Make Vertex Radius Affect just One Axis on Beveled Curve

Question

I have a curve with a bevel applied. I know varying the radius would make parts of the geometry bigger or smaller. What I want is the radius to increase or decrease to only affect one axis. basically to scale the bevel only on a desired axis on that vertex.

the profile is a circle right now, if I could change the scaling around the desired axis I could make it an ellipse. Let's say I scale it 0.5 on Z and 1.5 on X. I cannot use the object bevel because I want to vary this scaling on every vertex and it won't be in a fixed proportion.

Answer 1

You should be looking at properties/object data/geometry/extrude:

Extrusion basically scales the curve object in particular per-control axis, and can be used in combination with bevel radius to create an object with an elongated profile. It is a product of the control radius and the extrusion depth, so can be controlled via either. The axis of extrusion is determined by the curve tilt, as set by curve twist method and handle tilt (and, depending on how you look at it, by the curve object's orientation.)

A different option is to designate a bevel object. You can designate a curve object as a bevel object, and it gives the greatest control over the exact cross-section of the curve:

The cross-section is the bevel object's object-space projection onto a Z plane. The origin of the bevel object basically travels through the spline being beveled by that object, following the curve. It is still affected by radius and tilt, as with extrusion. You can use this to create any cross-section you want, to any arbitrary level of detail.