Editing Cables

  • Edit Cable: edit width and resolution, change point alignment, and assign a bevel object (curve profile).

  • Merge End Points: merge the end points of a curve.

Edit Cable

Works with one or more selected curves.

Note that in the 1.3 update it is no longer necessary to select a point to move it: the closest end point to the mouse cursor is selected automatically:

New in 1.5.0: Tension can also be adjusted on any curve. Note that since many points are moving at the same time, small manual adjustments will often be needed after the operation is complete:

Additionally:

  • If empty space is clicked while Set Bevel Object is active, the bevel object will be removed.

  • Only a curve object can be used as a bevel object (profile) for a curve.

Edit Cable keys:

  • Width (S): width of the cable.

  • Tension Delta (D): changes the cable tension (length).

  • Resolution (F): cable length resolution.

  • Tilt Cable (I): tilts the cable and automatically recalculates tilt values for all points.

  • Bevel Resolution (V): cable profile resolution (if no curve profile is used).

  • Scale Profile (T): curve profile scale (if a curve profile is added).

  • Offset the Closest Point (Shift+W): offsets the point closest to the mouse cursor.

  • Grab Profile (B): grabs a profile from the active document or from the external document (switch with Shift+B).

  • Twist Method (H): controls how the curve twists in 3D space; changing this can help remove curve artifacts.

  • Show Wire (X): toggles Wire mode on and off for the curve. Wire mode is turned off when you finish.

  • Fill Caps (C): adds caps to the ends of cables.

  • Set Bevel Object (A): assigns a profile to the cable.

  • Move a Point (M): reattaches the point closest to the mouse cursor to a different face of any object.

Grab Profile

New in 1.3, this feature lets you grab an existing profile from the active document or from an external document. If the active document does not contain any profiles, the external document will be used automatically. Switch between the active and external grab documents with Shift+B. Set the external document in the add-on preferences: if you plan to add your own profiles, create a new document or copy the provided elements.blend (located in the add-on folder).

In the 1.5.0 update, Grab Profile works with curves that have the special tag assigned. This allows you to use only a predefined set of curves and ignore any other thin curves in the document. In the example below, the previous version of Grab would also grab the arc-shaped curve that drives a Curve modifier on the stone arch; that curve was not meant to be used as a profile.

Merge End Points

  • To merge selected points, select an even number of Bezier end points in Edit Mode and run the function.

  • To merge all points at the same coordinates, run the function in Object Mode.