Guided loft: Create a surface using Blending options
Description: 5 minutes; Lab exercise: 20 minutes
The blending options determine how multiple
profiles will be blended and influence the shape of the surface. No blend faces
are created, instead a smooth, single face between the selected profiles is
created.
Choose from two blending options:
- Hermite (named
after the mathematician Charles Hermite) - Two consecutive profiles are
connected tangentially.
This option has a
local effect such that only the two consecutive profiles are connected
tangentially.
Any subsequent
profiles are not influenced by the connection of the previous two.
Hermite is suitable
for use with weights.
- Smooth - All
profiles are connected together tangentially. This option has a global effect
and provides smoother results than the Hermite option.
If weights are
specified, the surface is effected locally as in the Hermite option.
This option does not work with closed spines.
In that case, the
spine is trimmed at the outermost profiles.
Lab exercise
- Save the file
blendingOptions.pkg on your
system.
- Load the blendingOptions.pkg file.
- Click Surfacing
.
- Click Guided Loft
in the Create Face section.
- Select the long line as the
Spine.
- Select the other three lines (perpendicular to the spine)
as the Profile Edges.
- Choose a blending option: either
Hermite or
Smooth.
- Click Preview.
Notice how the blending option influences the shape of each blended surface.
- Click
to
complete the operation.
 Blend option: Hermite |
 Blend option: Smooth |
If you want to practice with Weights,
- Proceed with steps 1-7.
- Expand the Variation
Options section.
- Click Change Weight.
- Click the profile you want to change the weight of.
- Type a value in Weight
(between 0 and 3). The weight influences the importance of the profile on the
shape of the surface.