Creating Polylines

You can create a polyline, that is a broken line made of several connected segments. These linear segments may be connected by blending radii.

Polylines can be useful to create cylindrical shapes such as pipes.

Before you begin: Create a 3D shape containing several points.
  1. From the Wireframe section of the action bar, click Polyline .
  2. Select several points in a row.


  3. Select Point.5, click the Add After button and select Point.6.
  4. Select Point.3 and click Remove.


  5. Select Point.5, click the Replace button and select Point.4 in the geometry.
    The added point automatically becomes the current point in the dialog box.
  6. Click OK to create the polyline.

    The element (identified as Polyline.xxx) is added to the tree.



  7. Double-click the polyline from the tree.
    The Polyline Definition dialog box appears again.
  8. Select Point.6 within the dialog box, enter a value in the Radius box, and click Preview.

    A curve, centered on Point.6, and which radius is the entered value (R=30mm here) is created.



    Note:
    • You can define a radius for each point, except end points.
    • You can also define radii at creation time.
    • The blending curve's center is located on the side of the smallest angle between the two connected line segments.
  9. Click OK.
    Notes:
    • The polyline's orientation depends on the selection order of the points.
    • You can re-order selected points using the Replace, Remove, Add, Add After, and Add Before buttons.

    • You cannot select twice the same point to create a polyline. However, you can check the Close polyline to generate a closed contour.