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New to solidworks, trying to scale of stretch a spline generated sketch in one dimension only

Question asked by Steven Dantonio on Apr 23, 2015
Latest reply on Apr 24, 2015 by Steven Dantonio

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I am a Rhino user thinking of migrating to Solidworks. I do a lot of work with splines generated from the picture sketch function. Once a spline is created (either closed loop or open) is there any way to scale or stretch the sketch in one dimension only. When I chose proportional in the scale function is scales both dimensions. If it's easier lets think of it this way. If I generate a spline curve following along a picture of a hanging chain supported at both ends (a catenary curve) and find that the length of the curve is perfect for my application, but the depth of the curve is a little shallower that i want it to me. Is there any way to increase the depth of the curve while keeping the length fixed?

Thank you

Steven

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Glenn Schroeder Apr 23, 2015 4:43 PM

I don't work with splines much, but I just did some experimenting, and I think I can help. While in an active sketch containing a spline, you can activate the Smart Dimension tool and click on the spline to set it's total length. In the screenshot below I set mine to 4". I added the construction lines connecting the spline points, with the relations shown. When I click and drag the bottom point up and down the spline points move in and out to keep the spline length at 4". I hope this helps. I'm about to leave my computer for the day, but if this didn't answer your question, or if you need more help, I'm sure someone else will be glad to jump in.

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Jeff Holliday Apr 23, 2015 4:44 PM

You can scale a feature (I just tried a sweep) based on a spline either with/without "Uniform Scaling" turned on. With it off, a new dialog box appears with X,Y,Z scaling allowed. I could not find that option if just editing the spline instead of the feature.

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Roland Schwarz @ Jeff Holliday on Apr 23, 2015 4:51 PM

That said, you can extrude the spline sketch, then scale the resulting surface or solid. Surface and solid scales can be done in non-uniform X-Y-Z parameters.

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Steven Dantonio Apr 24, 2015 9:12 AM

Thank you for the answers, I will have to experiment with these methods this weekend

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Steven Dantonio @ Steven Dantonio on Apr 24, 2015 12:56 PM

Hi,

I tried the methods suggested and they work fne for 3 point splines, unfortunately mine are a little more complicated. I find that with a spline made on more than 3 points (and usually skewed, grabbing a point and moving it, of using the X-Y-Z parameters results in only the one point moving. What I need to do is resize the whole spline in one direction with the resizing being applied proportionally to the distance the spline point in from the horizontal construction line. This time I have pics.

original spline (top) and resized spline attached (middle)

the desired result would be sort of like the last attachment (wish I had saved the original so i could have just modified it) bottom

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Steven Dantonio @ Steven Dantonio on Apr 24, 2015 1:39 PM

Hi All,

One of the suggestions I got from one of the SW people I work with it to drop a center line at each point of the spline, add a datum point, and then use the datum points individually to drive the spline to the new shape. So it looks like I may be adjusting 10 or so datum points for a individual spline. I was hoping for an easier way, but it is still workable. Unfortunately I'm spoiled by Rhino which does have 1D scale, 2D scale and 3D scale commands.

Steven

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6 Replies

Glenn Schroeder Apr 23, 2015 4:43 PM
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I don't work with splines much, but I just did some experimenting, and I think I can help. While in an active sketch containing a spline, you can activate the Smart Dimension tool and click on the spline to set it's total length. In the screenshot below I set mine to 4". I added the construction lines connecting the spline points, with the relations shown. When I click and drag the bottom point up and down the spline points move in and out to keep the spline length at 4". I hope this helps. I'm about to leave my computer for the day, but if this didn't answer your question, or if you need more help, I'm sure someone else will be glad to jump in.
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Jeff Holliday Apr 23, 2015 4:44 PM
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You can scale a feature (I just tried a sweep) based on a spline either with/without "Uniform Scaling" turned on. With it off, a new dialog box appears with X,Y,Z scaling allowed. I could not find that option if just editing the spline instead of the feature.
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- Roland Schwarz @ Jeff Holliday on Apr 23, 2015 4:51 PM
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  That said, you can extrude the spline sketch, then scale the resulting surface or solid. Surface and solid scales can be done in non-uniform X-Y-Z parameters.
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Steven Dantonio Apr 24, 2015 9:12 AM
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Thank you for the answers, I will have to experiment with these methods this weekend
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- Steven Dantonio @ Steven Dantonio on Apr 24, 2015 12:56 PM
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  Hi,
  
  I tried the methods suggested and they work fne for 3 point splines, unfortunately mine are a little more complicated. I find that with a spline made on more than 3 points (and usually skewed, grabbing a point and moving it, of using the X-Y-Z parameters results in only the one point moving. What I need to do is resize the whole spline in one direction with the resizing being applied proportionally to the distance the spline point in from the horizontal construction line. This time I have pics.
  
  original spline (top) and resized spline attached (middle)
  
  the desired result would be sort of like the last attachment (wish I had saved the original so i could have just modified it) bottom
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  - Steven Dantonio @ Steven Dantonio on Apr 24, 2015 1:39 PM
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    Hi All,
    
    One of the suggestions I got from one of the SW people I work with it to drop a center line at each point of the spline, add a datum point, and then use the datum points individually to drive the spline to the new shape. So it looks like I may be adjusting 10 or so datum points for a individual spline. I was hoping for an easier way, but it is still workable. Unfortunately I'm spoiled by Rhino which does have 1D scale, 2D scale and 3D scale commands.
    
    Steven
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New to solidworks, trying to scale of stretch a spline generated sketch in one dimension only

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