Blending Between Two Faces

  1. Click Blend in the Design 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 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 blend: Create cylinders and cones whenever possible during the creation of a blend. You must have selected faces rotated around a common axis.

    • Periodic blend: 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 Guides: Selected guide curves only influence areas near to them.

      Checked Unchecked

    • 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
  7. Click Complete to create the blend.

Blending 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 Blend tool previews the edges and the resulting surface.

Blend surface tangent to two faces

Blending 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.

Blend tangent to a face and through a curve