- Introduction
@@ -57,15 +57,14 @@
-
TreadTiler is an addon for the still-in-development -Blender 2.5x to +
TreadTiler is an addon for Blender 2.61 to aid in the creation of tyre tread patterns. The basic idea is that you create a minimal piece of the pattern, and TreadTiler will replicate it around a ring and join the adjacent sides together to form the complete pattern.
-To install TreadTiler, launch Blender 2.5x, bring up the +
To install TreadTiler, launch Blender 2.61, bring up the User Preferences window, select the Add-Ons tab, and click the “Install Add-Ons” button. In the file selector dialog that comes up find your way to the directory containing the treadtiler.py file, select it, and click the @@ -78,7 +77,7 @@
To use TreadTiler, the basic steps are:
- Create a mesh that will be replicated to make the tyre-tread pattern -
- Add a single unconnected point to the mesh that will serve as the initial centre of rotation +
- Choose a point to serve as the initial centre of rotation
- Select two contiguous lines of vertices along the two opposite sides of the mesh that will adjoin in successive copies
- Invoke TreadTiler.
@@ -138,10 +137,18 @@
of generating the complete tyre (see below).
-
Now we need to add a single unconnected vertex. This will define the centre -around which the mesh pattern will initially be rotated. Don’t worry about getting -this absolutely exact—you can make adjustments to the rotation afterwards. -
One way to locate this with respect to the tread pattern is to construct the point +
Now we need to define the centre point of the tiling rotation. The simplest way to do +this is to left-click to place the 3D cursor at the desired point. You may need to repeat +this from different viewpoints to get the cursor exactly at the desired point. Don’t +worry about getting this absolutely exact—you can make fine adjustments to the rotation +afterwards. +
If using the 3D cursor is good enough for you, you can skip the rest of this section, +and go on to “Selecting The Sides To Be Joined”. +
Alternatively, you can add a single unconnected vertex to the mesh to serve as the +rotation centre. This might be useful if you have different tyre meshes in the same document, +that you need to repeatedly tile; continually having to move the 3D cursor back and forth +could become inconvenient. +
One way to locate such a vertex with respect to the tread pattern is to construct the point from, say, the four corners of the tread mesh. Make sure nothing is selected, switch to vertex-selection mode, and select four corners of the tread pattern:
@@ -183,7 +190,7 @@ explaining what they are:
- The length of the radius of rotation, governing the size of the generated mesh. The initial -value of this comes from the distance to the rotation centre vertex that you specified. +value of this comes from the distance to the rotation centre that you specified.
- A “tilt” adjustment angle to the radius of rotation, which can be used to fine-tune how well adjacent copies of the tread pattern align together.
- An “asymmetry” adjustment angle to the radius of rotation, that can be used to twist the @@ -191,7 +198,7 @@
The number of copies of the replicated mesh pattern are automatically computed based on the closest whole-integer number of copies that can be fitted around -the circumference of the rotation around the centre vertex (with the appropriate +the circumference of the rotation around the centre (with the appropriate scaling adjustment). If you want more copies for a bigger ring, just increase the rotation radius:
diff --git a/treadtiler.py b/treadtiler.py index fd6b043..345b754 100644 --- a/treadtiler.py +++ b/treadtiler.py @@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ { "name" : "Tread Tiler", "author" : "Lawrence D'Oliveiro