Array a collection of objects along a curve

Question

So I wanted to array this 3 bottles on a Spiral Curve

I Tried using the most normal way possible, array and curve modifier , the bottles are stretched and the most importantly, only 1 bottle can be array-ed at a time...

Then I searched all over the internet and learned about DupliFaces, i parented the 3 bottle to a plane, and array that plane to the spiral curve, and this is the result

yes, it somehow worked BUT there is still some noticeable seperation between each 3 bottles yes, it can somehow be tricked out by playing the offsets, but because its on a spiral curve, the bottom part overlaps at each other and looked weird

I found this Question that really relates to my question:

Multiple objects in array

but its very outdated, and no longer working on the newest version of blender

I'm still looking for a better way to array multiple objects in blender,

Because my friend can do it so easily and with great result in Cinema4D, I'm finding a way to do that in blender

Answer 1

To array several unique objects in order, you can use several instancer objects with different offsets along the curve.

Instancers

For my example, I'll use three planes all with their origins at the center, but of course, you can use as many instancers as you have objects that need to be instanced.

The only important measurement here is the offset between the planes.

Array

Add an Array modifier to the first instancer with a Constant Offset that is set to the distance between the planes times the number of objects you need to array (in my case, three times the distance).

Curve

I used the Add Curve: Extra Objects add-on to create an Archimedean Spiral using these settings:

To perfect the curve, I rotated the start and end handles around the Z; then, I used Individual Origins to scale all of the handles along the Z.

Finishing Up

Add the Curve modifier to the first instancer and set the array Count parameter accordingly.

With all of the instancers selected, press CtrlL for the Make Links menu and click Modifiers.*

If the tilt of the curve is not right, you can set it to Z-Up. I further adjusted the curve's tilt in edit mode using CtrlT.

All that is left to do at this point is parent your objects to the instancers and set them to instance by faces.

You can also angle the instances by rotating the instancer meshes in edit mode.

Ta-da!

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* Modifiers cannot be linked, so it is actually copying not linking.

Answer 2

At least one of the answers you referred to still works, but does need a couple of refinements to deal with this arrangement.

• Construct a spiral with the desired (changing) frequency of vertices along its length. The shipped add on Add Curve: Extra Objects may provide what you need out of the box, but if you need more control over vertices, you could make an array of your own single-vertex meshes deformed down the curve, with an object-offset. If you scale the object, you can vary the distance between the vertices on the way down. or you could use proportional editing, before curve-deformation.
• Once your vertices are where you want them, you can convert the curve to a mesh
• Give the mesh a particle system, as previously described, emitting from vertices.
• The 'Render' is of a collection of your bottles, using 'Count', so they come out in order, repeatedly.
• This time, (strangely) you need to turn on Physics, so you can use the influence of a Texture
• Create a Spherical, or Quadratic Spherical Blend texture, centered on the spiral, set to influence 'Size', so the instances get smaller toward the middle.
• You can put the texture through a Color Ramp to reverse the scaling influence of the texture, and get finer control over the size-graduation.

The easiest thing would be to play with the file.. if you have any problems, I would be happy to edit this answer.

Answer 3

sverchok

Here is an (admittedly somewhat incomplete) node based solution