Show All Images
Hide All Images
- Flat surface
- Filled spline
- Ruled surfaces
- Tabulated surfaces
- Surfaces of Revolution
- Edge-defined surfaces

      Flat surfaces are not based on splines. Flat surface is the rectangular mesh-surface, that can be used to produce other objects and complex meshes. To create Flat surfaces choose Create.../Surfaces.../Flat method and draw the rectangle by holding the left mouse button:
      A dialog box will apper where you should:
1) Enter the name for the new object
2) Enter the number of horizontal and vertical steps:
      As you see on the result image the surface has two horizontal and three vertical steps in.

The most simple way to create custom surfaces is filling of the closed splines.
This approach is used when you need a complex surface that is as a rule, planar. It might be 3D, but this way is not the best one for 3D surfaces.
Creation of Filled-Spline surfaces includes:

  • Creation of the spline using Linestrip or NGon methods.
  • Create.../Surface.../Fill Spline. Activate your spline in the active view and click on it.
    Note: The spline, that you use in this routine must be without selfcrossings on the view, you have clicked.
    A dialog box will appear where you will input a name:

    Ruled are the surfaces, that are based on two source splines. The surface is created by connecting points of source splines, and, as a result both splines becomes an opposide "edges" of surface.
          This approach gives you a kind of a 3D strip of different complexity.
          As the source splines you can specify any combination of point, line, linestrip and NGon but not two points.

  • Create.../Surface.../Ruled. Activate first spline in the active view and click on it. And then on the second.
    A dialog box will appear where you will input the name.
    Note: This method depends on direction of spline and if you got an incorrect result you can UNDO it, then reorient one spline and create ruled surfaces again.

          As I've written, you can use 3D splines to produce 3D surfaces.

    Tabulated are the surfaces, that defined by the source-spline and the path (direction-spline). The surface appears as a movement of source spline along the destination splines.
          The source and destination should not be coplanar.

  • Creale a source-spline.
  • Creale a destination-spline, that defines the path.
  • Create.../Surfaces.../Tabulated and Pick the source and then the path splines in the active view. A dialog will appear where you will enter the name for new object.
          If path-splaine isn't planar, than it will cause rotation of source path during "movement". If you do not need this rotation (just tabbulating), than hold the CTRL key before pressong on the path-spline.
          The following image illustrates an example of tabulated surfaces:

          On this image the activated spline was used as source spline.

    Revolution are the surfaces, that defined by the source-spline that rotates round the point, creating the surface.

  • Create a source-spline, that defines the thrashing of the new object.
  • Since the rotation happens around the axis that point to the viewer than you should switch to the other view (to look at this trashing from the side) and click to pick the point of rotaion
  • A dialog will appear where you will enter the name for new object and an amount of INTERMEDIATE steps.
  • The following Cap Start and Cap End questions askes whther you want to fill with faces circles that contaions first and last points of source-spline.
          The following image illustrates an example of that kind of surfaces: where the line is the source spline and cursor in the side view point where I've clicked. I've also draen several lines and arrows to show how the spline will be rotated:
          There I've aswered Yes to Cap Start questions and No to Cap End. As a result you can see on the mesh: it has one flat circle filled with faces (the circle that contailed start poiny, and another flat circle hasn't faces and I've drawen it in light-red to show misplacing of faces:

    Edge defined surfaces are the most hard to create surfaces and represent 3D Mesh with predefined (based on splines) four "edges".

  • Create four sequentally connected source-splines. The last point of each spline must be the start point of the following spline. If you use Line-strip tool than this connection will be automatically performed according to internal splines' snapping. If you created these splines separated than you can move vertices closer and unite them.
          Restriction: Opposide splines must have the same number of vertices
  • Adjust 3D shape of splines using Move tool and Z axis modify.
  • Choose Create.../Surfaces.../EdgeDefined and click sequentally on these splines in CCW direction (counter clickwise).
  • A dialog will appear where you will enter the name for new object.
          The following image illustrates an example of that kind of surfaces:

  • Table of contents