Why does the bend modifier distort my mesh when it bends? Is there a better modifier that does not distort? I have a piece of metal that is supposed to flex, a thin piece that flexes in one direction. As I increase the strength of the bend modifier, the end farthest away from the center of the gizmo, gets more and more distorted. It seems that this happens no matter where the center is placed or how much I limit the effect. Is there a better way to do this?

my specs are this quad processors, 8 Gb RAM, windows xp64bit, 3ds max 2011

I have not found many uses for the bend modifier due to its limitations instead I draw a spline and use the PathDeform tool which gives you alot more control over the deformation of the object. Keep in mind it is manipulating your object so having segments in the right places will avoid unwanted results i.e distortion.

website: http://www.all3dmax.com

Does your object have enough segments or subdivisions to bend cleanly?
These boxes all have the same instanced bend mod applied but different amounts of segments.

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The object is an imported mesh, so adding segments might be difficult. That being said I do believe it should have enough. It’s when the bend gets pretty extreme that I get the distortion. I may try the path deform blakestone mentioned.

my specs are this quad processors, 8 Gb RAM, windows xp64bit, 3ds max 2011

It would help us a lot to see what it is you are bending, and where/how this distortion is occurring.  Can you post a screen grab or two?

3DS Max Design 2011 64-bit - Advantage Pack
Dell Precision T5500, Dual Six Core Xeon X5650 @ 2.67GHz, nVidia Quadro 5000, 24 GB RAM, Win 7 Enterprise 64-bit
Minneapolis, MN, USA

here is a screenshot.
i circled the part I am trying to bend. see the distortion on the left

my specs are this quad processors, 8 Gb RAM, windows xp64bit, 3ds max 2011

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for the result you are after the ‘bend’ modifier as many have mentioned will do the job here and correcting the gizmo by centering and possibly applying an xform modifier to the object will assist in achieving this.

Personally I do not use the bend modifier at all and instead use PathDeform(WSM) which is the same as PathDeform but includes an additional feature ‘Move To Path’. I will create a spline exactly the shape i am after and then use the PathDeform(WSM) to deform my model.

You can not achieve the results shown in the attachment with a bend modifier ;)

website: http://www.all3dmax.com

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Your meshes appear to have been imported from a CAD package.  If you find it helpful, you can import Solid models into 3ds Max as “Body Objects” and still deform them.  This eliminates the need to convert it to a Mesh or Editable Poly and then deal with topology issues.  This is very useful in some situations.

3ds Max 2013, Maya 2013
Windows 7 Ultimate 64 Bit
Core i7, 12GB RAM
Nvidia Quadro FX 3700 (Driver 267.17)

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1. YES, I do need to animate this

2. How to import as a body solid? I export STL from SolidWorks and import them straight away. Is there another way to do this?

3. I fixed the gizmo and it appears to have little or no distortion. I think this is going to work.

Thank you for all your help, I think we are all good. The bend modifier has always confused me. I had never adjusted the gizmo before because I figured 3ds max “knew what it was doing” and that there must be a good reason the gizmo was reversed.

my specs are this quad processors, 8 Gb RAM, windows xp64bit, 3ds max 2011

2. How to import as a body solid? I export STL from SolidWorks and import them straight away. Is there another way to do this?

Not sure, never had to do it. But I don’t think that was the issue here. If the distortion was due to bad topology as I initially suspected, that would have been your answer. But the problem was the gizmo misalignment.

The bend modifier has always confused me. I had never adjusted the gizmo before because I figured 3ds max “knew what it was doing” and that there must be a good reason the gizmo was reversed.

Max will align the gizmo with the object’s pivot on the axis set in the modifier. But in your picture it looks like the importd object’s pivot is aligned with the world and bending on the default Z axis. Make sure the object’s pivot axies follow the object’s geometry.

2. How to import as a body solid? I export STL from SolidWorks and import them straight away. Is there another way to do this?

You can use .SAT or .IPT (Inventor’s native format) to import into 3ds Max as a Body Object.

Here is another thread that is helpful for creating useful topology from a Body Object:

http://area.autodesk.com/for...-3dsmax-2010-40and-201141

3ds Max 2013, Maya 2013
Windows 7 Ultimate 64 Bit
Core i7, 12GB RAM
Nvidia Quadro FX 3700 (Driver 267.17)