© 2009 Autodesk 1

© 2009 Autodesk 2
 Patch Layouts:

© 2009 Autodesk 3
© 2009 Autodesk 4
 Other Tools for Aligning Curves to Surfaces

Blend Curves
Blend curves are a relatively recent tool in Alias. They are very useful but also
quite sophisticated, so they will be covered later in this lesson in detail.

Using a Curve-on-surface
with Align
An alternative to using the ‘vector’ option.
First create a curve-on-surface as a guide,
then align the curve to the c-o-s.

Curve Edit>Project Tangent

This is an older tool, used specifically to align a curve to a surface. Largely
replaced by the functionality of blend curves and the Align tool.

© 2009 Autodesk 5
 Round
The Round tool is useful for small detail fillets, particularly where corners are required.
Quick and easy to use but limited to tangency.

Surface Fillet and Freeform Blend

The advantages of these tools are their speed, ease of use, and how they work with
construction history—updating when surfaces are altered. In many circumstances,
they create good-quality surfaces. However, these tools aren’t flexible enough to deal
with the more complex blending situations.

n-sided
The n-sided tool will create poor-quality surfaces with tangency and curvature—but it
is an acceptable tool to use for concept models or small areas.

Rail and Square

The rail and square surfaces have two attributes that make them suitable for creating
blend surfaces: continuity and rebuild.

© 2009 Autodesk 6
 Experienced users work with the option window open so they can modify the
continuity and rebuild options to refine a surface.

Continuity
The position, tangent, and curvature settings are the same as used in the Align tool.

The Square tool has two settings for Positional Fixed and Free. Fixed works in the
same way as Position. Free is more relaxed and will deviate from the chosen edge if
the continuity on the adjacent edges need some help.

Forced to Use Rebuild

In some situations, you are forced to use the rebuild ticks. The surface will fail to
build, and you will get an error message in the prompt line:

Or

The message will go on to tell you how to solve the problem:

© 2009 Autodesk 7
 Implied Tangent: Only for Center-lines

Don’t use Implied Tangent when you want the edge of your surface to be smooth
with another surface. In this situation, use Tangent.

Only use Implied Tangent for a surface edge which lies on the center-line of a
symmetrical design.

Implied Tangent: Alternatives

The Implied Tangent setting won’t always guarantee a good result along a center-
line. If this is the case, you have two alternatives:

1. Build a tangent surface perpendicular to the center-line, and make the new
surface tangent to it. Then, discard the first surface (sometimes called a
‘slave’ surface).

2. Use Object Edit>Symmetry Plane Align after creating the surface. This has
the disadvantage of losing the construction history and may cause continuity
problems on the other edges of the surface.

© 2009 Autodesk 8
 Evaluation by Numbers or by Eye?

If you are developing a concept design, then you should use the continuity check as
a guide only. Also, if a rail or square surface ‘fails’ don’t panic! Use the information
as a warning to evaluate the surface before continuing.

Sometimes, a ‘failure’ is minor, and, when you use shading to evaluate the surface,
the result is acceptable.

In other situations, the failure will be a real problem caused by some error in the
way the curves or surfaces were set up. In these cases, you will have to do some
work to remedy the problem.

In any case, if there is a problem, the first thing to do is use Diagnostic Shading to
evaluate the problem.

Curvature ‘Flat’

It is possible for a ‘failure’ to be reported and measured as ‘curvature = flat’. You

can ignore this failure as the surfaces will be visually smooth.

© 2009 Autodesk 9
© 2009 Autodesk 10
 Don’t Forget What You Have Already Learned about Curves

Everything you have learned about good-quality curves applies to blend curves.

Turn on the CVs for blend curves so that you can spot if hull lines zig-zag or
double-back.

Use the Curve Curvature locator to evaluate the flow of the curve and continuity
with adjacent curves and surfaces.

© 2009 Autodesk 11
 Blend Curve Toolbox

Many of the tools are ‘context-sensitive’, which means they are only available when
it is possible to use them.

So, for example, the Blend Curve Edit Point tool will be ‘greyed out’ until a blend
point is selected, and then it can be applied.

Tip:

You can drag the Blend Curve toolbox onto the shelf. Click and drag the tab at the
top of the toolbox.

On the shelf, the tools are more visible.

© 2009 Autodesk 12
 Associativity

If you click on a shared edge when

placing a blend point, the pick
chooser will pop up.

Choose which surface to associate

with the blend point and drag the
cursor across to the black finger.

The point will then be associated to

the surface, and you can drag it to
the required location.

© 2009 Autodesk 13
 Continuity Locator

Clicking on any of the green dotted lines will maintain the tangency.

Clicking on the black dotted lines will be at an angle to the surface.

Adjusting CVs with the Locator

The only way to adjust the shape of the blend curve is to use the square and circle
icon on the locator. Turn on the CVs for the curve as you adjust these to see the
effect more clearly.

© 2009 Autodesk 14
 Comparison of Align and Blend Curves

Some users don’t use blend curves since the same results can be achieved using
the Align or Project Tangent tools.

However, the results can often be achieved more quickly using blend curves, and
construction history will often update more successfully.

© 2009 Autodesk 15
 G3 and G4 Continuity

Blend curves are the only tools in Alias that offer higher levels of continuity.

While G3 and G4 will be ‘smoother’ than lower continuities, they will also increase
the number of CVs in the blend curve.

Most experienced users use alternative, advanced techniques for more smooth
connections.

G0, G1, and G2 will be sufficient for the concept models you will be creating.

© 2009 Autodesk 16
© 2009 Autodesk 17
© 2009 Autodesk 18