Skill Level: Intermediate to Advanced
A basic knowledge of using 3d Studio Max is assumed.
I've gotten a few emails over the past few years about my braid tutorials asking me if I knew how to make a braided rope or tubular braid. Well I've tried many times to figure it out how to make it work and I finally have the answer.
The grid can get a little messed up on the thumbnails, so click on the images for a larger version.
Also if you haven't gone through my other braid tutorials you might want to do that beforehand to give you a better idea of what I'm talking about.
1) Make a star shape in the top viewport at X:0, Y:0, Z:0 with Radius1: 100, Radius2: 25, and Points: 3. For now we are making a 6 strand braided rope, after you get the idea of how to do it you can alter the parameters of your star.
2) Convert your star shape to an editable spline.
3) In vertex mode, click on the far most left vertex and click break.
4) Starting with one of the vertices connected to the one you just broke, move it on the z axis to 50 higher than the previous one. This means your first vertex is at 0 and your last one (for a 6 strand) will be at 300.
5) Clone your shape up the z axis so that the bottom vertex of the new shape is on the same level as the top vertex of the previous shape. Repeat for how long you want your rope to be.
6) Attach all the splines together into one.
7) Select all the vertices connecting each spline and weld them, making one giant spline.
8) Enable the rendering for the spline if it's not on already. If you're following along, give it a thickness of 40.
9) Select all the vertices and fillet them.
10) In the top viewport, shift-rotate (making a clone) around the z-axis 120 degrees. (Angle snap helps alot for this). Do this again another 120 degrees so you have 3 strands equally angled from each other.
11) With your pivot point centered on 0,0,0, mirror copy along the x axis.
12) Move the new strands up 50 along the z-axis.
13) You can scale along the z axis or the x/y axis to alter the shape of the braid. Just don't forget to Reset XForm to get the rendered spline to look correct.
Your braided rope is finished.
A 16 strand tubular braid:
If you are looking to make more complex braided ropes, keep these in mind:
- The points on the star shape affect how many strands there. It's always double the number of points equals the number of strands, 3 points is the minimum meaning 6 strands is the minimum.
- Don't make the two radius of the star too different or too similar. The braid strands need enough room to pass over each other but still be snug together.
- On step 10, the angle will be 360 divide by the number of points in the star. So my 16 strand braided tube had 8 points, which meant a 45 degree angle.
- On step 11, if you have a symmetrical star, you will have to rotate again so that the mirrored star is offset the original one. This will be half the angle you used in step 10.
- On step 12, if you used a different number to increment each vertex in step 4, use that number as the amount to move all the strands up the z-axis.
If you are having trouble with this tutorial or you just want to ask me some questions, contact me at kevinjohn3d@gmail.com or just leave a comment on this post.
