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I have been trying to align objects along a curve only pointing along the Z-Axis. I found i could accomplish it using DupliVerts and checking rotation, but because the mesh only has two verts, it doesn't know where to point the objects.

Normals Aligned

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I can fix the problem if i extrude the mesh upwards, but i don't want to do that because now i have two sets of mesh.

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Does anyone know how to force Blender to point the normals in one direction? Any help would be awesome!

Ryan Grzesiak
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  • Hello, could you upload your blend file here : http://blend-exchange.giantcowfilms.com/. This will be easier to understand your configuration – lemon Jul 23 '16 at 07:55
  • Thanks, i have never used blend exchange so i hope this works :). – Ryan Grzesiak Jul 23 '16 at 12:44
  • Dupliface is not a solution ? (using the planes along the curve) – lemon Jul 23 '16 at 13:12
  • related http://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/5910/how-do-i-prevent-object-distortion-when-applying-a-curve-modifier and http://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/510/how-can-i-duplicate-a-mesh-along-a-curve – lemon Jul 23 '16 at 13:32
  • I tried but i get weird twisting when i have the curve moving along the Z-axis. They were suppose to be pillars that continually remain parallel to each other. I tried to twist the curve but it doesn't seem to affect the direction they are pointing. – Ryan Grzesiak Jul 23 '16 at 14:27
  • ok, in that case, add a constraint of type "limit rotation" (on the need axis, x or y, surely) on the pillars. I have tried and it works well with the dupliframes – lemon Jul 23 '16 at 14:37
  • Wow, i never though of that, but even when i add the constraint, it doesn't change their rotation. It is almost like they have a new world rotation. – Ryan Grzesiak Jul 23 '16 at 14:45
  • Alright. I fixed the weird rotation thing (didn't apply rotation/scale). However the pillars still follow the face normals. The reason i wanted to use Verts instead of faces is that they always point along the Z-axis. I tried your constraint technique, which in theory is awesome, but i couldn't get it to do anything for the duplicated objects. It seams to me the duplication is giving the object a new world space. – Ryan Grzesiak Jul 23 '16 at 14:57
  • ok... I have added an answer to explain it better (I think that meets your need) – lemon Jul 23 '16 at 15:03

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Place the pillar at the beginning of the curve, be sure to apply rotation and scale (or at least have an alignment relative to the world or the object itself, locally) :

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Parent the pillar to the curve, and set dupli as frames (uncheck the speed button) :

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For the curve, set it to path animation tunes the frame count (it will be the amount of pillars) and check 'follow'.

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Now add a constraint to the pillar to 'limit rotation', and check the wanted axis (here Y). So the pillar will follow the curve without rotating around this axis.

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Community
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lemon
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  • You are amazing Lemon! I had no idea what the frames option was and made the whole process simpler! Thanks for taking your time to help me. – Ryan Grzesiak Jul 23 '16 at 22:28
  • One fun fact for anyone reading, if you turn the twisting option in the curve settings to "Z-Up", it keeps the pillars straight when re-positioning the curve! – Ryan Grzesiak Jul 24 '16 at 01:20