Surfaces - General sweep (tube, revolved surface, sphere)

A surface is created by sweeping an arbitrary line along another arbitrary path.

The tube, revolved surface, and sphere are specific cases of this general sweep.

Steps to Create this Surface:

• First, draw a contour. Immediately after, draw the sweep.
  
  
  • The contour can also be a polygon.
    
    
  • The sweep surface must directly follow the contour or polygon.
    
    
• Corners are always in the bisector of the angle between the corresponding sections of the path.

• If the path turns too sharply, the surface may intersect itself and become tangled!
  
  

The surface's visibility (facing the light) cannot be inverted like a polygon. In such cases, use the reverse the path icon to flip the contour.

If the sweep returns to the starting point, the surface will close, forming a bisector at the starting point.

If the contour closes but the sweep does not, you can use a pair of icons to decide whether the ends of the sweep will be closed or remain open.

The grain direction of the texture is parallel to the sweep along every section.

Parameters

Smoothing
Smoothing can be independently set for the contour or the sweep direction.

Darkening
Like a polygon, the entire surface can be uniformly darkened.

Tube

A specific case of the sweep. A single surface where the contour is always a circle with a radius adjustable in the parameters. The sweep is a freely drawn line.

Parameters

Smoothing
Same as described in the general sweep.

Resolution
The resolution of the contour, i.e., the circle. Default is 12.

Radius
The radius of the circle. Default is 10.

Revolved surface

A specific case of the sweep. Like the general sweep, it is created in two steps. First, define a contour as a freely drawn line. In the second step, define the axis of the revolved surface with two points. The sweep is a circle around this axis, automatically handled by the program.

Parameters

Smoothing
Same as described in the general sweep.

Resolution
The resolution of the sweep, i.e., the circle. Default is 24.

Sphere

A specific case of the sweep. A half-circle contour swept along a perpendicular circle, which can also be considered a revolved surface. Select a single point as the center of the sphere. The radius is set in the parameters.

Parameters

Smoothing
Same as described in the general sweep.

Resolution
Resolution in both directions of the sphere. Default is 24.

Radius
The radius of the sphere. Default is 0. It must always be specified!

Keywords: #tube #revolved surface #general sweep