Hi,
I would like to animate an object along a path and at the same time let the object be deformed/bend by/along the curve.
So for example if I have a tube and want it to animate along an S-shaped curve, the tube should also become S-shaped (if it has enough subdivisions). In other words inherit the curvature of the path.
In XSI is a deformer called “Deform - by Curve” which let me do exactly that. In 3ds max I guess there is something called “bend modifier” which does a similar thing (but not 100% sure).
I know how to animate an object along a path, but I can't figure out how to deform it along the path.

Any help or tips is much appreciated.

Thanks,
Daniel

Lattice SOP in the “points” mode?

If you only need a tube…. Polyextrude or Sweep SOP could be helpfull.

I don't need it specifically for a tube. A tube-like shape just shows off the effect that I'm looking for better than a cube or a sphere.

Here is a little animation of what I'm trying to achieve in Houdini.


If this is somehow possible with a lattice then I would be thankfull for further instruction since I'm fairly new to Houdini.

Thanks,
Daniel

Here's one way albeit with some undesirable stretching. Hit play after loading the file.

If you stick a Resample SOP after the path SOP, the squash and stretch goes away.

Mark

Thank you both for the replies. Edward for sharing the network and mtucker for the resample-tip. I added the resample node to the network and now I'm getting the result that I was looking for. Very cool!
Though I need more time to really understand what's going on in the network. I'm not familiar with every node edward used. But that's okay.

cheers,
daniel