Lofting problems

[nic]

Hey

I am trying to loft from a NURBS curve (rectangle) to a NURBS curve (semicircle). The control points need to go from one corner of the rectangle to the centre of the curve on the semicircle; but Vectorworks 10 won't allow it.

Yes, the objects are both closed shapes and everything SHOULD work. I tried making the semicircle into a 24-sided figure but still no luck.

In desperate need of help

thanks a lot!

nic.

[Biplab]

nic,

You have stumbled upon one of the shortcomings of the loft tool. The center of the semi-circle is not recognized by the loft tool as one of the "corners" and hence this problem.

But don't worry, there are other ways to do the same. Do it using 2 steps or rather 2 lofts. I am assuming that you are lofting between the straight portion of the semi-circle and two sides of the rectangle and another loft between the circular portion of the semi-circle and two other sides of the rectangle.

If so, create polygons or split the rectangle. Similarly split the semi-circle or create the line joining the ends of the semi-circle and the sem-circle separately. And do two lofts with 2 sets of open curves. After lofting you can add them together (using Add Solid) if you need to. You can also cap them using various methods - create planar caps or create surface from curves (after extracting the curves from the added solid).

Hope this helps.

Biplab