Why does the simple deform modifier not bend when created or strechted on the Y axis?

Question

When I create a simple cube and stretch (or create other cubes as one object) along the x or Z coordinate it and then add lots of loops cuts it seems to bend just fine. However, if I did all of this along the Y coordinate it messes up really bad.

Above I create a simple cube and stretched it along the X coordinate and add lots of loop cuts. I added the modifier and went to bend and it seems to bend fine.

Above I did the same thing however I did this along the Y coordinate and as you can see they both have very different results. I also selected X, Y, and Z-axis on the modifier itself still looks bad. I also tried adding an empty but the results still don't improve it. Is there a fix for this? or do I have to create everything on the X-axis? I am relatively new to Blender. Thanks.

Answer 1

There are two axes to take into account when using the Simple Deform modifier.

1. The axis of deformation, set in the modifier, around which, in 'Twist' and 'Bend', vertices rotate.
2. The axis of extent, which determines, according to the fraction of the object's bounding box along it, either side of the origin, how much the vertices are rotated.

The examples below have their 'Bend' deformation axes set to X, Y and Z:

as you can see, the axes of extent are Z,Z, and X.

I wish you could set both axes in the modifier. Personally, I always wind up using an Empty as an axis/origin object, and fiddle with it until it works.