Duplicate on a empty?

[Misanthrop]

Hi everyone,

im aware of the array modifier. Used it with fixed length and object offset, but im looking for a more advanced method. So let me try to explain it with a simple example. Imagine a flute/pipe with 6 holes. I wanna put a pressure gauge into each of those holes.

The pressure gauge sits in the first hole, but i wonder if i could just use a duplicate/array on empties instead of fixed length. So that i see 6 gauges in object mode in each of those holes, but only see the first gauge in edit mode.

The best method in my mind is a array modifier that lets me set a array with object offset with more than one object. Or a curve with 6 vertices and the array places the object on each vertice.

I took a major pause from blender and currently cant wrap my mind around it. I would appriciate the help.

edit: Added some pictures. First pic, that horizontal bar with the additional 5 empty holes. The pressure gauge sits in the first hole. The other pics just show how its supposed to look like.

https://imgur.com/a/9csoD

[still__alive]

Is this not what you are after?
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1139234147
1. I added an empty
2. Added the array modifier to the cube
3. Checked constant offset option in array modifier
4. Checked the object offset option
5. Pointed the object offset option to the empty I added

I circled the option I'm talking about. I can move the empty around and the second object will appear over the empty, any object beyond that appears to have the same space from the 2nd as the 2nd has from the 1st. I don't know if you need an empty for every object in the array, but I think this is pretty close to what you want.

Edit: And out of curiosity, why not just duplicate it and move it where you want manually? (When you couldn't figure out the array)

[Misanthrop]

Gonna try it out. Thanks for your advise :)

And regarding your question. Why would i, when the model itself aint finished and blender itself is very inaccurate. So i try to solve most with mirrors and arrays if possible.

http://steamcommunity.com/app/365670/discussions/0/357287935553290497/

Here is a thread i posted a while ago with the accuracy problems of blender.
Array and mirror also let me work on on model while the others are just duplicates. So in case i rework a certain part i dont have to manually move anythng anywhere. The array/mirror modifier will do that for me.

[Mr Chappy]

Nice model!

[Misanthrop]

Originally posted by Mr Chappy:

Nice model!

Thanks. Its for a Dayz mod i plan to develop. I grew sick of armas engine and dayzs new engine is my last hope. I pretty much wanna create Arma 3.5, but dont quote me on that ;)

Have a nice day.

[still__alive]

Originally posted by MyWay | LimpBizkit:

Gonna try it out. Thanks for your advise :)

And regarding your question. Why would i, when the model itself aint finished and blender itself is very inaccurate. So i try to solve most with mirrors and arrays if possible.

http://steamcommunity.com/app/365670/discussions/0/357287935553290497/

Here is a thread i posted a while ago with the accuracy problems of blender.
Array and mirror also let me work on on model while the others are just duplicates. So in case i rework a certain part i dont have to manually move anythng anywhere. The array/mirror modifier will do that for me.

Not to resurrect that old discussion or anything, but I found this interesting, so I went and tried it myself. Did it both ways, manually building the circle myself like you described, and just creating a circle from scratch with the described amount of verts.

Doesn't matter which way I built the circle, they all came out perfect and I could snap them on to each other, in any combination, and the verts would line up perfectly. Maybe you got your math wrong, missed locking it to the proper axis once, or accidently typed one of your rotations wrong, once, or even twice? I caught myself almost entering the value wrong once.

[Misanthrop]

Originally posted by still__alive:

Not to resurrect that old discussion or anything, but I found this interesting, so I went and tried it myself. Did it both ways, manually building the circle myself like you described, and just creating a circle from scratch with the described amount of verts.

Doesn't matter which way I built the circle, they all came out perfect and I could snap them on to each other, in any combination, and the verts would line up perfectly. Maybe you got your math wrong, missed locking it to the proper axis once, or accidently typed one of your rotations wrong, once, or even twice? I caught myself almost entering the value wrong once.

I just checked to confirm. The problem seems to be patched, but as u can see in the old thread, i wasnt the sole person experiencing that.

And believe me i wasnt to stupid to add 2 circles with verticevalues of 48 and 384 :D So i didnt imagine anything there. The math was just to confirm that the circles that were shown didnt use Pi.

EDIT: Thanks actually for bringing that back up. It diminished my opinion of blender at that point so im glad to actually take that back :) Blender seems to actually fix its problems. Love that.

