Guided loft: Create a surface using Orientation options
Description: 5 minutes; Lab exercise: 20 minutes
In Guided Loft, a local coordinate system moves
along the spine in order to reference how profiles are turned when swept along a
spine. Use an orientation option to influence how a profile is turned along a
spine.
The Orientation Options work the same
way as the options By Spine, By Constant Birail, and By Face in the Advanced
Sweep command.
There are three Orientation Options:
- by Spine - The
default orientation that minimizes the twisting of the profiles around the
spine. If the spine is planar, the U direction is constant and the profile
does not turn around the spine.
- by Guide Curve -
Use a second curve
to define the twisting of the profile along the spine. The U direction is
calculated by intersecting the plane of the spine with the guide curve. The
guide curve must be as long or longer than the spine.
- by Face - Use this
option to connect a guided loft surface tangentially to an existing face.
The U direction is
calculated by using all the tangents of the face along the spine. If the
profile is not tangent to the face where it touches the spine, the angle
between the profile and the tangent is kept along the spine. In the example
below, the angle is 0 and is kept along the spine.
A smooth transition
between the guided loft surface and the face is generated.
When there are two faces attached to the spine,
click Side to switch between faces.
Lab exercises
By Guide Curve
-
Save the file
byGuideCv.pkg on your system.
-
Load the byGuideCv.pkg file.
- Click Surfacing
.
- Click Guided Loft
in the Create Face section.
- Select the line as the
Spine.
- Select the triangle as the
Profile Edges.
- Choose by Guide Curve
from the Orientation
drop-down menu.
- Select the remaining curve as the guide curve.
- Click Preview.
Click
Flip Faces, if necessary, to bring the
face normal to the outside of the surface.
- Click
to
complete the operation.
 The guided loft surface |
 The guided loft surface
with coordinate systems showing in which direction the surface was turned. |
By Spine
-
Save the file
byspine.pkg on your system.
-
Load the byspine.pkg file.
- Click Surfacing
.
- Click Guided Loft
in the Create Face section.
- Select the line as the
Spine.
- Select the triangle as the
Profile Edges.
- The default in the
Orientation drop-down menu is by Spine.
- Click Preview.
Click
Flip Faces, if necessary, to bring the
face normal to the outside of the surface.
- Click
to
complete the operation.

By Face
-
Save the file
byface.pkg on your system.
-
Load the byface.pkg file.
- Click Surfacing
.
- Click Guided Loft
in the Create Face section.
- Select the edge as the
Spine.
- Select the curve as the
Profile Edges.
- Choose by Face
from the Orientation drop-down menu.
- Click Preview.
- Click
to
complete the operation.
