8

1166 Chapter 9: Sur face Modeling
Above: Two simple fillets
Below: Flip Trim changes the direction of trimming and t he
shape the fillet.
Procedure
To create a fillet curve:
1.
In a NURBS object that contains at least
two curves, turn on Fillet.
2. Click one curve near the end that you want
to connect. The end that will be connected
is highlighted. Without releasing the mouse
button, drag to the end of the other c urve that
you want to connect. When the end that you
want to connect is highlighted, release the
mouse button.
A fillet curve is created. It trims the ends of the
parentcurvetomatchthefillet. Thefilletis
not necessarily placed at the endpoints of the
parent curves: placement depends on the value
of the Radius parameter.
Changing the position or the curvature of either
parent curve can change the fillet as well.
The parent curves must be coplanar.
3. Adjust the fil let parameters.
Interf ace
Fillet Curve rollout (creation time)
Radius—The rad ius of the fillet arc in the c urrent
3ds Max units. Default=10.0.
This parameter is animatable.
Tip: If the fillet you initially create is in an error
state,oftenthisisbecausetheradiusisnotlarge
enoughtobridgethedistancebetweenthetwo
curves. Increasing the Radius value gives you a
correct fi l let. The fillet becomes an arc displayed
in the dependent object color (green by default).
Whenthefilletisinanerrorstateitisdisplayedasa
straight line in the error color (orange by default).
TrimFirstCurveandTrimSecondCurvegroups
These two group boxes let you control how the
parent curves are trimmed. The cont rols are the
same in each. "First" and "second" refer to the
order in which you picked the parent curves.
Trim Curv e—When on (the default), trims the
parentcurveagainstthefilletcurve.Whenoff,the
parent isn’t tr immed.
Flip Trim—When on, trims in the opposite
direction.