Guided loft: Create a surface using a single profile

Description: 1 minute; Lab exercise: 20 minutes

Using a single profile is the simplest way to create a guided loft surface.

Lab exercise

  1. Save the file singleProfile.pkg on your system.
  2. Load the singleProfile.pkg file.
  3. Click Surfacing .
  4. Click Guided Loft in the Create Face section.
  5. Select the long curve as the Spine.
  6. Select the hook-shaped item as the Profile Edges (two pieces).

After selecting a spine and profile, a blue point is shown on the spine.  This is the attachment point of the profile to the spine, which is an intersection of the profile's plane and the spine.  If the profile is at the end of the spine, make sure the spine is long enough to intersect the profile's plane.  When working with a non-planar profile, there is no plane to intersect the spine and the system calculates a suitable attachment point, which is also a blue point.

  1. Click Preview.

  1. Click Flip Faces to orient the face normal (shiny side) to the outside of the surface.

  2. Expand the Help Profiles section.

  3. Click Show Help Profiles to show the help profiles that are lofted to create the surface. Normally, enough help profiles are calculated to ensure that the guided loft surface becomes the expected shape.

  1. Type a value in Max. Dist to add help profiles.  The maximum distance is the distance between two adjacent help profiles. Additional help profiles will be added when the distance between two adjacent help profiles is larger than the maximum distance specified.

To apply a Variation Option to your surface,

  1. Expand the Variation Options section.

  2. In the Scalar drop-down menu, choose Linear. The surface is smaller now, with Start and End points displayed in the viewport. (For more information about Scalar variation, please see Guided loft: Create a surface using Variation options.)

  3. To change the weight of the Start and End points, type a number in each of the fields.

  4. If you want to influence the other part of the surface, click Other Side under Spine.

  1. Click to complete the operation.  In the Scalar case above, only part of the surface is created.

For more information about the Variation Options, please see the lab Guided loft: Create a surface using Variation options.