The Ultimate Guide to CURVES in Blender!

In this video, we talk about how to create and use curves in Blender! We'll talk about the easiest ways to draw and work with curves, as well as how to add things like tubes and profiles along your curves in Blender! Plus, learn a way to add curves in Blender to simulate ropes, wires, or tubes!
HOW TO USE THE CURVE MODIFIER
• Modeling a CHAIN ALONG...
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TIMESTAMPS
0:00 - Introduction
0:15 - What is a curve?
0:59 - How curves behave vs. meshes
2:06 - How to add and edit curves in Blender
4:01 - How to add to curves in Blender
5:24 - Quickly adding detailed curves with the draw curve function
7:12 - Creating tubes with curves in Blender
8:45 - How to extrude a profile along a curve in Blender
10:44 - How to add points between points on a curve
11:17 - Splitting part of a curve in Blender
11:51 - Closing a curve in Blender
12:21 - How to remove control points from a curve
13:24 - Adding curves that interact with surfaces (wires, cables, etc)
15:08 - How to convert curves to meshes in Blender
16:22 - Using the curve modifier in Blender

[@TheCGEssentials]

Hi everyone! Let me know if you have any questions about curves in the comments below! :)

[@name3099]

Hello i dont really have a question about curves. I would like to reccomend a tutorial on how to make a full face Gas mask in blender like the one you see in games for example gta 5. Still thanks for sharing free knowledge, very underrated youtube channel.

[@bd3902]

From SketchUp days to blender, you're always helpful.thanks mate!!

[@my_yt_]

Part 2. We explain every feature of curves not previously covered. Thanks for Part 1.

[@egork.4891]

whats a curve tangent and whats a curve normal etc :D

[@doomsdaytuther5095]

Ultimate really. Then why did you not go into detail about the bezier handles. You missed out the use of the shortcut 'v' for changes the handle function.

[@akantor5526]

that curve interacting with surface was what i was looking for. I'm trying to do a leaf with it's stem in the middle and finally solved it thanks to you!

[@JoJa015]

Your Blender videos are so useful! Keep up the great work!

[@michaelmurrillus915]

thank you for going deeper into the details and parameters. Others don't

[@FrederfCM]

Awesome tutorial! This was the most complete and straight to the point I found about curves in Blender

[@saintelmo5590]

I'm a year too late for this, but, Justin, you have great tutorials. Thank you for sharing your knowlege. I realize you may have covered this in a later video, and I apologize if I'm repeating, but, there is now an option when you convert an object from one type to another (Curve to Mesh or vice versa) there is a checkbox for Convert in the pop up box that appears in the display. That checkbox is called "Keep Original". That allows you to convert your Curve/Mesh to its opposite (or intended conversion) while keeping the original form of whatever you converted. So when it comes to Curves, this is extremely handy in that you no longer have to duplicate your curve. The Keep Original (if on) will now keep your original Curve when you convert it to a Mesh.

[@daniellemillerart]

coming from Maya and NURBs modeling (but a long time ago) and trying to make a fancy staircase in blender, starting with a baluster I made using curves and filled in the middle so it's symmetrical....got stuck on how to spin it on its axis to make a 3d/nonflat baulster vs just the flat point. There's not much online for curves modeling in blender, and plenty of people still saying you can't do it, so would love to see more and maybe walk through how to use them for a staircase since this is a common use in archviz that can probably hit every point of what curves can do (making the balusters but then also bending a staircase segment along a curved circle or making the railing (basically what you did with the pipe and curve object).

[@GonzoGonschi]

I very much enjoyed your sketchup tutorials and now that I have fallen in love with blender I am so pleased to see you making awesome blender tuts as well. thanks a lot mate :)

[@mikemazzantini6397]

That surface depth setting just blew my mind. Great video!

[@josef5962]

Best tutorial about curves in blender there is out there!

[@TheCGEssentials]

Glad you think so!

[@roxannegrey9187]

Thank you for such a good and detailed tutorial! This function is so amazing and the possibilities to use it are almost endless! It can make work so much faster.

[@TheCGEssentials]

Glad it was helpful!

[@blossomoyeyipo3331]

Best curve tutorial ever!

[@en2336]

Best blender teacher

[@MN-vl1me]

Thank you, that Depth function saved my day!

