# Tapered Spiral

**URL:** <https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/tapered-spiral/19191>\
**Category:** Modeling Questions\
**Created:** [May 6, 2022, 6:45am UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/tapered-spiral/19191 "2022-05-06T06:45:57Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 16\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Kyler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/858c86/32.png) [@Kyler](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/Kyler)\
**Post date:** [May 6, 2022, 6:45am UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/tapered-spiral/19191/1 "2022-05-06T06:45:57Z")

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Hi! Brand new here, and fairly new to Shapr3D. I’m trying to make a tapered spiral. I’m trying to recreate a chameleon’s tail shape. I’ll include pics below. I got as far as revolving a circle around axis to the amount of revolutions and length, but when I went to scale or change one of the ending circle profiles, it didn’t work… any way on how to achieve the chameleon tail? I’ll include pics below. Thank you.

 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/shapr3d/original/2X/b/b63262cdfb8a45446bc4e21baeac26716e4aafd4.jpeg)

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**Author:** ![PEC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/67e7ee/32.png) [@PEC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/PEC)\
**Post date:** [May 6, 2022, 4:19pm UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/tapered-spiral/19191/2 "2022-05-06T16:19:50Z")

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Hi Kyler,

welcome to the forum.

Here is a way to do it:

- create a first 90° segment of the spiral using guided loft tool, with the end of the 1/4 turn being a scaled version of the origin. In my exemple, I used 120%.
- then duplicate the body and scale it by the same amount (120% in my exemple)
- finaly, use the align tool to place the second segment at the right position
- repeat the process as needed.

 ![Unnamed Design](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/shapr3d/original/2X/1/14f531925e78f001a917ae7bd8d1308bf8fac74b.jpeg)

  

_(to speed up duplication, you can union the first 2 segments and duplicate it, with a scaling factor raised to the power of 2. In my exemple, 120% means scaling by 1.2, so for 2 segments, it means scaling by 1.2 \* 1.2 = (1.2)^2 = 1.44, so 144%. Then you can union 4 segments, with a new scaling factor of 1.2 \* 1.2 \* 1.2 \* 1.2 = (1.2)^4 = 2.0736 = 207.36%)_

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**Author:** ![TigerMike](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.shapr3d.com/tigermike/32/32650_2.png) [@TigerMike](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/TigerMike)\
**Post date:** [May 6, 2022, 5:05pm UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/tapered-spiral/19191/3 "2022-05-06T17:05:48Z")

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Here’s another way using **Sweep** and **Scale**.

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**Author:** ![welshsteve](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.shapr3d.com/welshsteve/32/16111_2.png) [@welshsteve](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/welshsteve)\
**Post date:** [May 6, 2022, 6:54pm UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/tapered-spiral/19191/4 "2022-05-06T18:54:29Z")

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Please allow me to apologise in advance. I tried to create the Chameleon Tail using various methods but ended up with this mess… I just don’t know what went wrong! 😲

[![](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/shapr3d/original/3X/2/7/2795de30ceb4bb16e30b10d33316d9d7453a3914.jpeg "Weird Snake HD 1080p") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Di5IhinKmXA)

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**Author:** ![Kyler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/858c86/32.png) [@Kyler](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/Kyler)\
**Post date:** [May 6, 2022, 7:52pm UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/tapered-spiral/19191/5 "2022-05-06T19:52:32Z")

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Wow! Thank you for the quick reply and the tutorial! I appreciate that so much! 💪🏻🕶

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**Author:** ![Kyler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/858c86/32.png) [@Kyler](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/Kyler)\
**Post date:** [May 6, 2022, 7:54pm UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/tapered-spiral/19191/6 "2022-05-06T19:54:43Z")

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Hey! Thank you for this tutorial as well! I can’t believe I didn’t think to scale the sweep on sections. I did tried it by sweeping that same spiral I drew with Spline and then once swept, tried scaling the one end smaller… I never worked out. But thanks a lot more sense. You guys are awesome! Ty!! 🕶

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**Author:** ![Kyler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/858c86/32.png) [@Kyler](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/Kyler)\
**Post date:** [May 6, 2022, 7:55pm UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/tapered-spiral/19191/7 "2022-05-06T19:55:43Z")

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It may not be a chameleon tail but the final product looks dope 🔥

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**Author:** ![welshsteve](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.shapr3d.com/welshsteve/32/16111_2.png) [@welshsteve](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/welshsteve)\
**Post date:** [May 6, 2022, 8:06pm UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/tapered-spiral/19191/8 "2022-05-06T20:06:05Z")

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Thanks.

