SpaceClaim Online Help

Blending between faces

You can blend between two or more faces with the BlendSmooth and tangent transition between faces or edges; created using the Pull tool. tool. Blended faces automatically simplify to analytic geometry when possible.

Once you have created a blend, you can use the Tweak Face tool to edit the blended surfaces or faces.

To blend between two faces

1. Click BlendSmooth and tangent transition between faces or edges; created using the Pull tool. in the Design2D or 3D model that contains at least one top-level component. tab Edit group.

   The Select tool guide is enabled by default.

2. Select the first surface or face.

3. Ctrl+Select the second surface or face.

    

   A blend preview displays between the first two faces. Blend surfaces begin tangent to the edges of the initial face and end tangent to the edges of the last face. You can Alt+Click on these faces to reverse the tangent direction.

     

4. (Optional) Alt+click the edges or lines you want to use as guides for the blend. There is also a tool guide for selecting guide curves. Guide curves must touch all blend profiles.

5. Continue selecting surfaces or faces.

6. (Optional) Modify the blend by selecting from the following options:

    

   • Rotational blendPull tool option used when blending faces to create cylinders and cones whenever possible.: Create cylinders and cones whenever possible during the creation of a blend. You must have selected faces rotated around a common axis.

   • Periodic blendPull tool option used to go all the way around when blending faces.: Go all the way around when blending. You must have selected three or more faces rotated around a common axis, that also span an arc greater than 180 degrees. (Blending between 3 equal-radius circle faces creates a torus.)

   • Ruled segments: Create straight edges when you pull between three or more surfaces or faces.

   • Local GuidesSee Tool guides: Selected guide curves only influence areas near to them.

     

     Checked              Un-Checked

      

   • Clocked guides: Guide curves are oriented relative to the face edges instead being simply translated from vertex to vertex.

               

            Clocked guides unchecked                           Clocked guides Checked

      

   • Sheet metal blend: Forces the tool to create developable surfaces. A developable surface is defined in mathematics as a surface with zero Gaussian CurvatureAnalysis tool that displays a fringe graph or color shading to represent the curvature along curves or edges. Values indicate how curvy or "swoopy" the curve or surface is at each point. (i.e. a surface that can be flattened into a plane). The tool attempts to create planes, cylinders, and cones, in that order to maximize the planar areas. It is restricted to blending between two parallel planes.

                    

            Sheet metal blend unchecked                                                       Sheet metal blend Checked

      

7. Click   to create the blend.

To blend a surface tangent to a face along a given direction

Select two curved faces and Alt+click a linear object, such as an axis, datum axis, sketch curve, or edge to indicate the direction for finding two tangent locations.

Where you click when selecting the surface determines the approximate location of the edge of the surface.

The PullTool used to distort or deform geometry. Use the Pull tool to offset, extrude, revolve, sweep, draft, and blend faces; or to round, chamfer, or extrude edges. When converting a sketch to 3D, pulling a line creates a surface and pulling a surface creates a solid. tool previews the edges and the resulting sweep.

To blend a surface tangent to one face and through one curve/edge along a direction

Select a face and a curve and Alt+click a linear object to set the direction.