Introduction

This page covers the basics of curve editing.

Transform

A Bézier curve can be edited by transforming the locations of both control points and handles. NURBS curve on the other hand have only control points.

Translation, rotation, redimensionnement

Référence

Mode : Mode Edit
Panel: Tool Shelf ‣ Tools ‣ Transform
Menu : Curve ‣ Transform ‣ Grab/Move, Rotate, Scale, ...
Raccourci : G, R, S

Like other elements in Blender, curve control points and handles can be grabbed/moved G, rotated R or scaled S as described in the Basic Transformations section. When in Edit Mode, proportional editing is also available for transformation actions.

Transform Panel

Référence

Mode : Mode Edit
Panneau : Properties region ‣ Transform

Si rien n’est sélectionné, le panneau est vide. Dans le cas où plus d’un sommet est sélectionné, les valeurs médianes sont éditées et “Median” est ajouté au début des étiquettes.

Control Point, Vertex
The first controls (X, Y, Z) show the coordinates of the selected point or handle (vertex). In case of a NURBS curve, there is a fourth component available (W), which defines the weight of the selected control point or the median weight.
Space

The Space radio buttons let you choose if those coordinates are relative to the object origin (local) or the global origin (global).

Global, Local

Data

Weight
ToDo.
Radius
Radius is used for beveling.
Tilt
ToDo.

Tools

Référence

Mode : Mode Edit
Menu : Curve ‣ Transform

The To Sphere, Shear, Warp and Push/Pull transform tools are described in the Transformations sections. The two other tools, Tilt and Shrink/Fatten Radius are related to Curve Extrusion.

Mirror

Référence

Mode : Mode Edit
Menu : Curve ‣ Mirror
raccourci : Ctrl-M

The Mirror tool is also available, behaving exactly as with mesh vertices.

Snap

Référence

Mode : Mode Edit
Menu: Curve ‣ Snap
Hotkey: Shift-S

Mesh snapping also works with curve components. Both control points and their handles will be affected by snapping, except for within itself (other components of the active curve). Snapping works with 2D curves but points will be constrained to the local XY axes.

Extrude Curve and Move

Référence

Mode : Mode Edit
Panel: Tool Shelf ‣ Tools ‣ Curve Tools ‣ Modeling: Extrude
Menu: Curve ‣ Extrude Curve and Move
Hotkey: E

Extrudes points by duplicating the selected points, which then can be translated. If the selection is an end point a new point will be connected to the selected point, else a new unconnected point is created.

Mode
ToDo.

Duplicate or Extrude to Cursor

Référence

Mode : Mode Edit
Hotkey: Ctrl-LMB

Interactively places new points with Ctrl-LMB at the cursor position. With the selection it deals in same manner as the Extrude Curve and Move tool.

Add Duplicate

Référence

Mode : Mode Edit
Panel: Tool Shelf ‣ Tools ‣ Curve Tools ‣ Curves: Duplicate
Menu: Curve ‣ Add Duplicate
Raccourci : Shift-D

This tool duplicates the selected control points, along with the curve segments implicitly selected (if any). If only a handle is selected, the full point will be duplicated too. The copy is selected and placed in Grab mode, so you can move it to another place.

Separate

Référence

Mode : Mode Edit
Menu : Curve ‣ Separate
Raccourci : P

Curve objects that are made of multiple distinct curves can be separated into their own objects by selecting the desired segments and pressing P. Note, if there is only one curve in a Curve object, Separate will create a new Curve object with no control points.

Make Segment

Référence

Mode : Mode Edit
Menu : Curve ‣ Make Segment
Raccourci : F

Connects two disconnected control points. The selection must be loose points, or the first/last point of a curve, then press F. If the points belong to different curves, these are joined by a segment to become a single curve.

../../../_images/editing_curves_two-curves-joined.png

Courbes avant et après jonction.

Note that you can only join curves of the same type (i.e. Bézier with Bézier, NURBS with NURBS) Additionally, you can close a curve by toggling cyclic.

Toggle Cyclic

Référence

Mode : Mode Edit
Panel: Tool Shelf ‣ Tools ‣ Curve Tools ‣ Curves: Delete
Menu : Curve ‣ Toggle Cyclic
Raccourci : Alt-C

This toggles between an open curve and closed curve (Cyclic). Only curves with at least one selected control point will be closed/open. The shape of the closing segment is based on the start and end handles for Bézier curves, and as usual on adjacent control points for NURBS. The only time a handle is adjusted after closing is if the handle is an Auto one. Fig. Courbes ouvertes et fermées. is the same Bézier curve open and closed.

This action only works on the original starting control-point or the last control-point added. Deleting a segment(s) does not change how the action applies; it still operates only on the starting and last control-points. This means that Alt-C may actually join two curves instead of closing a single curve! Remember that when a 2D curve is closed, it creates a renderable flat face.

../../../_images/modeling_curves_editing_introduction_open-closed-cyclic.png

Courbes ouvertes et fermées.

Delete

Référence

Mode : Mode Edit
Panel: Tool Shelf ‣ Tools ‣ Curve Tools ‣ Curves: Delete
Menu : Curve ‣ Delete...
Hotkey: X, Delete; Ctrl-X

Options du menu déroulant Erase :

Vertices

Ceci va supprimer les points de contrôle sélectionnés, sans casser la courbe (càd les points adjacents seront directement liés, joints, une fois les points intermédiaires supprimés). Rappelez-vous que l’ordre de NURBS ne peut être supérieur à son nombre de points de contrôle, ainsi il peut diminuer si vous supprimez des points de contrôle. Bien sûr, quand un seul point reste, il n’y a plus de courbe visible, et quand tous les points sont supprimés, la courbe elle-même est supprimée.

