Use the Spline panel to create a shell mesh and/or surface. A mesh and surface can be created using nodes, points, or lines.  You can also use the spline function to create a mesh without a surface, or a surface without a mesh.

Multiple lines, nodes, or points are required. A mesh and/or surface is created using these lines. Lines or nodes can be selected in any order. The correct order is determined when creating the mesh/surface.

There is no limit on the number of lines, points, or nodes that you can choose when creating a spline surface. You can create a mesh using one line or ten lines (of course, trying to create surfaces using a single straight line would not be useful. To create a surface from one line, the line must be curved). You can select a set of lines, points, or nodes that do not form a closed loop. Disconnected entities are connected with straight lines, and create a spline surface and/or mesh within the boundary formed by the chosen entities and the constructed lines. If the lines selected to create a spline are edges of an adjoining surface, the edge topology is updated to make them shared edges, and considers the curvature of the adjoining surfaces when creating the spline surface.

When creating a spline surface, with or without a mesh, using surface edges, select keep tangency to force the newly-created spline to form a smooth transition with its surrounding surfaces, without feature angles between the new surface and the surrounding ones.

When creating a mesh and surface with nodes, they are automatically stitched to the new surface/mesh by default.

For information regarding the meshing options, refer to the Automeshing section of the User’s Guide.

 

Examples

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Creating a 3D spline surface by selecting lines

 

Creating a 3D spline surface by selecting nodes or points

 

Subpanels and Inputs

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There are no subpanels on the Spline panel. All inputs and command buttons are located on the main panel.

 

Panel Inputs

The mesh w/o surf option does have some limitations, such as:

 

The first three options are variations of the same function, so the mesh/surface generated are also the same.

 

Command Buttons

The following action buttons appear:

 

How do I...

Create a spline surface by selecting lines

Create a spline surface by selecting nodes or points

 

See also

An Alphabetical List of Panels

HM-3110: Mesh without Surfaces