This is amazing. I started to play around with blender a couple of weeks ago and suddenly got the idea to make a short video for my kids, explaining how rainbows form. Not only is this exactly what I need, but it's also straight forward and well explained. I did however change the order of adding the array and adding the subdivision, so i can customise the length of the propagation of the wave. It just happened to be more useful in my particular case In any case, thank you for this! 😀
A possibly easier way to create the sine curve might be to use the Mesh (Extra Objects)>Math Function>XYZ Math Surface. Set X equation : u , Y equation : 0, Z equation : sin(u). You can set the amplitude and wavelength in the Z variable. You can set the u length with the start and end points, and set the resolution. Then convert to curve. No scaling to 2D, or need for the Array Modifier.
Love the tutorial! It's exactly what I needed. This might be a bit of a basic question, but let's say I wanted to move the curve/cylinder off one of the 3 main axes (X/Y/Z), how to I maintain the curve modifier for the cylinder? I have a glass tube I want to animate the wave going through at some arbitrary position (basically just not at the world origin), but as soon as I move the wave-curve the cylinder I've attached to the curve unwraps. I imagine there's some sort of function to define a custom reference axis for the curve so that the cylinder always follows it?
Clarification to above, the animation works so long as you translate the curve parallel to its original axis, but as soon as you rotate it in any direction the cylinder looks like it unwraps and flies off of the curve. My question is whether it's possible to preserve the effect while putting it in any location/rotation?
Hey Bobby, I think I gather what you're trying. You should be able to solve this by parenting the cylinder to the curve and then moving the curve (assuming you want to go in a non-parallel direction or rotate). Just select the cylinder, hold shift, select the curve then use Ctrl+P and parent to object. That way when the curve moves the cylinder will move with it.
@@CGFigures Oh yep that works, thanks! Btw, I did a little experimenting and the simple deform modifier can really do some neat stuff if you turn the curve into a mesh. If you twist the wave you can make a great demo of a polarization rotator.
@@BobbyBroccoli Glad it worked. That is a very cool suggestion. I haven't actually thought much about polarization but I'll have to explore that a bit.
Out of curiosity, why are you applying the curve modifier? If I had to guess, I would say that when you move something along a curve it tends to move the object origin along an axis. That object origin might not be along the curve, you can usually see a little yellow dot moving off into the distance. So if you move a cylinder a long distance along the curve chances are that your cylinder is moving really far away and that applying the curve is making it reset to its object origin. If you apply it and open the side panel with 'n' and look at the location of the cylinder it's probably moved to a far off point in the scene. Hope that helps.
@@CGFigures I’m applying the curve modifier for the same reason that you do - to allow an object to travel along my curve to visualize a propitiating wave. The origin is still visible at the same point and pressing n reveals that it’s still at (0,0,0)
@@fiziksmusic1776 Just to clarify here. You're adding the curve modifier or applying it? Those are two different things with potentially very different results. Usually when I have trouble with curves it's because I need to apply the position/rotation/scale of the curve and the object. If that doesn't solve it then you could try changing the axis in the curve modifier which is another common source of trouble.
@@CGFigures I figured out the issue. It turns out that I was scaling the curve in the x-direction in object mode, instead of edit mode. This was causing issues when I mapped the cylinder to the curve. Thanks for the quick replies and for all these awesome tutorials! Do you have any ideas on how we can changed the polarization of our wave from linear to circular? i.e. - return back to a spiral? I've tried a bunch of different things and havent been able to figure it out.
@@fiziksmusic1776 Cheers. Glad to hear you found a solution. You could just start with the spiral and then use an orthographic camera or a side perspective to make it look linear at first and then circular later on. Alternatively, you could use the spiral curve and use a shrinkwrap modifier to project everything onto a hidden plane to make it linear in specific areas. Otherwise, the easiest route is probably just to stitch two curves together, one linear and one circular.
I'm assuming you mean you want each wave to have a different amplitude. That should be no problem, just scale up in that direction. If I remember correctly from the way I made this everything lies on the axis so you can freely scale
TLDR: Yes. I plan to. Long version: I have been thinking about how to revisit this subject with geometry nodes and will probably add in a way to work in polarized light. Microsingularity released a video on realistic lasers awhile back (th-cam.com/video/Sbfj7A7jqTo/w-d-xo.html) and I've been meaning to see if I can apply the same approach to this topic as well.
Thank you for propelling the science illustrations. It really makes a lot of difference in my studies.
This is amazing. I started to play around with blender a couple of weeks ago and suddenly got the idea to make a short video for my kids, explaining how rainbows form. Not only is this exactly what I need, but it's also straight forward and well explained.