Segment
Deletes the segment that connects the selected control points and disconnecting them.
Dissolve Vertices Ctrl-X
Deletes the selected control points, while the remaining segment is fitted to the deleted curve by adjusting its handles.
../../../_images/editing_curves_delete-selected.png

Suppression de la courbe sélectionnée.

../../../_images/editing_curves_delete-segment.png

Suppression de segments de la courbe

Control Points

Tilt

Référence

Mode : Mode Edit
Panel: Tool Shelf ‣ Tools ‣ Transform ‣ Tilt
Menu: Curve ‣ Control Points ‣ Tilt/Clear Tilt
Hotkey: Ctrl-T, Alt-T
Tilt Ctrl-T
Lets you define the tilt of the selected control points. The tilt will be interpolated from point to point (you can check it with the normals). The tilt angle is defined interactively first, and then it can be adjusted in the Operator panel Angle.
Clear Tilt Alt-T
Brings the tilt of those selected control points back to 0.

Set Handle Type

Référence

Mode : Mode Edit
Panel: Tool Shelf ‣ Tools ‣ Curve Tools ‣ Handles:
Menu : Curve ‣ Control Points ‣ Set Handle Type
Raccourci : V

Handle types are a property of Bézier curves and can be used to alter features of the curve. For example, switching to Vector handles can be used to create curves with sharp corners. Read the Bézier curves page for more details.

Toggle Free/Align V-T
Additionally, the this shortcut can be used to toggle between Free and Aligned handle types.

Set Goal Weight

Référence

Mode : Mode Edit
Menu: Specials ‣ Set Goal Weight

Ceci définit le “goal weight” des points de contrôle sélectionnés, qui est utilisé quand une courbe possède une physique de Soft Body, en forçant la courbe à “coller” à leur position d’origine, en se basant sur le poids.

Smooth

Référence

Mode : Mode Edit
Panel: Tool Shelf ‣ Tools ‣ Curve Tools ‣ Modeling: Smooth
Menu: Specials ‣ Smooth

le lissage de courge est disponible via le menu specials. Pour les courbes de Bézier, cette opération de lissage réduit la distance entre les points de contrôle sélectionnés et leurs voisins,tout en gardant les voisins ancrés. N’affecte pas les tangentes des points de contrôle.

../../../_images/modeling_curves_smoothing_example1.jpg

Original, unsmoothed Curve.

../../../_images/modeling_curves_smoothing_example2.jpg

plus de 200 fois en tenant Shift-R pour répéter la dernière étape.

../../../_images/modeling_curves_smoothing_example3.jpg

Seulement trois points de contrôle au centre lissé plus de 200 fois.

Hooks

Référence

Mode : Mode Edit
Menu: Curve ‣ Control Points ‣ Hooks
Raccourci : Ctrl-H

Les Hooks peuvent être ajoutés pour contrôler un ou plus de points avec d’autres objets.

Segments

Subdivision

Référence

Mode : Mode Edit
Panel: Tool Shelf ‣ Tools ‣ Curve Tools ‣ Modeling: Subdivide
Menu: Curve ‣ Segments ‣ Subdivide

Curve subdivision simply subdivides all selected segments by adding one or more control points between the selected segments.

Number of Cuts
The number of cuts can be adjusted from the Operator panel.

Switch Direction

Référence

Mode : Mode Edit
Panel: Tool Shelf ‣ Tools ‣ Curve Tools ‣ Curves: Switch Direction
Menu : Curve ‣ Segments ‣ Switch Direction, Specials ‣ Switch Direction

This tool will “reverse” the direction of any curve with at least one selected element (i.e. the start point will become the end one, and vice versa). This is mainly useful when using a curve as path, or using the bevel and taper options.

Show/Hide

When in Edit Mode, you can hide and reveal elements from the display. You can only show or hide control points, as segments are always shown, unless all control points of the connected curve are hidden, in which case the curve is fully hidden.

See Show/Hide in Object Mode. See also the Curve Display panel.

Set Spline Type

Référence

Mode : Mode Edit
Panel: Tool Shelf ‣ Tools ‣ Curve Tools ‣ Curves: Set Spline type
../../../_images/modeling_curves_editing_introduction_set-spline-type.png

Set Spline Type button.

Vous pouvez convertir des splines en un objet Courbe entre Bézier, NURBS, et Poly Courbe. Pressez T pour accéder au Tool Shelf. Le clic sur le bouton Set Spline Type vous permettra de sélectionner le type de Spline (Poly, Bézier or NURBS).

Notez que ce n’est par une conversion “intelligente”, càd. que Blender ne cherche ni à garder la même forme, ni le même nombre de points de contrôle. Par exemple, la conversion d’un NURBS en Bézier, chaque groupe de trois points de contrôle NURBS devient un unique point Bézier (un point central et deux poignées)

Voir aussi

Convert To/from Mesh.

Curve Parenting

Référence

Mode : Mode Edit
Raccourci : Ctrl-P

Vous pouvez définir d’autres objets sélectionnés comme enfants d’un ou trois points de contrôle Ctrl-P, comme avec les objets Maillage.

To select a mesh (that is in view) while editing a curve, Ctrl-P click on it. Select either one or three control points, then Ctrl-RMB the object and use Ctrl-P to make a vertex parent. Selecting three control points will make the child follow the median point between the three vertices. An alternative would be to use a Child of Constraint. See also the Curve Modifier.