SolidWorks 2010 Bible

Chapter 11: Editing and Evaluation

FIGURE 11.14

Feature Statistics helps you analyze rebuild times for features.

Curvature Comb

The Curvature Comb is a graphical tool you can apply to a spline, circle, arc, ellipse, or parabola to
indicate the curvature along the length of the curve. You cannot apply a Curvature Comb to a
straight line because it has no curvature. The height of the comb indicates the curvature. Curvature
is the inverse of radius (c=1/r), so that as the radius gets smaller, the curvature gets bigger.

Figure 11.15 shows a curvature comb applied to a spline. Notice that the spline continuously

changes curvature. An arc has constant curvature.

When the comb crosses the spline, it means that the direction of curvature has changed. When the

comb intersects the spline, it means that the spline at that point has no curvature (it is straight).

FIGURE 11.15

A Curvature Comb shows the constantly changing curvature of the spline.