If you have time to angst, you might have time to work.

Today's topic is experimentation with the Simple Deform Bend modifier. Whether you want to bend a belt across a humanoid mesh's waist or otherwise, this feature can save time and effort from manually deforming vertexes, faces, and edges so they wrap around what you want. In the simplest of terms my brain can comprehend, the Bend modifier bends (obviously) a 3D mesh into a curve from an origin point, over one of the three axes.

To create a conveniently togglable bend curve, prepare two objects:

1. A jointed mesh you want to bend

2. Another object that will act as a secondary origin point

Down here is an objective comparison of my Bend at different origins. The mesh's original origin point bends the mesh into a bowtie structure, while the control mesh at the left edge bends the mesh into a curve heading towards its other end.

Backtrack: Before I produced a successful strap Bend on the second slide, the control origin needed some alterations to get it rotating however I need it to. After minutes of debugging, the solution was deceptively simple - rotate the control point at the X-axis by 90 degrees. And out came a realistic Bend!

In Blender pro animation, many animators toggle between the basic Dope Sheet and advanced Graph Editor, the former for inserting default keyframes and the latter for editing the transitional data between keyframes. In the current version of 4.1.1, clicking Ctrl + Tab quickly enables animators to switch between these editor types on the go.

Interpolation is in-between process between keyframes. Within digital animation, there are three key types of interpolation: Constant, Linear, and Bezier. Today's focus is on Bezier. From a simple view of the Graph Editor, Bezier slopes start off slower than linear slopes but drop faster to the x-axis as they end.

Using the linear path makes the bend appear abrupt and gravity-defying.

The Bezier path generates a more realistic and smoother bend. At the end of the day, each interpolation is an option with their own traits in digital animation, so think of what you desire and take your most preferred pick!