The Curve Clone tool allows you to quickly clone geometry by clicking down control points for a curve. If you wish to begin with a pre-created curve, simply put the curve in visible but deselected mesh item prior to activating the tool. Once the curve has been created with the tool active the clone effector will create geometry along it using the various controls.
Path Steps Generator--
Automatic: This toggle control will force a computed number of clones based on the Smoothing Angle value such that a "particle" is placed along the path to maintain a level of smoothness at or above the user set level.
Steps: The 'Steps' option is active only when the 'Automatic' option is disabled. The defined 'Steps' value determines the number of particles generated along the curve path that feed into the Effector, essentially controlling the number of clones.
Align to Path: When enabled the generated particles will include rotation data so the newly created mesh components can align to the surrounding geometry.
Start at Source: Often a curve used for cloning will have its initial control knot imperfectly aligned with the geometry to be cloned. WIth Start at Source active the curve is used as a relative guide using the original geometry as the true starting location. Disabling this option may cause the newly created geometry to move away from the intended original location.
Curve Path--
Mode: By default the mode is set to Add. In the Add mode clicking on a curve point and dragging will edit the curves position. Clicking anywhere in the 3D viewport other than the handles will create a new curve control point. To avoid creating new control points when dragging existing points around you can set this mode to Edit. Delete mode allows quick removal of control points by simply clicking on them.
Closed: This toggle option will cause the curve to become a closed loop.
Start Control: Enabling this toggle will cause the first knot in the curve to become a control point but not an actual segment of the curve. This provides a simple method for changing the curvature at the start of the curve.
End Control: Enabling this toggle will cause the last knot in the curve to become a control point but not an actual segment of the curve. This provides a simple method for changing the curvature at the end of the curve.
By Length: This option forces the newly created geometry to be evenly distributed across the entire length of the curve rather than spacing based on the control knots.
Create Polygon: This toggle option will generate a curve type polygon that remains after the tool has been dropped. This is useful if you want to re-use the curve you create with the current tool with additional curve based tools later in your project.
Flip Polygon: This toggle will invert the faces of the generated polygons.
Make UVs: When this toggle is active the tool will populate the current UV map with data for the generated polygons.
Clone Effector--
Replace Source: This control will replace the original mesh with a generated mesh that is perfectly aligned with the initial control point. This is very useful when the Start at Source option is off and the initial curve point is located far from the original geometry.
