A freeform curve and a circle. I make a sweep. When I choose the options of which end will be pointy, the two (end, both) don't work.
Please verify that
Thanks, I hope that small tests like that will help you.

I don't understand how the program calculates the increasing and decreasing diameter of the circle when I select "both pointy" from the sweep options. Check the attachment. It seems that the circle starts from zero diameter and ends to the highest value from both ends but not covering the same length of the curve. I don't know if I say this correctly but it is quite obvious that there should be exactly the same at both ends. It's not, as you can see from the image. This must be corrected I think. Even better, this should be adjustable, don't you agree?

> A freeform curve and a circle. I make a sweep. When I choose the
> options of which end will be pointy, the two (end, both) don't work.
> Please verify that

In this case you won't be able to get a pointy spot on the end where the circle is at.

For sweeping, when you position a profile at a spot along the curve, the surface that is generated will use that profile at that spot. Since that is at the end of the curve in this case, it can't be both the shape of the circle and also a point. For sweeping the shape will always take precedence.

To get both pointy ends, you could do that by positioning the circle somewhere more in the middle of the curve instead of right at the end.

You can also use the cool "auto-placement" mode for sweep. Auto-placement is when you draw your profile curves away from the rail. Imagine a box surrounding the rail - for auto placement mode the profiles must be located outside of this box. You just draw them flat on the plane.

Here is an example:

When you do the sweep in this auto-placement manner, the profile curve will be automatically rotated and moved perpendicular to the rail curve. And if you choose "both pointy" ends, it will position the profile at the center of the curve so that both ends can become pointy.

You can also use multiple profiles for auto-placement mode, just arrange them in a rough left-to-right order.


> Thanks, I hope that small tests like that will help you.

They definitely do!

- Michael

Pilou wrote:
> Just déplace the circle :)
> But sure when circle is there, there is something curious :)
> maybe because it's on the rail path?

Yup, the shapes are treated differently if they are on the path. If they are on the path they will not be modified, that shape will be used right at that spot on the rail.

Once you move the circle away, you are triggering the "auto-place" mode that will automatically position the profile for you.

- Michael

> Check the attachment. It seems that the circle starts from zero diameter
> and ends to the highest value from both ends but not covering the same
> length of the curve.

Yeah, this was a bug in the geometry library - I've fixed it up for the next beta so it will be consistent along the length as you would expect.


> Even better, this should be adjustable, don't you agree?

The way you can adjust this for the sweeps is by placing the cross-section at a particular spot on the rail, or also by placing more cross-sections.

For example if you want the maximum bulge of the pointy sweep to be at this particular point:

Then draw a circle there. To easily draw the circle, do Circle/Center, place the center point at the spot on the curve, then check the "Vertical" checkbox option before you click the radius point - this lets you draw a circle that is flipped up from the plane and it should be easy to track it perpendicular to the curve like that. Then when you sweep with it, you should get this type of result:

By using this method you should be able to control the placement of the maximum spot as a workaround for the bug in the current beta.


Eventually I do want to show some grip points so that you can slide around the cross-sections that were placed in the "auto-place" mode to fine tune things. I think this would be more the type of adjustment that you're looking for. But I don't think that I will have that particular thing ready for V1.

- Michael

All works fine when you have the circle on the path and modify it :)
But is it an automatic way for move it on the path with perpandicularity to the path?
Now it's move along the path"On" but not "perp" :)
Seems we are obliged to make a move + rotation ?

> Seems we are obliged to make a move + rotation ?

Yes, right now that is the way to do it.

At some point in the future there should be some additional tools to make this easier, but for a while just move + rotate will have to suffice.

- Michael

For the moment :)