3D Curve

Hello,

Are you going to implement feature “3D Curve” for example to improve Loft with guidelines as 3D curve?

Thank you

Hi Stan, please follow the suggested format for feature requests.

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The problem that this feature will solve is to create bodies with Loft feature with 3D curve guidelines for example to create airplane wings or fuselage.

This feature work like spline but it’s not on plane. 3D Curve is connected to 2 points from different sketches which are on different planes. For example, I got one squre on plane and on the second plane which is offseted by 20 cm from first one there is another squre. I connect corners with 3d Cure (like 3D spline) then i can set spline parameters (the same as regular spline but in 3 dimmensions).
Then i make Loft feature with 2 squres and mark 3D curve as guideline.

This feature is blocking me because i can’t use only Sharp3d to create airplane or UAV model shapes.

Makes sense. Do you actually need 3D curves (curves, that don’t have their control points on the same plane) or do you need to be able to create a network of planar curves in 3D?

This model for example was 100% created in Shapr3D by @CEKuhnen, using guided lofts, without 3D curves, simply by utilizing construction planes in a smart way.

https://collaborate.shapr3d.com/v/-4NpYY2EYZgvKx-VKrYHw

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while not a 3D spline I wanted to add to here than you can also use edges of bodies as 3D splines / rails with loft or sweep

In my opinion design should be fast and simple as possible. Making body just to use it edge to make loft it gonna take ages if you have complicated shape.

For example,(this is done in other 3D design program):

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3D splines would be super handy for making sweep type parts like tubing or bent metal parts. I would use it all the time. I have used the edge of a solid method you mentioned, and it does work, but it’s not an ideal way to work. For this light fixture I’m working on, I made the tubing in SolidWorks and imported since that’s way faster.

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I was literally needing this today and on some other models recently.

I’m designing handlebars that are tapered in diameter.

I can loft and guide the first bend, but the problem arises as the second bend requires lofting in a way that would need a 3D spline, to link the two planes, or so I think.

However, I’m still at it trying to figure out a workaround in the app with the tools available.

Note that this feature would also help me sweep tubes, hoses, and cables around and through parts in space.

Currently it’s a game of separate splines that are tangent to another, then rotating them into another plane to create a sweepable “hose” but it’s VERY tedious.

I’d post a couple photos but I don’t have any at the moment.

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Makes sense. There are indeed certain things that are not possible to do without 3D splines, but there is a lot that you can already do with guided lofts and with the smart utilization of construction planes. We don’t have 3D splines on our roadmap yet, but we keep adding more and more modeling features to Shapr3D every two weeks.

Here’s what I’m trying to accomplish and I think the ability to have 3D splines would help a lot.

First, I want to be able to make a 3D spline that can be used to sweep a brake hose body from the brake lever, through the inside of the forks and down to the brake caliper so that I can show the hose routing.

I would be able to use this feature for all types of “organic” shaped sweeps. Cables, hoses, etc.

Second, and it may be difficult to see, but the lofted shape of the handlebars where it meets the brake lever/grip area is not correct. I haven’t been able to find a way to guide the loft at two different angles to give the bars “sweep back” and “rise”. I have tried many different ways using the tools available and I can’t really get is to work right for me.

Full disclosure, this is an imported model from Grabcad I used to build off of. I did model the bars, and the headset upper and lower caps that the brake line runs through. All the materials are Shapr3d visusalization materials.

Same problems to do pneumatic tubing, it’s really hard without 3d spline, douable but hard. And every change in the pneumatic system is painful.

I’ve managed to do handlebar sweep back by using Projection. It was fiddly to do, but it worked.

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