How to use Easy Bend:

Easy Bend is here to replace the cumbersome workflow of Simple Deform Modifier. Now we have a one-click solution for bending. And it can be used with your own geometry node tree as well. Let us see how.

Step 1: Ensure enough subdivisions for the object that you want to bend. You can either:

A) Add subdivisions in the edit mode using the Subdivide option or using Loop Cut etc.

B) Or, add subdivisions in the object mode by using a Subdivision Surface modifier

C) Or, you can add subdivisions also through geometry nodes using Subdivide Mesh

Please note that the node won’t work if the object does not have sufficient subdivisions. You need at least one subdivision. More subdivisions will create smoother bending. Try to go for 16 or 32 cuts for a realistic bending. That means level 4 or level 5 in a Subdivision Surface modifier.

Step 2: No need to worry about the scale factors. But your object may have some rotations. You should apply the rotations before adding Bend Geometry node, otherwise X-axis becomes Y-axis or Z-axis becomes X-axis etc. So the rotation may look different.

Step 3: You can use Easy Bend in two different ways: 1) As a modifier directly attached to an object in the modifiers tab, or 2) As a geometry node within your geometry node tree. Let us first see how to use it as a simple modifier.

In the modifiers tab, add a Geometry Node modifier. Then select “Bend Geometry” from the little dropdown list as shown in the following screenshot:

Step 4: Let’s say we want to bend it around the Y-axis. Enter the bend angle in the corresponding box and the object will bend smoothly as shown below:

Step 5: You can enter a Start Position and/or an End Position to restrict the bending along its length.

Step 6: Sometimes the bend may not look correct, or the object may refuse to bend at all. At that time, turn-on Axis Correction by changing its value to 1 and the bend will auto-correct itself.



Step 7: Now we will see how to use Easy Bend within a geometry node tree. Add a new geometry node for the object that you want to bend and add a Bend Geometry node from the Group sub-menu under the Add menu. Refer to the screenshot attached in the product document.

Step 8: Enter a value in the X Rotation / Y Rotation / Z Rotation. Refer to the screenshot attached in the product document. You can use multiple rotations at a time but the result may be unpredictable. Instead, use only one rotation in a single node. For multiple rotations, you can chain multiple such nodes as shown later in this document.

Step 9: You can use the Start and End positions to restrict the bending to some specific part of the object. You can enter a fractional value between 0.00 and 1.00 in both the positions.

Step 10: You can enter a positive or a negative value in the angle fields. A negative value will reverse the bend direction (use Axis Correction wherever required & don’t forget to add subdivisions).

Optional (1): Sometimes for a given object, the bend may not look correct. Simply turn-on the Axis Correction checkbox and the bend will auto-correct itself. If it still does not look correct, please verify if you have added correct subdivisions.

Optional (2): If you need to bend an object in multiple directions at a time, you can chain multiple such Easy Bend nodes as shown below. Here we have bent a simple plane in two different directions with two Bend Geometry nodes. You can see that one node has Axis Correction turned on, and the other node is not using this option. So any such mix-n-match is easily possible!

You can also watch a video tutorial on how to use this node from the following link: https://youtu.be/okHTUpG_hSA For any assistance, or for any bug reporting, please feel free to send a mail to 5minblender@gmail.com or connect to us via our YouTube channel. Thank you!