Sweeps along arbitrary paths

 

Open or closed profile shapes can be swept along both planar and non-planar paths that have an arbitrary position in 3D space. They are created with two clicks of the mouse. The first click selects the profile to be swept (source shape), and the second click selects the path line along which it will be swept.

 

 

Left: Utility pipes derived by sweeping circles along 3D paths, Right: Freely unfolding "ribbons."

The source profile can be scaled and/or rotated as it is swept, which offers a large variety of possibilities for creating imaginative 3D forms. An option to keep the source profile perpendicular to a reference plane is also available, which easily lends itself to the generation of objects such as roads.

 

 

Left: A toy race track. Right: Sweeps with the source profile scaled and/or rotated.

A preview dialog, where a swept object can be inspected and changed before its actual generation, is also available. In this dialog, the parameters of a swept object can be manipulated interactively, which includes the positioning, scaling, and rotation of the profile shape. This makes the creation of sweeps a very intuitive operation.

 

Two unique variations of the sweeps are those generated from two different source shapes and those created along two paths. These sweeps offer additional impressive possibilities for creating some very challenging 3D forms.

 

 

Left:Two-path sweeps. Right: Two-source sweeps.