I was actually in the process of creating a video demonstrating two methods but my kids were arguing and fighting with each other so I set my laptop to one side for a while.

When I returned, @PEC and @TigerMike had already beat me to it and responded with both methods! 🙄

I decided to turn my frustration into humour and created the weird snake just for fun 🐍 🤣

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**Author:** ![Kyler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/858c86/32.png) [@Kyler](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/Kyler)\
**Post date:** [May 10, 2022, 7:56am UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/tapered-spiral/19191/9 "2022-05-10T07:56:59Z")

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Hello TigerMike, sorry to bother you again, but may I ask how you were able to sweep in sections? After I spline the shape of the tail I want, it sweeps the whole thing, rendering a misshaped tail. Your’s is perfectly even. Please help if you can. Ty!

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**Author:** ![TigerMike](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.shapr3d.com/tigermike/32/32650_2.png) [@TigerMike](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/TigerMike)\
**Post date:** [May 10, 2022, 4:08pm UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/tapered-spiral/19191/10 "2022-05-10T16:08:37Z")

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Greetings Ty,  
No bother at all. Note that the spiral sketch consists of ever enlarging 90° circle segments. Sweep works with one segment at a time. After sweeping a 90° curve, I scale the end face by ~130%. I then use the enlarged face for a new 90° sweep.

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**Author:** ![Cynd3d](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ac8455/32.png) [@Cynd3d](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/Cynd3d)\
**Post date:** [July 25, 2022, 12:53am UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/tapered-spiral/19191/11 "2022-07-25T00:53:46Z")

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I love this demonstration of the enlarging spiral sweep!

I’m a new user, and have been trying to figure out how one would model an ammonite. Your method would get me most of the way there, but I can’t figure out how to get the ridges along the spiral. Maybe a series of varying sized lofts? Do you have any suggestions?

For reference, here’s an ammonite:

 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/shapr3d/original/3X/a/2/a2e22a8ab842607cda8c6b7579d1ef9d3dd81e31.jpeg)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![TigerMike](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.shapr3d.com/tigermike/32/32650_2.png) [@TigerMike](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/TigerMike)\
**Post date:** [July 25, 2022, 3:29am UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/tapered-spiral/19191/12 "2022-07-25T03:29:20Z")

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Greetings @Cynd3d and welcome to the forum.  
This demonstrates one way that might work for you. Also note that I just eyeballed the scaling for the basic spiral and for the rings.

The ring is initially a 180° revolved spline. I scaled down the bottom a bit, then did a mirror and union. This resulted in a revolved body with a taper similar to a ring on your finger. After that it was a series of copy rotates and scaling followed by a union of all parts. Let me know if any questions.

Others may offer a different technique. Good luck.

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**Author:** ![Cynd3d](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ac8455/32.png) [@Cynd3d](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/Cynd3d)\
**Post date:** [July 25, 2022, 9:59am UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/tapered-spiral/19191/13 "2022-07-25T09:59:40Z")

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Oh, that is a much better way than I was thinking of doing it! You can really customize the profile of the ridge. I will play with that method and see what I come up with.

Thanks so much!

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**Author:** ![Stephen](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.shapr3d.com/stephen/32/16350_2.png) [@Stephen](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/Stephen)\
**Post date:** [July 25, 2022, 11:55am UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/tapered-spiral/19191/14 "2022-07-25T11:55:01Z")

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Very clever methods lads, well done.

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**Author:** ![Cynd3d](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ac8455/32.png) [@Cynd3d](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/Cynd3d)\
**Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 8:24pm UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/tapered-spiral/19191/15 "2022-08-10T20:24:04Z")

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Thanks again @tigermike! I did some playing around and though my file is by no means perfect, it was good enough to look very cool. So I decided to go ahead and 3D print (resin) a handful of them. Even made a couple into pendants just for fun.

 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/shapr3d/original/3X/d/a/da936b83d60e94e5b0a9c86ebbe2a5124c0bd96c.jpeg)

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**Author:** ![TigerMike](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.shapr3d.com/tigermike/32/32650_2.png) [@TigerMike](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/TigerMike)\
**Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 8:42pm UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/tapered-spiral/19191/16 "2022-08-10T20:42:32Z")

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Great job! They look fabulous! Love it!  
-MIke