Screw Modifier

The Screw modifier is similar to the Screw tool in the Toolbar, in that it takes a profile object, a mesh or a curve, to create a helix-like shape.

Properly aligning the profile object is important.

The profile should be properly aligned to the cardinal direction of the object rather than to the screw axis.

Options

The Screw modifier.

Axis

The axis along which the helix will be built.

Screw

The height of one helix iteration.

Axis Object

The name of an object to define the axis direction.

Object Screw

Use the distance from the Axis Object to define the height of one helix iteration.

Angle

Degrees for a single helix revolution.

Steps

Number of steps used for a single revolution displayed in the 3D View. Beware of setting this higher than Render Steps, which is the value used for rendering.

Render Steps

As above, but used during render time. Increase to improve quality.

Smooth Shading

Output faces with smooth shading rather than flat shading. The smooth/flat shading of the input geometry is not preserved.

Calc Order

Order of edges is calculated to avoid problems with normals and shading. Only needed for meshes, not curves.

Flip

Flip normals direction.

Iterations

Number of revolutions.

Stretch U/V

Stretch the UV coordinates from (0.0 to 1.0) when UVs are present.

Merge Vertices

Merge vertices that lie on the axis of rotation. Use this to close off end points with a triangle fan.

Merge Distance

Vertices under this distance to the axis are merged.