8

U Loft Surface 1201
Arrow Buttons—
Usethesetochangetheorderof
cur ves used to construct the U loft. Select a curve
in the list, and then use the arrows to move the
selection up or down.
Thesebuttonsareavailableatcreationtime.
Curve Properties group
These cont rols affect individual cur ves you select
in the U Curves list, a s opposed to properties of the
loft surface in general. They are enabled only when
youhaveselectedacurveintheUCurveslist.
Reverse—When set, reverses the direction of the
selected curve.
Start Point—Adjusts the position of the curve’s
star t p oint.
Thiscontrolisdisabledifthecurveisnotaclosed
cur ve.
While you’re adjusting start points, a dotted
blue line is displayed between them, to show the
alignment. The surface is not displayed, so it
doesn’t slow down adjustment. When you release
the mouse button, the su rface reappears.
Tension—Adjusts the tension of the loft where it
intersec ts that curve.
Use COS Tangents—If the curve is a curve on
surface, turning on this toggle causes the U loft to
usethetangencyofthesurface.Thiscanhelpyou
blend a loft smoothly onto a surface. Default=off.
Thistoggleisdisabledunlessthecurveisapoint
or CV curve on surface.
Flip Tangents—Reverses the direction of the
tangents for that cur ve.
This toggle is disabled unless the curve is a point or
CV curve on surface and Use COS Tangents is on.
Auto Align Curve Star ts—When on, aligns the start
points of all curves in the U loft. The software
chooses the location of the star t points. Using
automatic alignment minimizes the amount of
tw isting in the loft surface. Default=off.
Clo se Lo ft—If the loft was initially an open surface,
turningonthistoggleclosesitbyaddinganew
segment to connect the first curve and the last
curve. Default=off.
Insert—Adds a curve to the U loft surface. Click
to turn on Insert, then click the curve. The curve
is inserted
before the selected curve. To insert a
curveattheend,firsthighlightthe"----End-----"
marker in the list.
Remove—Removes a curve from the U loft surface.
Selectthecurveinthelist,andthenclickRemove.
This button is available at creation time.
Refine—Refines the U loft surface. Click to turn
onRefine,thenclickaU-axisisocurveonthe
surface. (As you drag the mouse over the surface,
the available curves are h ighlighted.) The curve
you click is converted to a CV curve and inserted
intotheloftandtheUCurveslist. Aswhenyou
refine a point curve, refining a U loft can change
thecurvatureofthesurfaceslightly.Onceyou’ve
refined the surface by adding a U curve, you can
useEditCurvetochangethecurve.
Replace—Replaces a U curve with a different
curve. Select a U curve, click to turn on Replace,
then click the new curve i n a viewport. Available
curves are hi g hlighted as you drag the mouse.
This button is enabled only when you’ve selected a
single cur ve in the U Curves list.
Display Iso Curves—When set, the U loft’s V-axis
isocurvesaredisplayedaswellastheU-axiscurves
used to construc t the loft. The V-axis curves are
only for display. You can’t use them for surface
construction.
Edit Cur ve—Lets you edit the currently selected
curve without switching to another sub-object
level. ClicktoturnonEditCurve. Thepoints
or CVs of the curve are displayed, as well as the