Handy Curve Profile for Blender

what is Handy Curve Profile?

instead of a simple tube shape, It adds various mesh details to curve objects with a click of button. It greatly improves modeling workflow if you regularly use curves in the process.

• Handy Curve Profile apply various shapes onto the curves with ease.

• Handy Curve Profile can also add various shapes to curve end, flexible or rigid

• change every aspect of the shape with controls

Copy profile from active object to others

Create Bones from Curves, open or closed loop

Draw curve on mesh surface

create curves from selected edges

Finalize profile mesh and clean up relevant proxy objects

One button click to append mesh to source file.

it comes with over 100 pre-made mesh shapes to jump start.

next time, whether building your robot, machinery items or organic creatures, place your curve, click and choose. it is that simple.

Have a Question? Email me: learnasimakeit@outlook.com

digital product does NOT offer refund.

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update 1.4.5:

fix compatibility with Blender 4.0

update 1.4.4:

for cleaner outliner, all profile meshes are appended to separate scene.

rework appending profile mesh logic, now it supports unlimited category. please scroll down to page bottom Q&A for more detail.

simplify operator "Finalize Selection". instead of one mesh at a time, drag select and finalize all selected.

update 1.4.3:

fixed file path error for Mac OS users.

update 1.4.2:

added: custom folder path.

by default, the addon looks for "Handy Curve Profile.blend" inside the addon folder which is deep buried inside system drive. now under preference addon tab, there is an option to choose a user defined folder. like show in the below screenshot, I saved the "Handy Curve Profile.blend" in my D drive, a folder named "MyCustomMesh". I select the folder as custom path and it is all done. it is a lot easier to manage and avoid accidental overwrite when updating addons. at the same time, you can load different profiles with different projects.

if the path is left empty, the script will look for what is inside the addon folder.

added: refresh curve mesh profiles button.

when pressed, if curve profile collection present in current scene, it will update it to what you have selected in the custom folder.

WARNING: if you have appended new mesh to source file, save it elsewhere before update.

update 1.4.1:

added: modal operator to draw curve on selected mesh surface

how to use: select one or more mesh as target surface, press "Draw on surface" button to enter modal mode.

left click to add point on surface, "W" and "S" to offset distance from surface, Spacebar/Enter to confirm result, 

right click/ ESC to cancel. 

update 1.4:

script logic was re-written for smoother workflow. Updated code can now apply and control multiple profile meshes at the same time instead of only one at a time.

added: new editing controls, switch between manual or fit curve length, segment distance.

added: new category "Connection Segment" in profiles category

added: create bones from curve points, toggle with open or closed loop

added: copy profile from active object to others

added: create curves from selected edges

added: one button click to append to source file. no need to open source file to add custom mesh. simply select mesh and click within current blend file and it is done. uninterrupted workflow.

source mesh size are scaled down, if your scene has different scale, scale the mesh objects in source file accordingly.

update 1.3.1:

this minor update is mainly for organization purpose. 

added user defined tab rename. when choose same tab name as others, they will merge together. save preference and restart blender to take effect.

update 1.3:

added new category "Organic", new meshes added with total over 100.

added new sub-panel "Radius and Tilt". when a curve profile is selected, each point's radius and tilt can be adjusted.

with the new addition, it is possible to make horn, tale or tentacle alike, and speed up your creature creation.

update 1.2:

removed " Apply Curve End ".

added: two scenarios: " Apply Soft End " and " Apply Rigid End ".

as their names suggests, some mesh make sense deforming along the curve, but others don't. so choose appropriate type when apply mesh to curve end.

please note that, when " Apply Rigid End " is used, due to its structural difference, the "Squash" and "Stretch" sliders only work AFTER "Finalize Selection" is clicked on the rigid end mesh.

update 1.1:

added up to 80 new various meshes to populate your curve.

added new function to the end cap of the curve.

added several categories to choose from, since 80 mesh is finger tiring to cycle through.

streamline adding your own mesh process.

IMPORTANT: please BACK UP your own mesh before remove the 1.0 version.

to update to 1.1: locate the old 1.0 version in your preference and de-activate/remove it. install the 1.1 version as new addon.

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Q&A:

Q: How to add your own category?

A: in version 1.4.4 or later, each category is saved in a blend file separately. to add your own, for example, I have a cube, sphere and cylinder as profile mesh, simply save them in a collection such as "test", save the blend file named as "test" and drop it inside the addon folder. it will show up in the profile category drop down list. to make them for curve end cap object, add a suffix "_end" to the collection name and blend file name. in this case, all mesh are in collection "test_end" and save the blend file as "test_end". it will show up in the pick an end drop down list.

if you've already added your own mesh, you can duplicate the blend file and within each file, make sure the collection name is matching its blend file name. for example, I have make several new tube profile meshes with previous version, open "Handy Curve Profile.blend" in default addon folder/custom folder path, check the name of the tube profile collection name, in this case "Tube_profile". save the blend file name to "Tube_profile.blend". that will do it. repeat the renaming for any other category.

if you'd like to start from scratch, you can save an empty blend file with any name such as "my mesh_end". when you append a mesh to source, select the "my mesh_end.blend" file, append it and it is ready to be re used.

the default path for those blend files are inside the addon folder: C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\Blender Foundation\Blender\3.6\scripts\addons\Handy Curve Profile   

you can change to a custom folder path to manage those blend files in addon preference

Q :the profile is tiny in my scene. How to fix them?

A: all the profile meshes are made roughly to real life size. whereas in blender, the default size is usually larger, for example the monkey head is 2 meters tall.

the solution is scale up all source mesh.

1. go to addon folder, by default it is "C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\Blender Foundation\Blender\3.5\scripts\addons\Handy Curve Profile", locate the "Handy Curve Profile.blend" file.

2. open the blend file, optionally, import an object as scale reference. select all profile meshes - scale them accordingly - apply object scale- save blend file.

next time when you use the side panel to add curve profile, the scale will work to your liking.

Q: How to set up custom folder?

A:

1. create a folder at a place of your choice. for example a folder named "My Curves" in D drive.

2. go to the addon folder which usually at "C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\Blender Foundation\Blender\3.3\scripts\addons\Handy Curve Profile" UserName usually is your main admin name, 3.3 is blender version, it could be 3.2 or others.

3. copy the "Handy Curve Profile.blend" inside default addon folder to your custom folder "My Curves".

4. in your addon preference set the custom path, please NOTE: only point to the FOLDER, NOT the actual blend file.