Creating a loft path

The paths of a loft feature connect a point on the starting section to a point on the ending section. If more than two loft sections are defined, the paths must also pass through a point on each intermediate section. Each loft path must provide a smooth curve (only one tangent line must exist at any point along the path) connecting all the loft sections in the same order that they will be connected when you create the loft feature.

Related Topics
What is lofting?
Creating loft sections
Adding a solid loft feature
Adding a shell loft feature
Creating a loft cut

  1. From the Transition tabbed page in the Edit Loft dialog box, choose either of the following methods to create a loft path:

    • Specify tangencies. Abaqus/CAE will create a single loft path using a smooth curve connecting the center of each loft section.

    • Select path. Select edges to define a loft path.

    You cannot edit the loft path method after the loft feature is created.

  2. If you chose Specify tangencies to define the loft path, you can choose a Start Tangency and an End Tangency for the loft feature. You can choose from the following loft tangency options:

    • None is the default and the only setting that, if selected, must be applied at both ends of the loft.

    • Normal. Loft faces are at a 90° angle near the starting or ending loft section.

    • Radial. Loft faces are at a 0° angle near the starting or ending loft section.

    • Specify. You specify an angle ranging from 0° to 180° that is applied to the loft faces, and you specify a magnitude between 0 and 100 percent that determines the relative distance through which the angle is applied.

    The tangency effect diminishes with distance and does not affect the loft feature at intermediate sections. For more information and examples of loft tangency, see Defining loft tangency.

    You cannot edit the tangency after the loft feature is created.

  3. If you chose Select path, you must have created at least one suitable smooth curve in the part before starting the loft procedure. Select each loft path as follows:

    1. Click Add.

      The Edit Loft dialog box disappears.

    2. Select edges to define the loft path. Use ShiftClick to add additional edges to your selection and CtrlClick to unselect a selected edge. Selected edges are highlighted in blue and will remain highlighted until Abaqus/CAE creates the loft feature.

      You must create a smooth curve connecting one point on each loft section to a point on the next loft section following the same order as the loft section list. Abaqus/CAE will create the loft feature by following each loft path in the order of the loft section list.

    3. Click Done.

      The Edit Loft dialog box reappears.

    4. If desired, use the preceding steps to add more loft paths. To successfully create a loft feature with multiple loft paths, the paths must not share any points.

      Click Delete to remove a highlighted path from the list.

    5. Toggle off Global Smoothing if you want the effects of the paths to be localized to adjacent surfaces; Abaqus/CAE will apply simple paths to any edges of the loft for which you did not define a path. If you leave global smoothing on, Abaqus/CAE will apply an averaging function to create complex paths for edges where you did not define a path.

    Loft paths cannot be added or deleted after the loft feature is created; loft paths can be edited only by moving the vertices used to create each path.