Gents,
I'm using Network to build the fuselage, but am having trouble near the back.


When I run the network command without the last profile, things go as expected.


When i include the last profile, I get this unexpected edge that runs the length of the fuselage, both top and bottom.


This results in a bad transition across this edge


I believe the problem has do do with the last profile near the engine, which was built from "Freeform" curves and a couple of arcs.


So, what's happening here?
Should I rebuild the last profile?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Scott

Hi Scott, it looks like that end curve is not smooth - it has sharp corners in it in those areas that then leave the features you don't want.

Network will generate a smooth surface only across smooth curves. If any curves have any sharp corners in them those areas basically form separate strips in the network.

So you'll want to get that last curve to be all one smooth curve in order to avoid that - rebuild is one easy way to do that, run rebuild set it to the "# of points" option, with "Keep corners" turned off, and use something like 30 points or so. That should make a smooth curve at that spot and that will then avoid the "stripification" of the network that you're seeing.

- Michael

Thanks Michael for the reply.
While running "Rebuild" worked, when I mirror the two halves afterwords, I get this bad seam running down the middle.
Back


Front


I just had the idea to mirror and join all the profiles first before running "Network" and things worked out much better.



Thanks again for you help Michael.

Scott

Hi Scott - typically if you create a freeform surface it won't come to an exact horizontal tangent direction at the middle line, and that means that when mirrored it will produce the kind of seam like you're seeing there.

Usually to avoid that it's better to make the full shape all in one go of the Network command with closed curves for the profiles rather than half curves. And the closed curve should be smooth as well.

Another possibility is to make a bit of space (either by moving them apart or by trimming out a section using a rectangle drawn in the top as the cutting object) between the halves and then use Construct > Blend to make a smooth connecting piece between the separated pieces.

- Michael