Subject: Re: Bend function..check it out..weird
From: Andrew Hofman <[email-masked]>
To: Multiple recipients of list <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 18 Dec 1995 08:47:17 -0500

At 12:00 AM 12/18/95 -0500, you wrote:
>hi all..
>
>Load up your favorite spline mesh or even object..
>
>bend it somewhere.
>
>now use the bend function again (numeric entry). look at the 
>value in teh angle feild..enter the opposite of this 
>nuimber..the bend funtion should return the object to its 
>original form..by theory right??? But the opbject you will see 
>it slightly distored..sometime elongated..and believe it or 
>not..i can notice this in my animations...
>
>Weirdness eh?? or is this a sign from above that i shouldn;t use 
>bend for character animating :)?
>
>

I've noticed this too, but I'm not sure how much of it is an actual error in
the bend function. When you use this tool on an already bent object, Modeler
does not know it was already bent. I think "proper" bends can only happen
the first time you apply them, while you still have the mouse button held
down. Once you re-apply the tool, you are bending stuff that was already
bent, so the effect is multiplied. You see this as hyper-bending and
elongation. Especially when using auto-sense, I expect the algorithm
interprets the length of a bent object differently than its straight
counterpart. This is perfectly understandable, given that the object has in
fact changed. If it interprets it differently, then it will be bent
differently, even if you bend it back in the opposite direction. The effect
is a bit like doing digital enhancement on a fuzzy image. You can try to
approximate the original, and may even do a pretty good job of it, but you
can never get back 100% of the original information. It will still only be a
"best guess."

Theory aside, why shouldn't you use Bend for character work? It's never been
a problem for me. And besides, if I want to un-bend something, I hit Undo.
This guarantees a perfect return to the previous state. In case I run out of
Undo's, I always keeep an original version of the object anyway. Since
re-bending an object is often (but not always) a no-no, I apply successively
greater bends to successive copies of the original.

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   * Andy Hofman       |    LumaQuest Productions *            
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