL key to make it rotate in 5° intervals) so that it lines up with your cone. Move it off to one side so that its not hidden by your cone.
• Grab the center vertex of each end and adjust its rotation (RKEY) until you have a nice shallow dome shape.
• Scale the curve in size (SKEY) until it is larger than your cone.
• Look at the panel below the 3D space, you should see the Editing panel is selected (F9KEY) Just below the panel buttons will be a window called Link and Materials. If your curve is selected, you will see a box with OB:Curve in it. This means the name of the curve is "Curve". This is important because that exact name is needed to deform the cone.

[edit] Applying the Curve to the Mesh

• Select the cone in Object Mode. In the Editing panel window (F9KEY), the rightmost panel has two tabs, Modifiers and Shapes. Choose the Modifiers tab if it is not already selected.
• Click the Add Modifier button and choose Curve from the popup list.
• In the OB: box, type the exact name of your Bezier Curve (it will be "Curve" without the quotations if you left it as the default.)
• Notice the six buttons underneath the OB: and VGroup: boxes (in the Modifier Panel). They are X, Y, Z, -X, -Y, -Z. They affect which plane the curve deforms. For this example, you'll need to select the Y button.
• Move your Cone so that it overlays the curve in the 3D space screen, and notice how it follows the Bezier Curve.
• You can modify the Bezier Curve as well as the cone repeatedly until you are happy with the design.
• If you switch to Edit Mode, notice that the cone returns to its straight orientation.
• To apply the deformation to the mesh permanently, in the Modifiers panel, click the Apply button next to your Curve modifier.

Noob note: Whole tutorial worked fine and easy to follow, right up to the last step. I can't get it to deform to curve at all. :(

Noob2 note: Just the same with me. After adding the Curve modifier nothing happens.

Noob3 note: After I added a Curve modifier and pressed the "Y",the cone MOVED ALONG the Curve, not bent to it.

Noob4 note: This happened for me too, it just means you're aligning the cone on the wrong axis. Try using one of the other five (it was the x button for me, not y). also make sure that the curve is aligned to an axis, don't goof off too much in 3d view when making the curve, stay in top/side/front view.

(Wi_Tr Note: In order to obtain a deformation like the one shown above, be sure you've pressed the Y button located at the bottom row of Modifiers tab. This seems to inhibit deformations through the selected axis).

Noob5 (6 months training anyway) I found the X axis button on the modifier must be pushed to display the cone like shown.

Noob6: Make sure the surface of the cone has many faces as well - if you just extruded the cone tip like I did the cone will not twist at all but only follow the path. I ended up extruding the tip out some ways and then subdividing the cone a few times in addition to setting x as the axis of deformation. It worked then.

Thanks for the fix... somehow that got left out! *smacks forehead into desk* Apologies... chalk it up to a newbie tutorial writer. I think it's fixed now... Embri (talk)