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I am trying to wrap a rope around a pole. I am having a lot of difficulty controlling the Bezier curve nicely around. So I tried a different approach. I made one loop only using a Bezier curve (also tried with path and got same result). I then used the array modifier on the Bezier curve to have the curve continue spiraling down. I selected 'Merge' on the array modifier. I now have a constant rope loop spiraling down. Now I have my rope object follow this Bezier curve, but it will only follow the main loop and not continue down the array. I tried to apply the array modifier but I am forced to convert to mesh so than I don't have a curve to follow anymore. Any ideas for a workaround guys? I'm using 2.93.3 Thanks!

Rope only follows main bezier loop and doesn't continue down the array

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I would enable Add Curve: Extra Objects in preferences, so that I could add a spiral. Instead of trying to wrap a Bezier curve around the pole, I would add an Archemedian spiral and set its parameters to match the pole. Here's an example:

An Archemdian spiral wrapped around a cylinder

and the parameters that produced the spiral:

parameters for the spiral

This would work nicely if you have a material that makes the tube look like the rope.

Once I had an approximation I liked, I would hand edit the spiral to make it look less mechanical and use it as the guide.

Some thoughts on the parameters:

The key parameters in this case are Turns, Radius, and Height.

Radius: should be just enough larger than the radius of the pole so that the rope will just touch the pole.

Turns and Height: These are a little confusing. Height is the height of one turn, while Turns is the number of 360 degree loops in the spiral. You want height to match how tight or loose you want your rope wrapped. For instance, a height of twice the radius of the rope would give a nice obvious wrap. Then divide the length of the pole you want to cover by Height to determine the number of Turns.

Of course, you can then go to the curve's properties and give it a Round bevel, so that the curve itself can be your rope.

Using the Geometry Bevel to make the rope directly from the spiral

You can find the Bevel property in the spiral's Object Data Properties:

The spiral's Bevel property settings.

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  • $\begingroup$ Wow fantastic I didn't know about the Extra Objects. Thanks for the help. $\endgroup$
    – Mario Westphal
    Aug 31, 2021 at 15:57

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