Hose


This system will make a flexible hose object between two game objects, as the game objects move the hose will naturally flow from one object to the other, compressing and stretching as needed. You can define flexible regions as well as the shape of the hose and even animate bulges moving along the hose.

Hose Mesh Params

Wire Type

Selects the cross section type to be used for the hose either Round, Rectangle or D-Section. The selection here will cause different params to be shown below.

Segments

The total number of segments in the hose’s length. Increase this setting for a smooth profile when the hose is curved.

Cap Ends

Fill in the ends of the hose with polygons.

Calc Normals

Use custom normal calculation instead of Unitys.

Calc Tangents

Calculate tangents for the hose, use this if you will be using a bump mapping shader. Tangent calculation can be quite slow.

Optimize

Unitys Mesh optimizing code will be applied, will make it slightly slower so not needed for dynamic meshes.

Calc Collider

If the hose has a mesh collider this will cause it to be updated, can be very slow.

Round Params

Diameter

The maximum width of the hose at the ends.

Sides

The number of sides of the hose. A Sides setting of 3 gives a triangular cross section; 4 gives a square cross section; and 5 gives a pentagonal cross section. Increase Sides for a circular cross section.

Rotate

The orientation of the hose along its long axis.

Rectangle Params

Width

The width of the hose.

Depth

The height of the hose.

Fillet

The amount by which the cross-section corners are rounded. For this to be visible, Fillet Segs must be set to 1 or higher.

Fillet Sides

The number of segments across each filleted corner. A Fillet Segs setting of 1 cuts the corner straight across; use higher settings for rounded corners.

Rotate

The orientation of the hose along its long axis.

D-Section Params

Width

The width of the hose.

Depth

The height of the hose.

Rnd Sides

The number of segments on the rounded side. Increase for a smoother profile.

Fillet

The amount by which the two cross-section corners opposite the rounded side are rounded. For this to be visible, Fillet Segs must be set to 1 or higher.

Fillet Sides

The number of segments across each filleted corner. A Fillet Segs setting of 1 cuts the corner straight across; use higher settings for rounded corners.

Rotate

The orientation of the hose along its long axis.

Advanced Params

UVScale

You can alter the scaling of the uv mapping with these values.

Start Object

The object that the hose will start from.

Offset

The offset from the objects pivot point that the hose will start from, use this to reposition the hose on your objects mesh.

Rotate

This controls the starting direction of the hose as it leaves the start object.

Scale

Local scaling to apply to the hose start best left as the default.

End Object

The object that the hose will end at.

Offset

The offset from the objects pivot point that the hose will start from, use this to reposition the hose on your objects mesh.

Rotate

This controls the starting direction of the hose as it enters the end object.

Scale

Local scaling to apply to the hose end best left as the default.

Flex On

When on, lets you set the following four parameters for the central, flexible section of the hose. When off, the hose’s diameter is uniform throughout its length.

Start

The percentage of the hose length from the starting extremity of the hose at which the flex section begins.

Stop

The percentage of the hose length from the end extremity of the hose at which the flex section ends.

Cycles

The number of corrugations in the flex section. The number of visible cycles is limited by the number of segments; if Segments isn’t high enough to support the number of cycles, then not all cycles will appear.

Diameter

The relative width of the “outside” parts of the cycles. At negative settings, these are smaller than the overall hose diameter. At positive settings, these are larger than the overall hose diameter.

Use Bulge Curve

Check this to apply the bulge curve to the hose.

Bulge

The curve that defines the bulge.

Bulge Amount

Use this to scale the bulge effect, useful for easily enlarging a pipe as if it were blocked.

Bulge Offset

The offset to apply the bulge at, a value of 0 would apply the bulge from the start of the hose, a value of 0.5 would start to apply half way along the hose.

Animate

Animate the bulge offset value.

Speed

Speed to move the bulge along the hose, can be negative.

Min

The minimum value of the offset is allowed to be before it wraps to the max value.

Max

The maximum value of the offset is allowed to be before it wraps to the min value.

Tension Start

Determines the tension of the hose curve near the Start object as it reaches for the End object. Lower the tension to have the bend occur closer to the Start object, raise the tension to have the bend occur further away from the Start object.

Tension End

Determines the tension of the hose curve near the End object as it reaches for the Start object. Lower the tension to have the bend occur closer to the End object, raise the tension to have the bend occur further away from the End object.

Free Create

If this is on the hose will just be straight normal object.

Free Length

The length of the hose if Free create is on.

Up

A value used for up for calculations, currently unused.

Video Guide to Hose

Video guide running through all the options on the hose inspector.

Demo of Hose System

Demo scene created entirely in Unity using MegaShapes.

You must be logged in to post a comment.