# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Bevelling a Curve

|previous=Intro to Bezier Curves
|previousText=Intro to Bézier Curves
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A simple, non-extruded curved line on its own will not be visible when
rendered in Blender. Things are different, however, when you *bevel* the
curve---that is, use some two-dimensional shape as a cross-section, and
the line curve becomes a guide for extruding the shape into the third
dimension.

## Built-In Bevel

!Bézier curve with default
settings
Start with a curve object---any curve will do. Here we use a Bézier
curve.

![](Blender267CurveDataContextBezier3D.png "Blender267CurveDataContextBezier3D.png")
Look in the Curve Context
![](Blender267CurveDataContextButton.png "Blender267CurveDataContextButton.png")
in the Properties window, for the Geometry panel. There you should see
two editable fields with the title "Bevel:" above them, one labelled
"Depth:" and the other "Resolution:". Try setting the depth to something
like 0.1.

!Bëzier curve with bevel = 0.1, fill = half, resolution =
0
Now your curve is no longer a simple line. It should have a V-shaped
cross section, perhaps like a piece of bent angle iron.

!Bëzier curve with bevel = 0.1, fill = half, resolution =
3
Now try increasing the "Resolution:" value, and you should see the V
cross section start to smooth out, until at about a resolution of 2 or
3, it looks like a curved half pipe.

Now look further up, in the Shape panel. There should be a popup menu
with the title "Fill:" above it; for a 3D curve, by default the item
selected is "Half". Try the "Front" and "Back" items, and you should see
that these give you just halves of your half pipe.

!Bézier curve with bevel = 0.1, fill = full, resolution =
0
!Bézier curve with bevel = 0.1, fill = full, resolution =
3
Now try "Full", and your half pipe should now be a complete pipe.

!Bëzier curve with bevel = 0.1, fill = full, resolution = 3,
cyclic
You can also join the ends together by checking the "Cyclic: U" box
under the Active Spline panel.

**Start and End Bevel Factors:** These reduce the extent of the bevel
shape, so that instead of extending the full length of the curve, they
go from and to the specified fractions of the length. These become more
useful when the cross section of the shape is no longer uniform, when
you apply a custom taper (below).

!Bézier curve, 2D,
cyclic Now
change the curve to 2D. The Fill options now become "Both", "Front",
"Back" and "None", where "Both" is like the "Half" setting for 3D
curves. Note there is no equivalent of "Full". But there is a new
feature: if you check the "Cyclic: U" box, it will fill in the entire
interior of the curve!

!Bézier curve, 2D, cyclic, extrude =
0.1
Try this with a Bézier circle or a NURBS circle, and you should get a
pancake-like object. For added flavour, give it a nonzero Extrude value,
and this will make the shape even thicker. !Bézier curve, 2D, cyclic,
extrude = 0.1, bevel = 0.1, resolution =
3

## Custom Bevel

!selecting just the *end points* of the
handles
Now we will try using another curve to supply the cross section. Add a
Bézier circle shape.  into Edit mode.
Now, select *just the end points of the handles* (*not* the control
points themselves). In the Pivot Point menu, select "Individual
Origins". Now cale down to 0.4. !if they
highlight like this, you're doing it
wrong
 !handles scaled to
0.4 The
result should be something close to a square, but with rounded corners.

Go back to your first curve, and find the field titled "Bevel Object:"
in the Geometry panel in the Curve Context
![](Blender267CurveDataContextButton.png "Blender267CurveDataContextButton.png")
properties. Click on it, and a popup menu should appear, and you should
see the name of the second curve (e.g. "BezierCircle"). Select that
name, and you should see your bevelled curve immediately take on the
cross-section of the new curve.

![](Blender270BezierBevelCustom1.png "Blender270BezierBevelCustom1.png")
In fact, you may find the bevel object is a bit large; select it and,
while still in Object mode, cale it by a
factor of 0.1. The result should appear something like this.

Select the second curve again, go into Edit mode, and try messing around
with the control points: you should see your changes immediately get
reflected in the shape of the bevelled curve. You may find that the
orientation of the second curve doesn't coincide with the orientation of
the bevel cross-section. This is easy to fix, because any change you
make to the rotation and position of the second curve *in object mode*
will have no effect on its use as a bevel, so you can freely reorient
and reposition it to make it easier to match its shape up with the bevel
cross section. (Scaling does, however, have an effect.)

## Custom Taper

Now try adding a *third* curve object. (As with custom bevels, only
curve objects will work.) Go back to your first curve, find the "Taper
Object:" field (it should be next to the "Bevel Object:" field you've
already used), and select the name of your newly-added curve. The
bevelled shape will now most likely squish down in a most peculiar way.
Select your third curve, that you are using as a taper, and go into Edit
mode. Now try adjust control points, and observe the effect on the
bevelled shape: what you should find is that the object-local
Y-coordinate of each control point governs the thickness of the bevelled
shape at the corresponding position along the shape given by its
X-coordinate, while the object-local Z-coordinate doesn't have any
effect.

As with the bevel shape, you can freely rotate and reposition (and this
time, even rescale) the taper shape *in object mode*, and it will have
no effect on its taper function: only alterations of the control points
in edit mode have an effect.

