Lofting (wires & tubular curves)

by Daniel Buck
http://www.danielbuck.net/

As with all my tutorials, I will try to explain all the actions taken, but I am expecting that you have at least a basic knowledge of 3dMax5.

Create a NURBS CV curve (create tab / shapes button / NURBS Curves drop down / CV Curve) Left click to create points, and right click to finalize the curve. in the modify tab, you can open up the NURBS Curve and click on Curve CV to edit the curve shape to exactly what you need it. Click Curve CV again to finalize the curve (you can always go back and edit the curve again, even after the loft).

Create a circle spline (create tab / shapes button / splines drop down / circle) Make the circle the diameter you want the loft object to be.

Click on the NURBS CV Curve you created first, now click on the loft compound object (create tab / compound objects drop down / loft).

Click on "Get shape", then select the circle.

You will instantly see the loft object appear! Nice isn't it!

If you select the original CV Curve (not the lofted object, but the curve line inside of the object) you can still edit it's shape by moving, inserting, and deleting vertexes. The loft object will update will the CV Curve.

You might notice that the new loft object is a bit segmented looking in a few places. Select it, and put in a higher value to the "Path Steps",

usualy a value of 10-15 will give a nice smooth surface. You can also give the "Shape Steps" a higher value, but I usualy don't have to.

For extra controll over the shape of the loft object, you can play around with the Deformations.

They will open up in a curve editor. You can manipulate the parameters by moving the points on the curve graph.

I have used this techinique to make objects such as a spark plug wire, power cables, fuel lines, roll cages, exhaust pipes, and more!

You can even make your own shape to loft on to the NURBS Curve! Have fun with it! :-)