line segments with edges into a curve

Question

I want to give these line segments a continuous cylinder shape, like a Spaghetti noodle. My aim is to make this path visible in render mode. At the moment you are not able to see it in render mode because it has zero thickness.

I already converted them into a Bezier curve and played around with the Bezier Circle. The result were a lot of cylinders behind each other with a lot of gaps between them because the whole line has edges as you can see on the picture.

I also tried to solve the problem with a Skin-Modifier, but this didn't give me a good solution either. Maybe I should combine it with another Modifier.

So I was wondering if it's even possible to convert an 3D edged path into a curve path with a cylinder shape.

I would be very glad if someone could tell me how I get a good solution.

Thank you very much!

Answer 1

Your problem is not that your path shape is composed of many segments, but that it is composed of many separate objects.

You should join them into one object before adding thickness to your curve, and you also have to join all overlapping vertex into a continuous spline. The modifiers you mention have no effect in what you want to achieve.

1. Select all your segment objects
2. Shift select on last segment to make it the active object
3. Join them all with Ctrl + J
4. Now enter edit mode on the newly created mesh object
5. Select all vertex
6. Press W > Remove Doubles
7. Exit edit mode
8. Press + C > Convert to Curve

You should now be able to successfully add thickness to your curve as a continuous path.

Answer 2

If I understand it right.

1. Make path, edit it as you need.
2. Make Bezier Circle.
3. Select Path and under Object data tab select Bezier Circle as Bevel Object.

Now you can resize Bezier Circle as you need.