Creating a Circle (spline) with varying number of points.

[pim]

If I create a circle, it has always just 4 points.
How can I create a circle (spline) with for example, 5 or 28 points?

[eZioPan]

Hi @pim,
As far as I know, there is no way to make a "perfect circle" with any type of spline in Cinema 4D.
I search on the Internet, based on this answer: How to create circle with Bézier curves?.
I write the following code to create a circular-like spline shape:

import c4d, math
#Welcome to the world of Python

deg = math.pi/180.0

def main():
    pCnt = 4             # Here is the point count
    radius = 200         # Here is the radius of circle
    subdAngle = 5*deg    # Here is the subdivision angle

    #Prepare the data
    tangentLength = (4/3)*math.tan(math.pi/(2*pCnt))*radius # single side tangent handle length
    pointPosLs = []
    tangentLs = []
    for i in range(0,pCnt):

        angle = i*(2*math.pi)/pCnt    # caculate the angle

        # caculate point position
        y = math.sin(angle)*radius
        x = math.cos(angle)*radius
        pointPosLs.append(c4d.Vector(x, y, 0))

        # tangent position
        lx = math.sin(angle)*tangentLength
        ly = -math.cos(angle)*tangentLength
        rx = -lx
        ry = -ly
        vl = c4d.Vector(lx, ly, 0)
        vr = c4d.Vector(rx, ry, 0)
        tangentLs.append([vl, vr])

    # init a bezier circle
    circle = c4d.SplineObject(pcnt=pCnt, type=c4d.SPLINETYPE_BEZIER)
    circle.ResizeObject(pcnt=pCnt, scnt=1)
    circle.SetSegment(id=0, cnt=pCnt, closed=True)
    circle[c4d.SPLINEOBJECT_CLOSED] = True
    circle[c4d.SPLINEOBJECT_ANGLE] = subdAngle
    
    circle.SetAllPoints(pointPosLs) # set point position

    # set tangent position
    for i in range(0, pCnt):
        circle.SetTangent(i, tangentLs[i][0], tangentLs[i][1])

    circle.Message(c4d.MSG_UPDATE)

    return circle

You can try put this code in a Python Generator object to get the result.

I'm not very sure about my answer, waiting for more convincing answers.

[mp5gosu]

You may also want to take a look at the official Cinema 4D SDK for an example of a circle object: https://github.com/PluginCafe/cinema4d_cpp_sdk_extended/blob/master/plugins/cinema4dsdk/source/object/circle.cpp

Though it's C++, the algorithm should be easily adaptable.

[s_bach]

Hello @pim ,

I guess you are talking about the "Circle" spline primitive? The generated spline has always 4 control points; there is no way to change that.

But you could try to get the generated spline and apply the "Subdivide" tool. Whit that tool you can add additional points.

Or you could, as @eZioPan and @mp5gosu and have shown, create the spline completely by yourself.

best wishes,
Sebastian

[pim]

Thank you all, great answers!
I will take a different approach.
I convert the circle to a spline and then divide that spline into the wanted number of points.

-Pim