[still__alive]

Originally posted by MyWay | LimpBizkit:

Originally posted by still__alive:

Not to resurrect that old discussion or anything, but I found this interesting, so I went and tried it myself. Did it both ways, manually building the circle myself like you described, and just creating a circle from scratch with the described amount of verts.

Doesn't matter which way I built the circle, they all came out perfect and I could snap them on to each other, in any combination, and the verts would line up perfectly. Maybe you got your math wrong, missed locking it to the proper axis once, or accidently typed one of your rotations wrong, once, or even twice? I caught myself almost entering the value wrong once.

I just checked to confirm. The problem seems to be patched, but as u can see in the old thread, i wasnt the sole person experiencing that.

And believe me i wasnt to stupid to add 2 circles with verticevalues of 48 and 384 :D So i didnt imagine anything there. The math was just to confirm that the circles that were shown didnt use Pi.

I wasn't saying you were stupid or wrong with the math, just that you might've typed something wrong on your calculator or notepad, and in Blender when you did the rotations. The numbers you are using make sense, that kind of circle should end up with points in the exact same spot.

I could absolutely be wrong on this, but I think you can probably trust Blender's precision, and you just had a typo or keypress that threw things out. This part you mentioned about it being off the y/z plane you were working on:

Originally posted by MyWay | LimpBizkit:

The 384 is not properly alligned along z & y axis. X axis is fine. X axis can also be easily solved with setting 3d cursor to a choosen point and setting pivont point to 3d cursor and scale X axis 0.

makes me think that you might've done a rotation where the verts were not locked to the proper axis. When you are rotating by less than a degree, something like that would easily be missed until you starting trying to align it up with other things.

[Misanthrop]

Originally posted by still__alive:

I wasn't saying you were stupid or wrong with the math, just that you might've typed something wrong on your calculator or notepad, and in Blender when you did the rotations. The numbers you are using make sense, that kind of circle should end up with points in the exact same spot.

I could absolutely be wrong on this, but I think you can probably trust Blender's precision, and you just had a typo or keypress that threw things out. This part you mentioned about it being off the y/z plane you were working on:

I stumbled upon it while i tried to add a teethrow for a clampsystem and confirmed it in a empty file. So while u may be right that i may jsut have messed something, im still pretty sure i didnt. That one person confirming it in the thread atleast lets me hope so.

But lets see it like this. Its solved, u pointed it out and im glad u did :D So no reason to waste precious time on a topic thats solved.

Have a good one

[still__alive]

Originally posted by MyWay | LimpBizkit:

Originally posted by still__alive:

I wasn't saying you were stupid or wrong with the math, just that you might've typed something wrong on your calculator or notepad, and in Blender when you did the rotations. The numbers you are using make sense, that kind of circle should end up with points in the exact same spot.

I could absolutely be wrong on this, but I think you can probably trust Blender's precision, and you just had a typo or keypress that threw things out. This part you mentioned about it being off the y/z plane you were working on:

I stumbled upon it while i tried to add a teethrow for a clampsystem and confirmed it in a empty file. So while u may be right that i may jsut have messed something, im still pretty sure i didnt. That one person confirming it in the thread atleast lets me hope so.

But lets see it like this. Its solved, u pointed it out and im glad u did :D So no reason to waste precious time on a topic thats solved.

Have a good one

Yeah, you have a good one too. :-)

Edit: Only point I was trying to make was that I don't think you need to be worried about Blender's precision. If that method I posted for the array modifier doesn't work for what you need, I don't think you'll have issue if you just duplicate and place things by hand.

[Misanthrop]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEAPtX6-bjc

Yo here is the real solution. I used the method u posted above, but still thought it was not as i imagined in my first post. So i searched a bit longer and the solution is group instancing.

Just watch the video. Peace

[still__alive]

Originally posted by MyWay | LimpBizkit:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEAPtX6-bjc

Yo here is the real solution. I used the method u posted above, but still thought it was not as i imagined in my first post. So i searched a bit longer and the solution is group instancing.

Just watch the video. Peace

Wow, that is an amazing technique/tool! Thanks for sharing the video.

Looks like he's got a pretty good channel as well, going to bookmark it for later.

[Misanthrop]

Yeah sadly stoped uploading videos. Atleast the videos already uploaded are very usefull. Glad i could share some knowledge :)