Bending a solid part

[drfaust]

I have a model of a louver part and I need this louver to be flexible. I mean the louver lays flat but I also want it to bow in the middle. An example would be if you took a metal 6" ruler and picked it up and then placed your thumbs under the ruler and bowed each end downward, the ruler would bow in the middle. I am not sure how to do this, I have tried Warp and Solid Bend but I was not sucessfull. I have also looked thru some tutorials but no luck.
Thank you

 

[tgwow]

If your louver is a simple part, you can design the flexibility into the part by using a 3 point spline. Lock down the endpoints of the spline and dim the center point of the spline. This dim will give you the flexing action.

If your louver is a more complex part, check out spinal bend. It will work real well for bending. Since spinal bend likes to start from one end of the part, you'll have to be a bit creative when assembling into your assembly to prevent one of the louver ends from moving with different bend values.

 

[drfaust]

Thank you for the reply. I tried again with the Warp tool and got it to work the way I need.
Thanks......