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352 Chapter 5: Creating Geometry
Inter face
On the Path Parameters rollout, you control the
position of multiple shapes at different intervals
along the path of the loft object.
Path—Lets you set a path level by entering a value
or dragg ing the spinner. If Snap is on, the va lue
will jump to the previous snap increment. The
Path value depends on the selected measuring
method. Changing the measuring method causes
the Path value to change.
Inserting different shapes at different positions on the path
Snap—Lets you set a consistent distance between
shapes along the path. The Snap value depends
on the selected measuring method. Changing the
measuring method also changes the Snap value to
keep snap spacing constant.
On—When On is turned on, Snap is active.
Default=off.
Percentage—Expresses the path level as a
percentage of the total path length.
Distance—Expresses the path level as an absolute
distance from the first vertex of the path.
Pat h S te ps —Places shapes on path steps and
vertices, rather than as a percentage or a distance
along the path.
When Path Steps is on, the following take place:
• The Path spinner specifies the step along the
path. The first step, at 0, is the first vertex.
• The total number of steps, including vertices,
appears in p arentheses beside the Path spinner.
• The current path level is indicated by the
standard yellow X w hen it’s a step, and by a
small boxed X when it’s a vertex.
• Get Shape places a selected shape on the
specified step or a vertex of the path.
• Adaptive Path Steps on the Sk in Parameters
rollout is unavailable. (If it were available, the
path steps and shapes would change positions
along the path, depen ding on the result of the
adaptive algorithm.)
Please note the following when using the Path
Steps option:
• When you switch to Path Steps with a loft object
that already contains one or more shapes, an
aler t message tells you that this action may
relocate shapes. This is because there are a
limited number of path steps, and only one
shape can be on a single step or vertex. The
Percentage and Distance options, on the other
hand, provide an almost unlimited number of
levels on which to place shapes. Thus, if you
change from Percentage or Distance to Path
Steps, the shapes must be moved to existing
steps. If there are more shapes than can be
movedtonearbysteps,youcouldendupwith
more than one shape on a step. Switching from
Path Steps to either Percentage or Distance,
however,canalwaysbedonewithoutlossof
data.