Creating a Loft Surface

You can create lofts by making transitions between profiles. A loft can be a base, boss, cut, or surface. You create a loft using two or more profiles. Only the first, last, or first and last profiles can be points. All sketch entities, including guide curves and profiles, can be contained in a single 3D sketch.

  1. From the Features section of the action bar, click Loft Surface .
  2. Select the feature options in the Loft dialog box.
    OptionDescription
    Add. Creates a feature by adding multiple profiles.
    Cut. Creates a feature by subtracting one profile from another.
    New. Creates a feature from another feature.
    Solid. Creates a solid feature.
    Thin. Creates a feature with a constant wall thickness. To set the wall thickness, drag the handle, or enter a value in the callout in the work area.

    Enter a Thickness value to set the wall thickness of the loft.

    Click Thin Midplane to set the wall thickness to be equal in both directions from the loft midplane.

    Surface. Creates a feature with a zero-thickness wall.
  3. Select the profiles that define the loft such as faces, sketch regions, or sketch contours.
    Note: If the profiles you are attempting to Loft do not have an equal number of vertices, you can add vertices by splitting lines in the profile to create an equal number of vertices.
  4. Select the Profile Propagation.
    OptionDescription
    Chain Propagation Loft selections define the loft.
    Tangent Propagation Extends the loft to all edges that are tangent to the loft selection.
    None Loft selection does not define the propagation.
  5. Select the Coupling Type.
    OptionDescription
    Vertices Profiles mapped by segments.
    Ratio Profiles mapped by curvilinear ratio.
    Tangent Discontinuity Profiles mapped by sharp points.
    Curvature Discontinuity Profiles mapped by curvature discontinuity.
  6. To add coupling point connectors, click Add Connector and select coupling locations on the section profiles.
    Coupling curves are created.
    Notes:
    • You can drag and snap coupling points along a section profile.
    • The connectors are seen as dotted lines if they are incomplete.
    • You can click the Repair Connector button to modify the connectors. After the modifications are done, the button is switched back to Add Connector.
  7. Select curves to the Guides .

    Each guide must intersect with all profiles. If three or more guides are defined, the intersection points between nonplanar profile and all guides must be coplanar.

  8. Select an Guide Propagation from the list menu.
    OptionDescription
    Chain Propagation Loft selections define the loft.
    Tangent Propagation Extends the loft to all edges that are tangent to the loft selection.
    None Loft selection does not define the propagation.
  9. Optional: Select Merge options.
    • Set Auto Merge to automatically merge the created loft as an object.
    1. Clear Auto Merge and manually select the bodies to merge the loft with.
  10. Click .