Ugh, braided cables are kind of a pain. . .
The last image was my first attempt. I used a curve modifier after the array modifier to make the individual strands form a circle, but that caused distortion.
Using an empty as an object offset, then rotating the empty accomplished the same thing, but without the weird distortion.
Thanks @spikey for the solution.
I'm thinking to be practical I will need to bake this to a normal map.
I'll have one cylinder with the normal map applied to it. Then it'll look like a braided cable, but won't take dozens of millions of vertexes to create the cable.
You can't see it very well, but there's some separation happening in the vertical cable as it arches over the main cable. I may have to adjust a couple things. I'm thinking maybe the number of rotations in the simple deform to start as it seems to be taking into account the whole of the cable, and not just a single segment.
I also need to get a handle on resource utilization. It's using a ridiculous amount of geometry and there should be a better way of simplifying it.
For the bridge I need literal miles of cable.
Heh, that curved cable is 43 million verts. I guess it's generating a fair bit of geometry. :-b
Hmmm. . .
First time I've run into this, I think.
I guess this method for generating cables creates a lot of geometry.
Of course it doesn't help that this is cable for the Golden Gate Bridge modeled at 1:1 scale, so it's a LOT of cable.
I may have to create a simple tube and bake this geometry or something. . .
Using the empties as object offsets and using those to form the tubes of strands instead of circle curves seems to have resolved the distortion issues.
Edit: I think what I said in Discord was clearer:
@Spikey using empties as object offsets and rotating the empties resolved the problem.
I was having the array follow a curve modifier in the shape of a circle, and that was causing the distortion.
Thanks Spikey!
Kind of a pain but therapeutically weird and calmly to look at somehow.
Yes they are!
I think the easiest method I have come across uses a few modifiers.
I can't remember exactly how it was set up, but its quite simple really.
I will see if I can recreate it and share it.