Working with splines

Release Notes

This page reflects additions or changes that apply to Enventive Concept v5 and later. We strongly recommend upgrading to the most current version of Concept to take advantage of new features and bug fixes.

Concept v5 added the Spline drawing tool.

Enventive Concept's Spline drawing tool lets you specify points in the Sketch view to create NURBS (Non-Uniform Rational Basis Spline) curve objects. You can create a spline using either an Interpolated or Approximated method, as described below.

Interpolated spline

Interpolated splines are defined by through-points that lie on the curve. For example:

To draw a spline using through points:

Click on the Spline tool in the Sketch view toolbar, and select the "Interpolated (through points)" option from the options that appear.
Click in the Sketch view to place points along the desired curve.
When you have completed the spline, press Enter to end the spline creation.

Approximated splines

Approximated splines are defined by control points, sometimes referred to as "poles," which are useful in some cases. For example:

To create a spline using the approximated method:

Click on the Spline tool in the Sketch view toolbar, and select the "Approximated (control points)" option from the options that appear.
Click in the Sketch view to place points that define the control points of the desired curve.
When you have completed the spline, press Enter to end the spline creation.

Automatically constraining a spline

The Spline Dimension tool automatically applies Grid (x,y) Dimensions to an existing spline's control points to quickly constrain the spline to have 0 DOF.

To use the Spline Dimension tool:

Select the Spline Dimension tool.
Select the spline you want to constrain from the Sketch view.

Gridded dimensions are automatically applied to the spline's control points, making the spline a rigid (0 DOF) object.