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I don't think Blender's current Bridge Tool will give you quite the level of control you want.

In this case I would use a Curve object, but I realize that that's a bit of a change from the work-flow you have in Maya. A script can be written to prepare a curve object using the median and normal of two arbitrarily angled polygons, then all you do is tweak the width of the curve, the number of subdivisions ( or custom profile shape ), and convert to mesh, and join into the current mesh.

In essence it would be doing this under the hood, when you use a Curve you can manipulate the handles and even scale the start or end point of the Curve so it tapers.

here with tapering, each bezier_point has a radius property, this can be scripted or modified via the interface when you have a bezier_point selected

Given this proposal I imagine the following parameters as part of an operator.

• tightness begin / end ( how long the curve handle extends from the median of each polygon )
• attempt to scale begin and end profile to the two polygons that we used as a starting point

This would be a first draft of such an addon, I imagine much could be improved, but I think curves are the answer and not the Bridge Tool.

Edit

currently the repository has a simple raw_script.py which can be used if you select two polygons. This is the 'minimum viable implementation'.

Tool and Addon development will happen on GitHub, any input appreciated. https://github.com/zeffii/TubeTool/issues/1

I don't think Blender's current Bridge Tool will give you quite the level of control you want.

In this case I would use a Curve object, but I realize that that's a bit of a change from the work-flow you have in Maya. A script can be written to prepare a curve object using the median and normal of two arbitrarily angled polygons, then all you do is tweak the width of the curve, the number of subdivisions ( or custom profile shape ), and convert to mesh, and join into the current mesh.

In essence it would be doing this under the hood, when you use a Curve you can manipulate the handles and even scale the start or end point of the Curve so it tapers.

here with tapering, each bezier_point has a radius property, this can be scripted or modified via the interface when you have a bezier_point selected

Given this proposal I imagine the following parameters as part of an operator.

• tightness begin / end ( how long the curve handle extends from the median of each polygon )
• attempt to scale begin and end profile to the two polygons that we used as a starting point

This would be a first draft of such an addon, I imagine much could be improved, but I think curves are the answer and not the Bridge Tool.

Edit

currently the repository has

• a simple raw_script.py which can be used if you select two polygons. This is the 'minimum viable implementation'.
• also a folder called 'tubetool' which is some boilerplate around the initial script so it gets an operator class, and can be installed as an addon (if you know how to install addons..)

Tool and Addon development will happen on GitHub, any input appreciated. https://github.com/zeffii/TubeTool/issues/1

I don't think Blender's current Bridge Tool will give you quite the level of control you want.

In this case I would use a Curve object, but I realize that that's a bit of a change from the work-flow you have in Maya. A script can be written to prepare a curve object using the median and normal of two arbitrarily angled polygons, then all you do is tweak the width of the curve, the number of subdivisions ( or custom profile shape ), and convert to mesh, and join into the current mesh.

I've part of the script written already, but will return later with the full code or add-on version. (The only reason i'm not pasting it here is for brevity)

In essence it would be doing this under the hood, when you use a Curve you can manipulate the handles and even scale the start or end point of the Curve so it tapers.

here with tapering, each bezier_point has a radius property, this can be scripted or modified via the interface when you have a bezier_point selected

Given this proposal I imagine the following parameters as part of an operator.

• tightness begin / end ( how long the curve handle extends from the median of each polygon )
• attempt to scale begin and end profile to the two polygons that we used as a starting point

This would be a first draft of such an addon, I imagine much could be improved, but I think curves are the answer and not the Bridge Tool.

Edit Current draft (available from that link above)

does:

• The start and end radius of the created curve match the polygon sizes used to trigger the Curve. (best results are obtained from circle shaped ngons)
• Figures out polygon normals and median point and places the curve handles and bezier points in the right location

does not:

• use the shapes of the selected polygons as the profile shape (just default Curve bevel_depth and subdivisions now)
• do matrix_world multiplication. (hence does not behave nicely with objects which are themselves transformed in some way -- easy to fix)

I don't think Blender's current Bridge Tool will give you quite the level of control you want.

