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bezier circle shrinkwrapped on sphere

Lemon produced a renderable result.

There still might be a way to transform a circle curve along the sphere surface ?

Haven't done that yet, but the original visualization I wanted to produce using that in the process, I now posted as an answer, also achieved via modifiers as lemons.

t8ja
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    Why remove tags ? Seems like a detrimental move. – t8ja Aug 08 '19 at 23:55
  • Hi, could you add images to help understand what you want to do? – lemon Aug 09 '19 at 14:53
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    Possibly related https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/50396/how-can-i-animate-a-mesh-moving-in-a-spiral-fashion – batFINGER Aug 09 '19 at 14:55
  • I was struggling to find a good representation.This gif doesn't show the tip/center of the circle stationary in the center of the virtual sphere, so it still isn't good. – t8ja Aug 09 '19 at 15:15
  • The image corresponds to the first sentence, ok, but what the point with "sliding an edgeloop on a sphere"? – lemon Aug 09 '19 at 15:19
  • and it cuts a section out instead of constricting the surface/rolling/coiling it as a continuous action. – t8ja Aug 09 '19 at 15:20
  • The sliding edgeloop by itself looks like what the result would look like, if the edgeloop could jump over other edgeloops and get to the pole. – t8ja Aug 09 '19 at 15:22
  • I couldn't find a word differentiation between the circle as an edge, and circle as a dot possessing a surface. So the hierarchy would go like this: vertex/point, dot/circle, outer projection of the vertex/circumference/edgeloop. I'm not exactly on top of the nomenclature. – t8ja Aug 09 '19 at 15:43
  • This is the example which would benefit from a "real sphere" I was alluding to when mentioning the "real circle/circumference" in the other question about unforseen circle intersections/vertices. – t8ja Aug 09 '19 at 15:52
  • You mean that? https://i.stack.imgur.com/NIwzD.gif – lemon Aug 09 '19 at 15:55
  • There would alway be only one axis of sliding, depending on where the edgeloop is picked out from infinity. – t8ja Aug 09 '19 at 15:58
  • YES that seems to look exactly like the bottom description, where the circumference is expanded into a torus. – t8ja Aug 09 '19 at 16:00
  • But no Python nor nodes to do it... will try it as an answer and we'll see... – lemon Aug 09 '19 at 16:00

2 Answers2

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Really unsure this is what is wanted in the question, but:

enter image description here

There is no Python nor animation nodes here. This is simply an animation.

The torus is done from a base little cylinder with an array and a simple deform to curve it:

enter image description here

Then animate an empty with a circle curve surrounding the torus:

enter image description here

And make this last empty parent of the torus.

Et voila:

enter image description here

All that is due to the simple deform which considers the object origin as base. As the parenting changes this origin location, it gives the result.

The curve is here to ensure that the result will be like 'around a sphere'.

lemon
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  • You have quite a brain managing to concoct this XD but you already proved that with the tetrix, I still haven't dissected the meat of it cause of the sidetracking, just started viewing tutorials on the Animation nodes a few hours ago. – t8ja Aug 09 '19 at 16:40
  • @t8ja As said, no animation nodes here... do you really need it? – lemon Aug 09 '19 at 16:42
  • was trying to edit the commnet but the time ran out. No, the result is good but it served to better visualize the base principle. The goal is to make a curve act like the torus is acting. You've made it easy for anyone wanting to chime in. – t8ja Aug 09 '19 at 16:52
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    Still don't connect all that with the cone... if you want it conical, modifying the circle curve shape would work, maybe – lemon Aug 09 '19 at 16:55
  • or an edge loop since you cant make a cone surface using a curve. It would make more sense if ideals were the basis, and you didin't need to implement modifiers untill you wanted to transform ideals into tangibles, though any interaction between ideals would make them more tangible/determined, ofc the trouble is when the user determined info isn't visible, neither edgeloops/curves or points/vertices are actually visible. That's why I made a mistake here. What I'm asking cant actually ba an animation LOL – t8ja Aug 09 '19 at 17:04
  • mmm.. I've the feeling here my english is at its limits... finally, what you want is the exact same animation that you posted in the question? – lemon Aug 09 '19 at 17:13
  • Appears so. It's frustrating the approaches, to basically the same thing, are so different. – t8ja Aug 09 '19 at 17:27
  • @t8ja, sorry but I don't get what you are asking. Could you provide pictures? – lemon Aug 09 '19 at 17:58
  • I bet you could do it with animation nodes, because you only need to know the (z) constraint coordinates (which depend on the starting radius of the curve) and have the curve scale down accordingly as it moves along the z axis, both in positive and negative direction. – t8ja Aug 09 '19 at 20:08
  • the solid tous ofc, isn't a real torus, but I'm guessing there's a possibility to project a solid torus around the curve once it's doing what you want. – t8ja Aug 09 '19 at 22:21
  • Have I managed to explain it ? I've had trouble posing the question since I'm not familiar with the methods. The one you used to create this torus was VERY unexpected for me. BTW I didin't even know about Animation nodes when i posed the tertix question, I just had a hunch a node based system might exist. – t8ja Aug 10 '19 at 15:50
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    @t8ja, still don't know what you want to obtain...! Could you draw something? – lemon Aug 10 '19 at 16:24
  • How is that even possible XD You already did it, just not in a way that has the advantages of being based on a Bezier, which itself is transforming, and could have a torus (and more) based upon it. – t8ja Aug 10 '19 at 16:32
  • Am I making sense ? – t8ja Aug 11 '19 at 13:25
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    @t8ja, well as I told you, I don't understand what you mean, sorry. – lemon Aug 11 '19 at 15:16
  • I'm sure I'll be able to do it after watching more AN tutorials LOL , I sidetracked into video editing and motion tracking, but I'll get to it. – t8ja Aug 11 '19 at 15:50
  • I just want to make the bezier curve circle transform (translate and scale) so that if you could see all the positions it goes through at once ("long eyposure"), it would look like a sphere. / or as if it's sliding over a sphere. – t8ja Aug 11 '19 at 15:57
  • but it could also do the impossible and pass through itself on the pole, which would reverse its' direction, so anything you animate moving along it, would go up one way, down the other – t8ja Aug 11 '19 at 16:03
  • In French youtube.com/watch?v=ViuMCBoxZWQ&t=5m24s The qiestion is can Shinkwrap keep the curve conformed during transforms ? I'm guessing it can Edit: And it does! Great – t8ja Aug 13 '19 at 12:19
  • except the object on curve path doesn't follow the curve once it starts shrinkwrapping along the sphere – t8ja Aug 13 '19 at 13:15
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    all that still don't tell clearly the real final purpose of your question. – lemon Aug 13 '19 at 13:17
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    There are multiple possible results, The object moving on a loxodrome path is one of them, and if the curve can be used to make a surface between it and the center of the sphere, then the originaly described cone/funnel transformation can be made. . – t8ja Aug 13 '19 at 13:29
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    ok, it's more clear said like this. Will try to think about the how to. – lemon Aug 13 '19 at 13:33
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EDIT: Array is not necessary. Screw does it, if an axis object is selected. Increasing the Screw factor produces a nice effect.

Inferior attempt:

enter image description here

A single edge is rotated via Array object offset (Epmty) and Screwed.

Aanimated the screw steps for effect.

I don't know how to Hide the first instance in the array, which would be necessary to leave only the "transforming cone".

Whoops... this second blend represents what I wanted to do with the generated cones, i.e. stack them and then get the areolas, but it seems finding a function which gives that result might be easier.

Tractrix - https://demonstrations.wolfram.com/ModelingAPseudosphereWithCones/

t8ja
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