Regarding the constraint of splines, what are the methods and what is the preferred method?
(splines with 3 or more points)
Usually the ends are restrained first. Like with tangents to straight lines or tangents to other splines. Or by coincedent end points with other entities then horizontal or vertical constraints on the end spline handles. Then sometimes the rest of the spline is left unrestrained (all the intermediate spline points).
Sometimes the intermediate spline points will be fully constrained with 2D dims to each spline point and a length and angle dim on each spline handle. But this seems very time consuming.
Is it common to just restrain the ends and then"fix" the entire spline thus fixing all the intermediate spline points and handles? But sometimes when you do this it becomes over-constrained and you have to "fix" each individual intermediate spline point.
Guessing it depends on the application, like an artistic designer would leave the intermediate points unconstrained and someone designing an auto fender die would do the fully dimensioned method?
Are there other methods/preferences?
I generally leave my splines unconstrained. I only constrain those points/tangencies that require constraints. Because my splines are typically in different sketches, or if they are they are not constrained to each other. This way modifications to one spline don't effect the others.
There are just too many constraints to apply to splines to do it any other way. I have used the "fix" constraint when I want to adjust multiple splines in the same sketch.