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    Applying Scale to Curve question

    Nougat Time(nougat time)
    posted to: Detailing the Cables and Wires
    During the video, John sometimes applies the scale after making a curve, and I was curious why ? I made a curve and duplicated it, applying the scale only on one of them, and converted them to mesh, and from what it looks like, the poly count, shape and function stay the same. So does applying scale to curve have more to it, or is it just a habit? I wanna make sure im not overlooking anything. what I did notice, is that the mesh, converted from the curve, maintains the scale.(So maybe that´s the reason? Since we do further edit the mesh) Hope the question isnt too dumb
    Reply
    • Nougat Time(nougat time) replied


      curve q.jpg

    • Martin Bergwerf replied

      HI Nougat,

      I am glad you asked; that is an excellent question!

      As a rule, I'd say: "Do not Apply the Scale to a Curve!" It either has little to no consequence (as in your example), or it messes things up (for instance when using a Curve Modifier).

      With Meshes, you should (almost) always Apply the Scale, so maybe it was indeed a habit that Jonathan sometimes Applied the Scale to a Curve.

      Now, I do not know everything (of course) and it is possible, that there are scenarios, where you should Apply the Scale of a Curve, but I don't remember ever having come across a situation like that.

    • Omar Domenech replied

      I'd say habit yes, since scale can mess up so many things down the line, depending on what you're doing, one usually by muscle memory just tends to apply it as soon as you change the default 1, 1, 1 values. 

    • Nougat Time(nougat time) replied

      thank you guys, i was afraid it sounded nitpicky, the rule of thumb sounds good! I´ll remember that

    • Jonathan Lampel replied

      Agreed with Martin, it's often not needed to apply scale to a curve and sometimes it can mess things up. I probably just did it out of habit. It all depends on the project, whether it will use generated or object coordinates in the texture, etc. Luckily, it's a reversible decision, so it's not critical.