Creating a Line Normal to a Curve

You can create a line at an angle to a curve that passes through a point.


Before you begin: Create a 3D shape containing geometric elements.
  1. From the Tooling Geometry section of the action bar, click Line .
    The Line Definition dialog box appears.
  2. Select Angle/Normal to curve.
  3. In the Curve box, select a reference curve.
  4. In the Support box, select a surface containing that curve.
    Important:
    • If the selected curve is planar, then the Support is set to Default (Plane).
    • If an explicit Support has been defined, a context menu is available to clear the selection.
    Tip: We advise you to avoid the creation of lines when the direction does not lie on the support, as well as the editing of the angle between the direction and the support in such cases.
  5. In the Point box, select a point on the curve.
  6. In the Angle box, type the value or use the arrows to change the angle value.


    A line is displayed at the given angle with respect to the tangent to the reference curve at the selected point. These elements are displayed in the plane tangent to the surface at the selected point.

    You can click on the Normal to Curve button to specify an angle of 90 degrees.

    Proposed Line End and Point Offset points of the line are shown.

  7. In the Line End and Point Offset boxes, select the start and end points of the new line.
    The corresponding line is displayed.
  8. Select the Repeat Objects After Validation check box if you want to create more lines with the same definition as the currently created line.
    In this case, the Object Repetition dialog box appears, and you key in the number of instances to be created before clicking OK.

    As many lines as indicated in the dialog box are created, each separated from the initial line by a multiple of the angle value.



    You can click Geometry on Support if you want to create a geodesic line onto a support surface. The figure below illustrates this case.

    Geometry on support option cleared

    Geometry on support option selected

  9. Click OK to create the line.
    The line (identified as Line.xxx) is added to the specification tree.