[@rsoulinternet]

3:20 - when selecting the end points you can also use the scale (S) key to change the arm legnth **on just one side** while keeping the angle locked. which is very useful if the curve on the other side has been very carefully set but you need to adjust the curve on the other side. Also note that the curve to mesh tool (and mesh to curve) has a checkbox to allow you to keep the original object so you don't have to manually duplicate things to have a backup.

[@arch.blender1178]

Great video, I wish I had watched it this morning as it had several things, I needed to know for a project I was working on today. Tomorrow will be much easier LOL

[@spaceenemiesnovel]

Awesome. Especially the part where the curves intract with the other objects.

[@TheCGEssentials]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@mash3d67]

Good job, You should do a follow up showing the profile section of the curves bevel. Also how to make crown molding and addons like Ryan Kingsnorth Curves to Mesh addon

[@Gadderz87]

Another clean video from theee CG Essentials! Great channel!

[@TheCGEssentials]

THEEEEEE CG Essentials!

[@simoneiorio9703]

The surface tip was unknown to me, so thank you Justin!

[@TheCGEssentials]

Glad I could help!

[@owenlloyd2528]

Thank you

[@AFLAutoBlendz3DCarCreations]

Hi Justin. Great video. Would be good to explore the other types of curves ie Nurb curves etc

[@mrhollywood5285]

This is great ......... not to much out there for CURVES. Thanks mate Cheers MR H

[@grampadoug9004]

Very helpful! Thank you.

[@dez7852]

14:00 - just blew my mind!

[@hakanpolat6495]

Thanks for this curves guide video.. Waiting for nurbs cuvrve /surface guide also...

[@dez7852]

hhhhhhWhats up guys. I have been off learning and building and materializing things (so I've not been around) and now I need to use curves. So I come to you. I missed ya babe. How're things goin?

[@dez7852]

10:00 - Gold Jerry, GOLD!

[@maryoriski2013]

Thx Justin, this is what i'm looking for 💖💖💖

[@videohaaat2]

Very useful Mashaa Allah

[@rudimentarie]

Do you know how I can snap the Bezier curve flat to the X axis? I created a handwritten 3D drawing using the Bezier curve and all tutorial videos show it with a flat bottom on the X axis but mine is not flat on the bottom. I don't know what to do and there's nothing written online about this :(

[@aliceleblanc7318]

Helped me a lot -- Thank you! :D

[@evillvlad8174]

tnx

[@blahvendetta8310]

really helpful video man! Thanks a lot!

[@hefferwolff3578]

Very helpful!!!

[@ianmcglasham]

Yes. This is a good video.

[@wesley6442]

If anyone could help lend advice or something I am trying to export an animation of a pipe I made in blender that bends into a different shape in the timeline. I am using the simple deform modifier to do so under the bend setting, but when I export the pipe bend FBX and put into Unity, nothing happens the pipe remains stagnant throughout all the animation preview in the inspector. I know blenders modifiers are built into the program and don't really transfer outside of the program, is this my issue? is the modifier that handles the pipe bending not exporting properly into unity? I am relatively new to all this but I am moving along well enough, I mean I literally just figured out how to even bend the pipe and use Blender's animation timeline haha

[@smilgu]

Thank You very much!

[@midnightstories5695]

The Ultimate Guide I love it !!!

[@bleve97]

Great tutorial, thank you

[@TheCGEssentials]

Glad it was helpful!

[@randa.7826]

awsome super useful thankss!!

[@Jez2008UK]

How do you create straight lines (or straight curves to be precise)?

[@Shande5000]

Great in-depth overview of curves! Question: Do you know if there is a way to deform a mesh with multiple curves? I'd basically like to rig an object with curves instead of armatures...

[@ronny_mc5933]

thank you very much:)

[@MrDangerEXtreme]

Thanks!

[@hosseinse4079]

thank you

[@janezkorpar8082]

Thank you!

[@TheCGEssentials]

You're welcome!

[@sougataghar1179]

This was great info for newbie like c:

[@TheCGEssentials]

Glad you liked it!

[@philipmcdonnell7168]

Thanks for the tutorial. I've never really used Bezier or Nurbs curves before. A quick question: if I use the bezier curves to make contours, - the map isn't real and doesn't have GIS data but is very detailed in places - can they be linked together and a mesh formed to create a landscape or do I have to do something like a clothes modifier to a mesh (which will also be a first for me)? Or do I have to do a Nurbs curve set (not used those either...)?

