Icicles -- Why not like this?

[LOR Staff]

I was working on designing a 'icicle Light' wizard, and I came up with a method for drawing them using the string tool.  Please take a look at this method and let me know if it works for you -- or not.  

 

The secret is to draw parallel strings, and then use different spacing for each 'lower' section.  For example, draw a string and give it a spacing of 2.  Now draw a string below and parallel to that one, but make the spacing larger, say 4.  Draw another below that with an even larger spacing like 8.  Repeat for the effect you want.

 

As you can see, I quickly drew 3 different looking icicles...  The 'Normal' icicle on the upper part of the roof, the 'Curtain type' on the lower roof, and the small random multi-color ones on the porch.  I'm sure with a little tweaking you can make them look even better.  

 

 

And here is the Vis file

 

icicle simulation.lee

 

Please let me know the pros and cons so I can make an informed decision on pursuing the Icicle Wizard....

[MCas4380]

That looks great!

[David Barnett]

Hey Mike.  when I did iciles in HLD, one of the things that really made them look good, was that when they were put on an angled roof line, the strand direction reflected that.

 

You would use the same string tool, to draw the roofline, only the iciles were already designed within the program.  When finished drawing the lights, they hung down naturally, not sticking straight out from the roof.

 

IE the lights angle matched the roofs angles. I could sent you some examples if you want. Or, check outthe fixtures I uploaaded.  Those were initially laid out with HLD 4.x.

Then I used LOR object creator.

 

Now if your goal is not have that type of visual realism, and jsut emulate something similair to iciles, the above will work fine.

 

Just my .02

 

Best,

David