noodle(1)

NAME
noodle - interactive 3d modeling program

SYNOPSIS
noodle

DESCRIPTION
noodle is an interactive program for creating a variety of 3d objects. The concept is very similar to a pasta maker in which one chooses a noodle cross-section and pushes the dough through, (hence the name). noodle was written using the Inventor 3d Toolkit. It outputs Inventor files.

The noodle program has 5 main windows and a control panel. The five windows are: Each window can be used to view or edit the object (with the exception of the top right window which only allows viewing). Use the right mouse pop-up to switch from viewing mode to edit mode and back.

The lower left window is for drawing the noodle cross-section. You insert and drag individual points by clicking with the left mouse button in this view. You can delete a point on your cross-section by first selecting the point (note the "+" highlighting) and then pressing the BACKSPACE key. All four curve editing views use the same user interface for editing. This is a 2d curve.

The top left window is for editing the taper along the noodle. The default object will have no taper. If you edit this curve you will see the results in the 3d view (top right) and quickly understand how to create lathe-like effects. This is a 2d curve.

The lower middle window is for editing the spine of the noodle. This is a 3d curve through space that the noodle follows. The default object will have a straight, vertical spine. NOTE that this curve is the only 3d curve of the four curves.

The bottom right window is for editing the twist along the noodle. The default object will have no twist. If you edit this curve you will see how this curve twists the noodle about its spine axis. This curve makes it easy to corkscrew-like effects. This is a 2d curve.

Note that each of the four curve editing windows have a few buttons to clear the curve and create a few special curves.

The top right window is for viewing your resulting object. You cannot edit the object in this window; only viewing is allowed.

The top bar menu contains a variety of controls for affecting the resulting noodle. Experiment with these controls to learn their effects. You can save the resulting noodle in both noodle format (noodles are stored as GeneralizedCylinder nodes) or standard, vanilla Inventor format (can be imported into any Inventor program, even if the GeneralizedCylinder DSO is not loaded on the host system).

SOURCE CODE
Note that the source code to noodle comes with the Open Inventor 3d Toolkit.

FILES
/usr/share/src/Inventor/demos/noodle/* - Source to noodle

SEE ALSO
SceneViewer, drop, inventor, ivview, gview, maze, qmorf, revo, showcase, textomatic