Model 3D spring from points

Question

I have generated points like this and now I what to connect all these points into one model - spring. How can I achieve this? I've tried iterating through each point and build it from polygons or triangles but I have failed.

I have set of rings where each ring was build from points which coords I have.

So [GLE](https://linas.org/gle/)-style [helix output](https://linas.org/gle/helixtex.gif)? — genpfault, Dec 11 '19 at 20:48
see [Morph a cube to coil](https://stackoverflow.com/a/35055911/2521214) — Spektre, Dec 13 '19 at 08:21

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Dec 11 '19 at 20:55

You probably want to treat these as generalized cylinders and tessellate a triangle mesh. This can be done by sweeping a circle along the path. Some of the details are tricky since undefined tangents can lead to unexpected twists in your triangle mesh. You might want to study the GLE library or the TubeGeometry implementation in ThreeJS.

For simplestic rendering, note that OpenGL has GL_LINE_STRIP. It also has glLineWidth, although many platforms have a max width of 1. You would need to take care to use separate draw calls for seperate springs, otherwise they'll be connected.

Model 3D spring from points

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