Creating a Net Surface

You can create a subdivision surface, based on an existing set of curves (the net).

Before you begin: Create a shape containing several curves. They can be any kind of curves: IMA curves, 3D curves, border of a face, and so on.

Here is the shape used for this scenario:

Related Topics
Applying a Modification

  1. Click Net Surface .

    Tip: You can also access this command by pressing ALT+SHIFT+P.

    A Tools Palette is displayed:



    The following icons let you:

    • select the guides (it is selected by default)
    • select the profiles
    • apply the command

  2. Click Guides Selection if not already selected.

  3. Select the guide curves.

    They appear in red in the 3D area. The net surface is dynamically previewed:

  4. Click Profiles Selection .

  5. Select the profile curves.

    They appear in blue in the 3D area. The net surface is dynamically modified:

    Note: The value shown in the 3D area corresponds to the maximum deviation between the generated surface and the selected profile and guide curves and is displayed at the point where this deviation has been computed.

    New icons appear in the Tools Palette:

    They let you:

    • swap guide curves with profile curves and vice-versa:



    • find the best solution
    • define the number of faces in the guide direction
    • define the number of faces in the profile direction

  6. Click Best Solution .

    The best solution in both guide and profile directions is displayed:

    Important: This capability may generate an important number of faces. To decrease them, use the and icons as shown below.

  7. Click Face number for guide .

    The Value Edition icon appears in the Tools Palette and a slider is displayed at the right of the screen to let you define the number of faces in the guide direction. The maximum number of faces is defined by default.

    Here it is set to 18.

    Note: The minimum number of faces in the guide direction corresponds to the number of profile curves - 1.

  8. Decrease this number to 4 for instance.



  9. Click Face number for profile .

    The Value Edition icon appears in the Tools Palette and a slider is displayed at the top of the screen to let you define the number of faces in the profile direction. The maximum number of faces is defined by default.

    Here it is set to by 6.

    Note: The minimum number of faces in the profile direction corresponds to the number of guide curves - 1.

  10. Decrease this number to 3 for instance.



  11. Click Apply (Enter) to validate the command.

    The subdivision surface is created...

    ... and the following Tools Palette is displayed to let you modify and deform the created surface:

    Warning:
    • Profile and guide curves must not intersect each other.
    • Profile curves can be closed but the resulting surface will not be closed.
    • The maximum number of given faces may sometimes not be reached.
    • The created shape may not exactly follow the guide and profile curves.
    • Once the surface is created, it is not possible to modify the guide or profile curves.
    • If you have selected the border of a surface as the curve input, the resulting subdivision surface will not be continuous in point with the neighbouring surfaces.