Can chain instances be modified?

Can chain instances be modified?

Hi everybody. I'm new to Cheetah 3D and I'm really impressed about the simplicity it has to accomplish very complex tasks. I used several other 3D programs, like 3DStudio, Cinema 4D, etc. but this software is really amazing. You can get things done very quickly. I'm still learning some of the features and exploring modifiers. I've being using chain modifier, very powerful but I've read in the Help documentation that you should be able to modify any instance of chain individually, however I didn't find a way to do that. When I use rotate, scale, etc., it works on the whole chain. If by the contrary, I modify the main object (say, a torus), it changes all the instances together. I could not reproduce the sample chain with links on the Help because I don't know how to rotate the link instances separately. Is there a way to do that? Thanks.

Hi and Welcome!
I guess you're talking about the chain-creatorhttps://www.cheetah3d.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7147.
Afaik there's no way to manipulate individual chain links unless you make the creator object "editable" and go on with its polygons/edges/points.

Cheers
Frank

* When using a chain creator you can modify the angles (hew, pitch and bank) in the panel for associated parameters. You may want to check the WP article on aircraft principal axes for details.

* No idea if this is of any use to you:
* I have deployed spline-based particle meshes containing 2 different objects (a sphere and a cube)
* Keyframing the parameters (from and to) I can switch from frame #1, helix of green boxes, to the last frame, helix of red spheres

renderguy said:

I've read in the Help documentation that you should be able to modify any instance of chain individually, however I didn't find a way to do that.

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Help: said:

The chain object also allows you to rotate every instance of the item in the chain by a definable angle

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The Help entry for the chain creator is a bit ambiguous, it means you can define three angles for all three coordinate axes by which the links are incrementally rotated against the previous link.
Setting the dB angle to 90° will give you the alternating pattern of the chain links.

Thanks everybody who answered my question. I tried what Frank says in his post but I can only do limited modifications on individual instances (faces, points and edges only). I'm unable for instance, to rotate a single instance to a different angle, only all the instances together. I liked also Helmut's idea about particles. It allows for a better instance and object manipulation. Going back to the Chain creator use, my target was to create a car wheel, which I can actually do but wanted to give every ray of the wheel a different look. Anyway, I guess I can do it by overlapping rings or by creating different pieces manually and lay them over the rays. I will check also the aircraft thing that Helmut suggests.
I agree with misoversaturated about the Help. Perhaps it should be more specific. Thanks guys.

"Ray of the wheel"? Not sure what this is. A screenshot might help here.
As I said: individual parts can just be manipulated when the chain-creator is made editable =Main menu->Objects->Make editable; alt+cmd+C while creator is selected in object browser.
Cheetah3dv7 don´t uses Head/Pitch/Bank for rotation values anymore but X/Y/Z throughout the application.

Cheers
Frank

* Not sure, either, but RenderGuy may be referring to the "spokes" of the rims of a wheel. I suggest that in this case a ring modifier is the tool to use. Again, this allows no variation of instances.
* For different rays you can use the mentioned particle mesh. Just duplicate the instances until you get 6 (or 8 or 12 or whatever) rays. Apply the materials of your choice to the individual instances.

Hi all. I'm very sorry about the mistake I did in my question. My native language is Spanish, and I translated "ray" literally from "rayo" ,that's what we call the radial bars of a wheel, whether it is a car or a bike wheel. I apologize about that. Now I know that it's called "spokes".

Please, see attached image.


I tried ring, but as Helmut says, cannot modify individual instances, but the idea of using particles I guess will do the job. Thanks everybody. Although the software is very straightforward, I'm still in the learning stage.


Regards.

* Well, Frank is from Hamburg and I am Viennese, so neither of us is a native English speaker :frown: :smile: :tongue: The term "rays" actually seems to be the correct term for the wheels used in F1 racing (says aunty Google, and who am I to doubt her).

Ha ha; I was about to post exactly the same reply. So here is to the rubber part:

Cheers
Frank

Hi guys. Amazing examples, really!. I will try to reproduce them on my projects. By now, I focused on the wheel, because I want to design a nice one. It's really great to see how easy you can create and manipulate objects on Cheetah. I've used some other programs previously, like 3dstudio, cinema 4d, etc. and you can create whatever you want using them, but this one is very straightforward. You can make objects very, very quickly indeed. By the way, I'm from Argentina. I also speak German (not so well but I can manage to communicate...) and I've been in Germany twice (Berlin and Magdeburg) and once in Vien, both wonderful places. I love Germany specially and have my idol singer, Reinhard Mey. Well, I don't want to bore you more. Thank you people for your support. Hope I can contribute too in the future to this very friendly forum, once I learn enough...haha.

* Argentinians, speaking ex Cathedra, are always welcome on this forum. After all, you are infallible

Helmut said:

* Argentinians, speaking ex Cathedra, are always welcome on this forum. After all, you are infallible

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Hi Helmut. Thanks for the welcome. I'm not sure what you mean with "infallible". I only can assure that I'm not. Humbly, my life is full of mistakes. It's from them that we learn the most.