ribbon mesh ... second version

[jerome]

Hi back guys !!

 

I worked a little to improve my ribbon mesh (still a draft)

 

Now, the call function signature is this one :

createRibbon(mesh, [paths], close, offset, scene);

easy, isn't it ?

 

• mesh : the blank mesh you want to be ribbonized or mumified
• [paths] : an array populated with paths. What is a path ? it's an array of successive Vector3. It is for example the discrete representation of a math curve ... or anything else you want.
• close : boolean, if true the first and last ribbon drawn will be joined by an extra face
• offset : not implemented yet, I'll tell you later
• scene : the current scene

Let's start with a simple example.

I want to create p paths. Each path will be a curve along an exponential function :

    // my math function    var populatePath = function(path, p) {     for (var  i = 0; i < 40; i++) {      path.push( new BABYLON.Vector3(i-20, Math.cos(p / 3) * 3 * Math.exp(-(i-p-8)*(i-p-8) / 60) , p) );     }    };

Heeuuu, too much maths for me,  so don't tell, show please : http://www.babylonjs-playground.com/#1QD8LM

Each line is a path along a this exp function, right.

 

Ok, now let's mumify these lines :

    // mesh    var meshExp = new BABYLON.Mesh("meshExp", scene);    meshExp.material = mat;    createRibbon(meshExp, paths, false, null, scene);

what ? just a line of code ?

yes, sir : http://www.babylonjs-playground.com/#1QD8LM#1

 

but, you may prefer to see the full material, nope ?

http://www.babylonjs-playground.com/#1QD8LM#2

 

I hope I can code other examples more impressive than this very simple one.

For now the uv is not computed, so applying textures will probably be strange

[gryff]

jerome, I'm no scripter or mathematician but I find something fascinating about your creations. I look at every example you post.

 

My favourites are in one of your earlier posts - the helical and Möbius ribbons. Be nice to bend the helical one - make it like a Christmas streamer/decoration.

 

Don't know why I find them fascinating - I'm not sure I will ever use this kind of code, but keep making them

 

cheers, gryff

[jerome]

thank you very much, gryff

 

I know Blender can produce highly detailed and rich meshes but we sometimes need computed meshes to represent incoming data for example. I really need them because I intend to code monitoring tools (network activity, server business, user activity, etc).

 

So here another simple example with some cubic bezier curves :

strange shape here : http://www.babylonjs-playground.com/#1QD8LM#3

 

then mumified : http://www.babylonjs-playground.com/#1QD8LM#4

 

hope I could make tubes, helix, moebius (from a lone path, it's my challenge) in the coming days !