I did however change the order of adding the array and adding the subdivision, so i can customise the length of the propagation of the wave. It just happened to be more useful in my particular case
In any case, thank you for this! 😀
A possibly easier way to create the sine curve might be to use the Mesh (Extra Objects)>Math Function>XYZ Math Surface.
Set X equation : u , Y equation : 0, Z equation : sin(u). You can set the amplitude and wavelength in the Z variable.
You can set the u length with the start and end points, and set the resolution.
Then convert to curve. No scaling to 2D, or need for the Array Modifier.
any idea why my cylinder is veering slightly off x-axis as it follows the curve path?
having hard time fixing this
Thanks for this video, I need this information for a project I'm working on. Excellent Tutorial!
Love the tutorial! It's exactly what I needed. This might be a bit of a basic question, but let's say I wanted to move the curve/cylinder off one of the 3 main axes (X/Y/Z), how to I maintain the curve modifier for the cylinder?
I have a glass tube I want to animate the wave going through at some arbitrary position (basically just not at the world origin), but as soon as I move the wave-curve the cylinder I've attached to the curve unwraps. I imagine there's some sort of function to define a custom reference axis for the curve so that the cylinder always follows it?
Clarification to above, the animation works so long as you translate the curve parallel to its original axis, but as soon as you rotate it in any direction the cylinder looks like it unwraps and flies off of the curve. My question is whether it's possible to preserve the effect while putting it in any location/rotation?
Hey Bobby, I think I gather what you're trying. You should be able to solve this by parenting the cylinder to the curve and then moving the curve (assuming you want to go in a non-parallel direction or rotate). Just select the cylinder, hold shift, select the curve then use Ctrl+P and parent to object. That way when the curve moves the cylinder will move with it.
@@CGFigures Oh yep that works, thanks!
Btw, I did a little experimenting and the simple deform modifier can really do some neat stuff if you turn the curve into a mesh. If you twist the wave you can make a great demo of a polarization rotator.
@@BobbyBroccoli Glad it worked. That is a very cool suggestion. I haven't actually thought much about polarization but I'll have to explore that a bit.
Nice i was looking for this video, finally find it.
When I apply the curve modifier my cylinder always disappears. If I delete the modifier it reappears. I can’t seem to find it anywhere…
Out of curiosity, why are you applying the curve modifier? If I had to guess, I would say that when you move something along a curve it tends to move the object origin along an axis. That object origin might not be along the curve, you can usually see a little yellow dot moving off into the distance. So if you move a cylinder a long distance along the curve chances are that your cylinder is moving really far away and that applying the curve is making it reset to its object origin. If you apply it and open the side panel with 'n' and look at the location of the cylinder it's probably moved to a far off point in the scene. Hope that helps.
@@CGFigures I’m applying the curve modifier for the same reason that you do - to allow an object to travel along my curve to visualize a propitiating wave. The origin is still visible at the same point and pressing n reveals that it’s still at (0,0,0)
@@fiziksmusic1776 Just to clarify here. You're adding the curve modifier or applying it? Those are two different things with potentially very different results. Usually when I have trouble with curves it's because I need to apply the position/rotation/scale of the curve and the object. If that doesn't solve it then you could try changing the axis in the curve modifier which is another common source of trouble.
@@CGFigures I figured out the issue. It turns out that I was scaling the curve in the x-direction in object mode, instead of edit mode. This was causing issues when I mapped the cylinder to the curve. Thanks for the quick replies and for all these awesome tutorials! Do you have any ideas on how we can changed the polarization of our wave from linear to circular? i.e. - return back to a spiral? I've tried a bunch of different things and havent been able to figure it out.
@@fiziksmusic1776 Cheers. Glad to hear you found a solution. You could just start with the spiral and then use an orthographic camera or a side perspective to make it look linear at first and then circular later on. Alternatively, you could use the spiral curve and use a shrinkwrap modifier to project everything onto a hidden plane to make it linear in specific areas. Otherwise, the easiest route is probably just to stitch two curves together, one linear and one circular.
really amazing video sir! subbed immediately! :)
Very useful, as a usual !)
love love love love love love love love
What if I want to make each wave a different size? is that possible?
I'm assuming you mean you want each wave to have a different amplitude. That should be no problem, just scale up in that direction. If I remember correctly from the way I made this everything lies on the axis so you can freely scale
Awesome vid! Could you do one for circularly polarized light?
TLDR: Yes. I plan to. Long version: I have been thinking about how to revisit this subject with geometry nodes and will probably add in a way to work in polarized light. Microsingularity released a video on realistic lasers awhile back (th-cam.com/video/Sbfj7A7jqTo/w-d-xo.html) and I've been meaning to see if I can apply the same approach to this topic as well.
Thanks
Thats just one field, but fair enough almost nobody cares about the magnetic field part
Guilty as charged. I'm not sure I've ever worked with someone who actually even paused to mention the magnetic part.