Wrapping an evenly spaced coil around a revolved surface

[Anonymous]

If done right you wouldn't see the red base object showing through:

Any ideas how to do this properly? 

[TrippyLighting]

What do you consider improper in that image ?

[chrisplyler]

If you want each wrap of the coil to touch the previous wrap such that none of the interior body shows through, the coil would need to be variable pitch. The more the red body surface nears horizontal, the more wraps-per-inch you need at that point. The more it nears vertical, the less wraps-per-inch you need.

Search the forum for "variable pitch coil."

[chrisplyler]

@TrippyLighting , I think he wants it as if a rope was wrapped around it, such that each wrap laid against the previous wrap.

I suspect that it's going to be very difficult to achieve.

[TrippyLighting]

Correct on both counts 😉

[laughingcreek]

this isn't an elegant solution, but a rather arduous series of lofts works.  

[chrisplyler]

I set up this just to test some ideas. But of course a loft around it won't get past 270-deg, and there isn't a good way to use the surface as a guide rail so you have to go 1/4 way around per loft and set both ends to Direction and try to eyeball it, and of course it squishes around the bend so it doesn't stay round anyway. Defining a sweep path (I tried with a 3D spline through each successive circle center point) is a nightmare, and of course you can't define the control handles, and OF COURSE when you attempt the sweep it intersects itself. I'm giving up.

[chrisplyler]

Okay, I changed my Loft methodology to include a Centerline, like @laughingcreek  did, and I got it to work better. Still tedious to set it up though.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the attempts everyone. I'm fairly certain this isn't doable with the current toolset. Especially if using more complex base geometry.

Would love to see this functionality integrated into Fusion but it may be a niche issue for most.

As a side note, here are are couple of amazing 3ds Max Scripts which offer this functionality and more:

http://www.splinedynamics.com/superhelix/

http://www.splinedynamics.com/spiros/