Curve taper

by Kenneth Styrberg

Relevant to Blender v2.35

Taper is a tool for curve objects. In the edit panel (F9) you have a TaperOb field where you put the name of the curve that will define the width of the curve object.

Important rules

• Only the first curve in a TaperOb is evaluated

• Starting width is from left to right

• Negative widths are possible too, but rendering can cause artifacts

• It scales the width of normal extrusions based on evaluating the taper curve, which means sharp corners in taper curve won't be easily visible

In Figure 34 you can clearly see the effect the left taper curve have on the right curve object. Here the left taper curve is closer to the object center and that results in a smaller curve object to the right.

In Figure 35 a control point in the taper curve to the left is moved away from the center and that gives a wider result to the curve object to the right.

The curve object is extruded with a curve circle. (See the Section called Extrude Along Path for more on curve extruding)

In Figure 36, we see the use of a more irregular taper curve added to a curve circle.