Hi Garry again..

Sorry I am about to go to bed.. I am very tired..

But will answer a shorty here...
the Scale Tool I am talking of is the normal Scale tool.. (s key)
Or use the direct tool, that uses those settings I said, that one is in the 'Transformation' Tab on the 'Tabbed' Toolbar and is called 'Scale1D'

btw.. I hope you get going with SDS modeling.. since SDS is really fun.. (I remember those nice Aha feelings when I "Got it" how SDS really works..

You can also start out with a simple Nurbs Rotate mesh, (an Axis and a Profile curve) The Profile curve to have the basic shape of a snake of your liking, with basic head shape, the body, and the tapered tail part... Then Convert this into a SDS using the 'ToSDS' Tool in the 'SDS' Tab of the 'Tabbed' Toolbar, and finish of doing the details on it. Eyes, mouth, maybe flattening its belly side.. and so on..

Take Care
Best Regards
Stefan Gustafsson ( Beg-inner )
A Proud Owner and User of Real3D and Realsoft3D..


I dunno what you exactly want..
But for a simple one, maybe just use a Nurbs curve and lay it out in a snaky way, and set it to renderable and have a High 'Head' radius and a Low 'Tail'
radius....

Yep , this is good for earth worms and not very realistic snakes .
Very fast and lots of options to get different looking fast results .

Otherwise if wanting a more complex one, model a straight lined snake using
SDS (a Cylinder to start from..),
If you need to resize it smoothly from thick to thin at the end :
1. Use the 'Scale' Tool and set Deform --> Deform in function of projection
to an axis  Ctrl Curve --> Linear

OK , this sounds interesting . Hmmm , let's say , that I was a typical
user who has banged their head against the wall for several hours , in
a vain attempt to accomplish the most simple of simple tasks , with no
luck at all... where would a person like myself go to find such a "Scale
Tool / deform in function of projection to an axis" ?

  There is no scaling on the "SDS" Tab , but there's  several in the
"Transformation" Tab . However , none of them match your description .

  Anyway , thanks for trying to help with this . Perhaps it's trickier
to make than what one would think anyway . One picture's a simple task of
extruding a tentacle ... size down for the tail in a nice smooth manner,
size up for the head ... seems like a complete no-brainer .

If nothing of this is what you want or if it dont make sense.. just
ask..more
and maybe provide an example image on how you want it to look like....

I want it to look like a realistic snake like tentacle . Fat head ,
thin tail , like a snake . I am trying to build a snake-like looking
snake . Not a pool cue looking snake , or a baseball bat looking snake,
but a snake that looks just like a snake . I know I wasn't very clear
in my first email , but I am actually trying to build a snake , not
an octopus's tentacle , although I think I will leave that for plan
"B" .

  Plan "C" will be what 3D artists have been doing for decades ,
build anything even close to what they are aiming for , then just
leave it up to the viewer to try and figure out what it might be .
Plan "D" will see me throw all my computer equipment off my balcony
and through the neighbours front window . This will not only destroy
my equipment , but will also ensure that I don't have any money to
buy brand new stuff , since I will be paying for the damages and
my lawyer for some time to come .

  In the meantime , I will stick with plan "A" ; build a snake .

  That will be humongous step #1 . Make a tube object that tapers
to a tail , and tapers to a head . The amount of taper must be in
control of the creator . That is to say , the head must suddenly
blow up in size , and the tail must not taper to a point for 3/4
the length of the whole body , but the body will taper in a logar-
ithmic type of scaling that we see so often in nature , ie ,
slowly , then very quickly near the end .

 In fact , you know what ? To hell with the head . Just a body
and a tail will do . I will be ecstatically happy if I can create
a snakes tail ! Just a tail . The head can look like a fire hydrant,
I don't really care ... whatever , but the tail must taper just the
way a realistic snakes tail should taper . Smoothly but with ever
increasing quickness of taper .

 The key words were "realistic looking" and "Snake-like" and "easy".
At this point we can forget about easy ... easy came and went along
with the second coming of christ . We now drop gears a bit and go
from building a simple , realistic looking snake , in a quick and
easy manner, to building just a snake's tail , and hopefully some-
time before snakes are totally extinct . This will be plan "A-2" .

Take Care
Best Regards
Stefan Gustafsson ( Beg-inner )
A Proud Owner and User of Real3D and Realsoft3D ...

Thank You In Advance .

studio
www.niagara.com/~studio
www.studiodynamics.net


>  Tried various methods , nurbs curves rotate , Stef's
> 'extrude a tentacle animation' technique , but nothing
> that looks snake-like enough .
>
>   Is there an easy method to create a realistic looking
> snake-like tentacle ?
>
> Thanks In Advance .
>
> studio
> www.niagara.com/~studio
> www.studiodynamics.net
>
>




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