Select Edges Step

Allows you to select the edges that define the boundary of the new surface.

Face Tangency Step

Allows you to define tangency conditions where the new surface meets the adjacent faces.

Guide Curve Step

Defines the guide curves for the loft to follow. The guide curves must touch all the cross sections. You are not required to define guide curves for a lofted feature.

Finish/Cancel

This button changes function as you move through the feature construction process. The Finish button constructs the feature using input provided in the other steps. After you construct the feature, you can edit it by re-selecting the appropriate step on the command bar. The Cancel button discards any input and exits the command.

Select

Sets the method of selecting a sketch element.

• Single--Selects one or more individual elements.

• Chain--Selects a endpoint connected set of elements by selecting one of the elements in the chain.

Deselect (x)

Clears the selection.

Accept (check mark)

Accepts the selected edges.

At each shared boundary, you can define natural, tangent continuous, or curvature continuous conditions for the new surface.

1. Set the Common Tangent Condition option to apply a common tangent condition to all shared boundaries, or clear the option to apply separate tangency conditions to each shared boundary.

2. Use the Tangency Control to set the boundary tangent condition. A single control is tethered to one of the boundaries when a common condition will be applied, or controls are tethered to each shared boundary when that option is cleared. The conditions to be applied are:

   Natural

   Specifies that the shape of the new surface where it meets the shared boundary is not shaped to provide tangent or curvature continuance.

   Tangent Continuous

   Specifies that the shape of the new surface where it meets the edge is tangent to the existing surface at the shared boundary.

   Curvature Continuous

   Specifies that the shape of the new surface where it meets the boundary is curvature continuous with the existing surface at the shared edge.

3. When working with a complex model with many boundaries, you might choose to use the Show/Hide Tangency Control Handle option to eliminate clutter while you work.

4. If any boundary edge is shared by more than one face or body in the model, and if you set a condition other than Natural at that boundary, the Alternate Face control is enabled so you can choose which face or body to which the tangent or curvature-continuous condition is applied.

Allows you to select guide curves to control the shape of the new surface.

Name

Displays the feature name. Feature names are assigned automatically. You can edit the name by typing a new name in the box on the command bar or by selecting the feature and using the Rename command on the shortcut menu.

Displays the Bounded Surface Options control

Face merging

No Merge

Always create a patch if a solution is possible, even if that patch contains multiple faces. Creates a suitable number of faces to ensure that the performance and reliability of the model is optimal in downstream operations; in particular, a single face solution is created whenever possible.

Merge (as many as possible)

Attempts to minimize the number of faces in the patch. Using this value does not, in general, produce a solution that contains a single face, though in the case of multiple face patches, it can sometimes produce a solution with fewer faces.

Full Merge

Only produce a patch in cases where a single face patch is possible. If a single face solution is not possible, then the command fails. If you only ever want to use single face patches, then using this value can sometimes result in performance improvements.

Displays the Surface Visualization Options dialog box to control the display characteristics of the new surface as you create it.