Full Version: Loft question

Hi Michael,
I have been playing with a globoid helix and have a query about the loft tool.
Having generated a points file for the 2 helix in a spreadsheet and imported into Moi
using your script. I loft (straight) the 2 helix to produce the surface shown in the photo.
To check the cross section I project a line to check the face is straight.
You can see in the enlarged photo the cross section is curved.
To overcome this I split the helix into sections which seems to correct this.
Am I right in thinking this is cumulative due to the length of the Helix.
Attached Helixes file.
Barry

Attachments:
Loft.3dm

Image Attachments:
Screenshot (108).png  Screenshot (109).png 

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Hi Barry, yeah a loft between 2 long bendy curves will give a result like that. The generated surface will be formed by connecting equal proportion distances traveled along each. If you turn on the lofted surface control points you'll see the sort of twisting effect that is making your unwanted curvature:



To get a surface that has a line at those particular stations a couple of things you might try would be to loft between only 1/2 turn pieces so they would be synchronized at those areas or possibly do a sweep instead of a loft. Or if you are generating it procedurally maybe generate a lot of the line cross sections how you want them and then loft between those lines rather than lofting between the long paths.

- Michael

Image Attachments:
barry_loft.jpg 

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Hi Michael,
that confirms my thoughts and yes I found by splitting the helix into half revolutions helped.
Cheers
Barry

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