[@empatikokumalar8202]

For example, is it possible to make a multi-pass editing, like the loft in 3d max? i

[@rohithqq]

Please do plant growing animation without geomentry nodes

[@mistube]

been messing around with curves abit and some of it seems rather limited in the controles, ofcause i have the control handles, but i see no where how i can set curve to sharp corners without ether selecting the point and scale to 0 , and often if i do that , the filled tool will mess up if i try to round corners with that , So for some stuff i find it good, but for other stuff i dont really find it sufficient, especialy not if we look at how fx, 3dmax handles curves or a normal tool like AI, affinity designer og inkscape, what is your thoughts on normal corners and sharp corners and fillets on the curve tool in blender ?

[@emelie8868]

01:06 how do you move those red lines + control points? I'm in edit mode as well but I cannot grab them. Cannot change the beizer curve.

[@elbubsio4947]

You can use box select to highlight the control points and then either use the gizmo to move and rotate them or press G (to move) or R (to rotate). ;)

[@johnberryconwayiii7071]

is there a video on how to loft across curve shapes?

[@Pouk3D]

Hello. How do you color the curve in viewport from the default blue?

[@maxwell_edison]

I tried to do this with rails for a mine cart, but it's not working at all.. I see the rail, but when I try to make the curve, it goes nuts and is corrupted somehow

[@tcards4941]

Cheers again Justin. Can you divide the curves segments into specific lengths?

[@TheCGEssentials]

I don't believe so, but I'm not 100% sure

[@richardconway6425]

Wow! You did a really good job of explaining something that looks very unintuitive and difficult to explain. Really, is it just me, or is this a really good example of blender making things much harder than they should be. As soon as you started, I just thought about a cad style nurbs modeller, which makes it so easy to manipulate curves, then turn them into to 3d objects, like say a bottle or wine glass. This system looks difficult to use and quite unintuitive. Btw, isn't there something in blender called 'use gravity' to help you place flexible objects on top of other objects, or am I thinking of an add on? Anyway, thanks for this, very helpful.

[@TheCGEssentials]

I mean, I wouldn't use this tool to create surfaces - there's actually a Nurbs Surfaces and Nurbs Curve type object in Blender for that kind of thing.

[@michaelpenco546]

P;leasant day to you. I am looking fir the video that shows what to do when some of the object goes "invisable" but not seeing it on your page. Please give me the name?

[@TheCGEssentials]

I don't know what this means

[@michaelpenco546]

You did a video some time ago that demonstrated part of a si-di object that you did and was told that the program only exhibits parts and ti can be adjusted so the whole object can be viewrd. I find this problem occuring when importing .obj blocks, that will "dissapear with the amount of zoom applied.

[@DanWishard]

Best way to see it is if you're familiar with Adobe software, basically the pen tool.

[@empatikokumalar8202]

thanks 14:57 Can you do more examples please

[@Kumodot]

Just posted about this in other video. Sorry to repeat myself. Blender is such an amazing piece of software, and i really would love if they redo the curves workflow. It's just not intuitive. It's not on par with it's other tools ease of use.

[@gundg2204]

Great videos, thanks for sharing. 2 things you could improve. Your intro greeting and your sound :-)

[@fergadelics]

His intro is his thing. I wouldn’t want him to change it. I’ve watched probably a zillion of his videos

[@gundg2204]

@@fergadelics It gives me creeps while hearing :D

[@fergadelics]

@@gundg2204 not a long while. Just a little bit .

[@fergadelics]

I’m just being goofy. Sorry

[@vondonks]

DRINKING GAME: every time Justin says "notice how" take a drink! Bet you can't keep up!

[@TheCGEssentials]

Sigh...doing my best over here

[@vondonks]

@@TheCGEssentials just funnin with ya. this was a great, useful video that filled some gaps in my knowledge. thank you!

[@bialek.online]

so many things to notice ...

[@caribbeanchild]

Interpolate not extrapolate

[@TheCGEssentials]

...ok

[@greaterpainter7996]

This guy's Blender tutorials are very helpful but I always hate his intro. If you can get past that first 3 seconds it's smooth sailing.

[@janvanspauwen7792]

that intro could stay behind, its not sounding good