Better way to wrap a coil

[DigzumJay]

Hey guys,

Been searching around here for a while; time to start jumping in. Wanted to see if there was a better way to do what I'm doing.

I'm essentially making marketing materials for a medical device. This product contains an incredibly small metal coil wrapping around the product, underneath a clear soft plastic. The product is modeled in SW, but without the coil. Modeling a coil around a swept path is a bear on my computer, and not possible to make a true coil along a path this long. I would essentially have to model a ring and pattern along path. SO, for rendering purposes, a stripe should suffice for the coil. My process is mapping the face in SW, and messing with the lattice polygon texture in KS until I got a stripe wrapping around until it looks good enough to my eye. So my question is, how would you do this better? Really interested in hearing what you all think. Thanks!

-D

[Speedster]

I model stents and delivery devices/sheaths all the time, and I think you have an excellent representation in the last image.  About as good as necessary...

My usual SW technique is to fake it with a ring patterned along a splined sketch, as you do.  Not great, but shows up in patent drawings sufficient for the purpose.

Bill G

[DigzumJay]

Hey @speedster , sounds like we are in the same market. Coils, braids, laser cut stents, all provide some unique challenges, especially when long lengths are desired for a website or marketing image. And as such, around this industry, especially when it comes to delivery systems and implantable coils, a lot of the marketing material seems to be hand drawn to an extent. It is also quite difficult to share or collaborate with others outside your company, considering how seriously companies take the confidentiality of these products. Its good to hear I'm at least on the right track though. I appreciate the feedback!

[Speedster]

Yep- those nasty NDA's!  I just finished a laparoscopic device used for heart valve replacement. Year long project!  I must have done 100+ KeyShots for them, which is my standard practice now, rather than SolidWorks screenshots.  My client told me they will lift the NDA in a few weeks, and I can share some of them!  The trigger is usually when the renderings go on their website.

Here's two I did for another client several years ago, but this for aortic stents and lesion repair.  These were done in KeyShot 2!

Bill G

[DigzumJay]

@speedster Those look great! I really love in the second picture how none of the tubing is straight; everything has a subtle movement to it, makes it look natural. And I'm sure that took some extra time.

I noticed how the tubing is all turning black inside your luer lock fittings and stopcocks. But the tubing let the color of the barb fittings show through (on the quick-connects?). I've had the same problem when I applied a clear plastic material, but it went away when I applied a glass material. Not sure why, but it worked. Does your tubing have a glass material applied to let the color shine through when the tubing is on the barb, or the same material as the luer fitting? Or is this more of a KeyShot 2 thing? No criticizing, these look awesome!