What is this tool?

The Assembly Spline Tool provides a workspace for placing modular mesh kits along a path. One kit may contain a telegraph pole and wire (used to create telephone pole/wire infrastructure). Another kit may contain various wooden posts and boards (used to construct a wooden fence). From the tool window, the user can add a new assembly spline, load/import data, and manage the assembly splines in session.

Practical buttons, checkboxes, and sliders allow the user to lock the shape during structural edits, remove or replace kit components, and organize rigid and bridge components without breaking the overall assembly. List management and focus tools keep iteration fast and predictable.

When building kits, the user selects components to generate a ‘molecule’. These are populated along the spline at a user-specified spacing. This molecule could be a single post mesh or could be multiple rigidly joined meshes. Optional ‘bridge’ components are then used to span along the spline, from molecule to molecule (e.g., fence boards or telephone wires which go post to post).

The tool supports COLLADA (.dae) meshes, but there are special rules regarding anchor point naming and file naming which must be adhered to for kits to be successfully constructed.

Splines are created and edited using mouse interactions - left-click to place nodes, drag to move them, and use keyboard shortcuts for additional operations. The tool avoids traditional save/load sessions by directly recovering existing splines from scene meshes, treating splines as temporary editing constructs rather than persistent data. The Assembly Spline Tool can be used standalone or linked to Master Splines for coordinated editing with other tools.

What you can create

Assembly Spline Tool in Action

Key concepts

Splines: Paths which can be created and edited to define the route for placing modular mesh kits along customizable paths.

Nodes: Points along a spline which can be positioned and edited with the mouse, allowing precise control over the spline’s shape and path.

Assembly Kits: Pre-built collections of related meshes, used to create an assembly (e.g., a fence). Kit meshes contain special anchor points and follow a naming convention (this defines how it should be constructed).

TSStatic Meshes: 3D objects which can be placed along splines to form the components of assembly kits.

Molecules: Groups of rigidly-joined meshes which form placement units along the spline.

Bridge Components: Meshes which span between molecules to create continuous structures. Examples of common bridges: fence boards, telephone wires, etc.

Anchor Points: Connection points on meshes which define how components join together. Each mesh has 1-3 named anchor points which match with corresponding points on other meshes to create proper assemblies.

Conform to Terrain: Control over how assembly components align with the ground surface for precise placement.

Undo/Redo History: All adjustments are recorded to history for safe experimentation, allowing the user to try different settings and easily revert changes when needed.