Revamp the ARRAY modifier
Check what the CLONE addon from iToo for 3DS-Max does: itoosoft.com/freeplugins/clone
Wouldn't it be marvelous to have it in Blender? And to me it doesn't really seem such a challenge to implement.
I don't know about you, but I REALLY miss this modifier to multiply objects in rotation and in conjunction with translation.
I think that we all agree in saying that the Array modifier in Blender right now is very very basic.
6 Comments
Hi.
Isn't this already possible using Geometry nodes? A node tree in geometry nodes can show parameters in the modifier tab. Additional benefit is that the geometry can be handled as instances.
Not sure which feature you are missing...
Don't you value efficiency? You're suggesting people adopt an new alien workflow for something that should've been one click five years ago, and was implemented long since in every other 3D package. You're asking people to open an entire extra view and establish a whole node structure... for every circular rotation... for the rest of infinity. I fear that Blender is about to be crippled by a "Geometry Nodes can do everything so they SHOULD do everything" mindset.
He is suggesting people to just download ready to use geo node array modifier in the web (or follow tutorial) with geonodes you can make a way better modifiers Repeat, ready to use modifiers, just like normal ones
I appreciate that, but it's not a relevant solution because the requester is asking for a basic feature that works with existing modifiers.
There is a value in keeping different tools for different jobs, and if we start expecting every user of Blender to individually implement and curate "better modifiers" in lieu of maintaining them, we're removing support for modifiers entirely. People will ask questions about modifiers and be told "just use nodes instead".
We just suffered through thirty years of Blender being the unpopular clunky tool that refuses to let you do anything intuitively - if geometry nodes become the community's answer to everything, we'll fall right back into that rut.
If it's so easy for the USER to make better modifiers, it should be even easier for the Blender devs.
Even offering so much as a ready-to-go rotation slider would be a huge boon, even hiding it behind an "advanced" checkbox. Since the position sliders are right there, the omission of a simple corresponding control over rotation comes across as confused and negligence, not ingenuity. It's a stumbling block, and replacing it with a different stumbling block isn't enough.
For years, there have been plenty of requests for this kind of thing, and I agree with you that it would be great. The Blender Team has traditionally considered adding functionality to the array modifier to be an anti-feature. I hope this will change sometime in the next decade.