Part II: Building Intelligence into Your Parts
Making Curve Through XYZ Points
The Curve Through XYZ Points feature enables you to either type in or import a text file with coordi-
nates for points on a curve. The text file can be generated by any program that makes lists of num-
bers, including Excel. The curve reacts like a default spline, so the teeter-tottering effect may be
noticeable, especially because you cannot set end conditions or tangency. To avoid this effect, it may
be a good idea to overbuild the curve by a few points on each end, or have a higher density of points.
If you import a text file, the file can have an extension of either *.txt or *.sldcrv. The data that
it contains must be formatted as three columns of X-, Y-, and Z-coordinates using the document
units (inch, mm, and so on), and the coordinates must be separated by comma, space, or tab. Figure
7.27 shows both the Curve File dialog box displaying a table of the curve through X, Y, and Z
points, and the *.sldcrv Notepad file. You can read the file from the Curve File dialog box by
clicking the Browse button, but if you manually type the points, then you can also save the data out
directly from the dialog box. Just like any type of sketch, this type of curve cannot intersect itself.FIGURE 7.27The Curve File dialog box showing a table of the curve through X, Y, and Z points, and a Notepad
text file with the same information
Building Curve Through Reference Points
The Curve Through Reference Points feature creates a curve entity from selected sketch points or
vertices. The curve can be an open or closed loop, but a closed loop requires that you select at least
three points. You cannot set end conditions of the curve, and so this feature works like a default
spline in the same way as the XYZ curve.
The most common application of this feature is to create a wire from selected points along a wire
path. Another common application is a simple two-point curve to close the opening of a surface
feature such as Fill, Boundary, or Loft.