I need to create several fiber optic cable cable illustrations. There are many parts to these. I can create them in Blender with no problem, but I would like to make the fibers twist. The problem for me is, I'm twisting a lot of objects that will need to easily change. 60 fibers, 72, etc. This is an example of what I want:
Any suggestions on where I should start would be greatly appreciated.
Curves are certainly versatile, but for some cables you might try other techniques. An alternative involves rotating an array of cylinders around and empty...
...and adding a simple deform
Update: If you modeled the smallest cables and then joined Ctrl Jthem to the outer tubing, you could array them together. You could color the small cables first, but you probably have to 'Apply Array' to color the few outer cables. Most of the other thicker tubing seems easy to model, the only except being the blue ribbon for which curves might be appropriate.
I would look at the use of bevel objects for 3d curves, and use complex 2 curve objects for the bevel object. The control point in the curve can be twisted with ctrl-T and that might be the way to go.