In this case I would use a Curve object, but I realize that that's a bit of a change from the work-flow you have in Maya. A script can be written to prepare a curve object using the median and normal of two arbitrarily angled polygons, then all you do is tweak the width of the curve, the number of subdivisions ( or custom profile shape ), and convert to mesh, and join into the current mesh.

In essence it would be doing this under the hood, when you use a Curve you can manipulate the handles and even scale the start or end point of the Curve so it tapers.

here with tapering, each bezier_point has a radius property, this can be scripted or modified via the interface when you have a bezier_point selected

Given this proposal I imagine the following parameters as part of an operator.

• tightness begin / end ( how long the curve handle extends from the median of each polygon )
• attempt to scale begin and end profile to the two polygons that we used as a starting point

This would be a first draft of such an addon, I imagine much could be improved, but I think curves are the answer and not the Bridge Tool.

Edit

currently the repository has a simple raw_script.py which can be used if you select two polygons. This is the 'minimum viable implementation'.

Tool and Addon development will happen on GitHub, any input appreciated. https://github.com/zeffii/TubeTool/issues/1

I don't think Blender's current Bridge Tool will give you quite the level of control you want.

In this case I would use a Curve object, but I realize that that's a bit of a change from the work-flow you have in Maya. A script can be written to prepare a curve object using the median and normal of two arbitrarily angled polygons, then all you do is tweak the width of the curve, the number of subdivisions ( or custom profile shape ), and convert to mesh, and join into the current mesh.

I've part of the script written already, but will return later with the full code or add-on version. (The only reason i'm not pasting it here is for brevity)

In essence it would be doing this under the hood, when you use a Curve you can manipulate the handles and even scale the start or end point of the Curve so it tapers.

here with tapering, each bezier_point has a radius property, this can be scripted or modified via the interface when you have a bezier_point selected

Given this proposal I imagine the following parameters as part of an operator.

• tightness begin / end ( how long the curve handle extends from the median of each polygon )
• attempt to scale begin and end profile to the two polygons that we used as a starting point

This would be a first draft of such an addon, I imagine much could be improved, but I think curves are the answer and not the Bridge Tool.

Edit Current draft (available from that link above)

does:

• The start and end radius of the created curve match the polygon sizes used to trigger the Curve. (best results are obtained from circle shaped ngons)
• Figures out polygon normals and median point and places the curve handles and bezier points in the right location

does not:

• use the shapes of the selected polygons as the profile shape (just default Curve bevel_depth and subdivisions now)
• do matrix_world multiplication. (hence does not behave nicely with objects which are themselves transformed in some way -- easy to fix)

I don't think Blender's current Bridge Tool will give you quite the level of control you want.

In this case I would use a Curve object, but I realize that that's a bit of a change from the work-flow you have in Maya. A script can be written to prepare a curve object using the median and normal of two arbitrarily angled polygons, then all you do is tweak the width of the curve, the number of subdivisions ( or custom profile shape ), and convert to mesh, and join into the current mesh.

I've part of the script written already, but will return later with the full code or add-on version. (The only reason i'm not pasting it here is for brevity)

In essence it would be doing this under the hood, when you use a Curve you can manipulate the handles and even scale the start or end point of the Curve so it tapers.

here with tapering, each bezier_point has a radius property, this can be scripted or modified via the interface when you have a bezier_point selected

Given this proposal I imagine the following parameters as part of an operator.

• tightness begin / end ( how long the curve handle extends from the median of each polygon )
• attempt to scale begin and end profile to the two polygons that we used as a starting point

This would be a first draft of such an addon, I imagine much could be improved, but I think curves are the answer and not the Bridge Tool.

Edit Current draft (available from that link above)

does:

• The start and end radius of the created curve match the polygon sizes used to trigger the Curve. (best results are obtained from circle shaped ngons)
• Figures out polygon normals and median point and places the curve handles and bezier points in the right location

does not:

• use the shapes of the selected polygons as the profile shape (just default Curve bevel_depth and subdivisions now)
• do matrix_world multiplication. (hence does not behave nicely with objects which are themselves transformed in some way -- easy to fix)