three-tube-path

TubeGeometry for three.js with just as many tubular segments as needed.

Usage

import { TubePath } from 'three-tube-path';
const path = new THREE.CatmullRomCurve3([new THREE.Vector3(-5, -5, 0), new THREE.Vector3(-5, 5, 0), new THREE.Vector3(5, 5, 0)]);
const geometry = new TubePath(path, TubePath.pathToUMapping(path, 3, 0.3), 1, 8, false);
const tube = new THREE.Mesh(geometry, new THREE.MeshStandardMaterial({ color: 'green' }));
scene.add(tube);

geometry = new TubePath(path, uMappingFrames, radius, radialSegments, closed)

Creates a geometry like TubeGeometry for three.js, but instead of uniformly picking points for tubular segments, allows using specific points or spreading a few just around the path original points.

• path - (Curve) A 3D path that inherits from the Curve base class.
• uMappingFrames - (Vector of Float) - Positions on the path to place tubular points, where 0 is the beginning of the path and 1 is its end. Default is a few positions around each original point, obtained from calling TubePath.pathToUMapping(path), see below.
• radius — (Float) The radius of the tube. Default is 1.
• radialSegments — (Integer) The number of segments that make up the cross-section. Default is 8.
• closed — (Boolean) Is the tube open or closed. Default is false.

umap = TubePath.pathToUMapping(path, elbowNum, elbowOffset)

Utility function for positions mapping for a path, spreading a few points around each original path point, to smooth those elbows.

• path - (Curve) A 3D path that inherits from the Curve base class. Same as given to the TubePath constructor.
• elbowNum - (Integer) Maximum number of positions to place on each side of an elbow. Default is 2.
• elbowOffset - (Float) Distance between one position around an elbow and the next. Default is 0.1.

Alternative for CylinderGeometry

To create an oriented cylinder geometry between two arbitrary points [p0, p1] use:

const cylinder = new THREE.Mesh(new TubePath(new THREE.CatmullRomCurve3([p0, p1]), [0, 1], radius, radialSegments));

Install

npm install three-tube-path --save

Demo

https://erasta.github.io/three-tube-path

License

MIT, see LICENSE for details.