Too many vertices on curved path for railing object

[Richard Birket]

I am using a basic railing template from the RC library to create some railings along a path. Posts are being created at all the vertices which are quite close together at the curved sections of the path. How do I give some kind of threshold so that posts are only created, for example, every 2000mm?

(The path was created from a 3d poly in max - create shape from selcted edges - so there are quite a few vertices)

[iToo]

Probably the RailClone object is using a 'Corner' rule, and there are extra vertices in the spline of type Corner or Bezier-Corner, so it's creating a post for each one. You can fix it:

- Converting the extra vertices to 'Smooth' or 'Bezier' or even removing them, but this may modify the spline.
- Or setting the 'Corner' rule to 'None' and using the 'Evenly' rule to place the posts. Although doing this RC will not create any posts on the "true" corners.

[Richard Birket]

Thankyou for your prompt reply which makes sense.

Could a possible future update allow for a bit moe flexibility here? For instance, you could select 'true corners' where posts should be placed, but treat the remainder as 'evenly' spaced?

[Richard Birket]

I have set the corner segment from the default 'hmetal_post1' to 'none' and all the posts now disappear. In the 'evenly/segment' dropdown, the default entry is also 'hmetal_post1'. 'Distance' below this is set to 1500mm and 'Adjust to end' is at 50% - these are both the default values. Shouldn't I be seeing posts at 1500mm centres now? I am not seeing any - just the pickets.

[iToo]

I just tested it and you are right, it doesn't work if there are redundant corner vertices in the spline. The problem is that RailClone consideres each segment between two corners as an independent spline, resetting the Evenly rule.

It seems that the only solution is to fix the spline, removing the extra vertices. What about applying a "Normalize Spline" modifier ? If you like, post here the scene and we will take a look to it.

Could a possible future update allow for a bit moe flexibility here? For instance, you could select 'true corners' where posts should be placed, but treat the remainder as 'evenly' spaced?

Sure. Once completed the integration with VRay and Mental Ray (already done), our objective is to improve the core of RailClone, adding new and more flexible Construction Rules.

[Richard Birket]

The normalise spline modifier works a treat. Thanks for that. I've never used that before!