Looking for NX equivalent of Catia's "Spine" function 1

[NWPadawan]

Catia's spine function allowed a curved line to be made in space perpendicular to planes without having to specify points. Does NX have an equivalent?

Thanks in advance.

 

[NWPadawan]

Whoops, forgot to mention that there would be one point used on a plane to initially locate the 3D curve.

 

[cowski]

The old "spline" function had a "perpendicular to planes" option that did what you describe. If you are using a newer version of NX, type "spline" in the command finder and scroll through the list (look for the one labelled: spline (to be retired)).

www.nxjournaling.com

 

[NWPadawan]

That's perfect! Thank you.

Btw, I forgot to mention I'm working on NX9 so yeah, it even says in the command name that it's about to be retired. Do you know if there will be another way to accomplish the same task in subsequent versions?

 

[JohnRBaker]

When you create a Studio Spline, you can select any knot point, press MB3 and select 'Specify Cosntraint'. You will get two vectors and a small offset sphere. Simply select the Sphere and then select the Datum Plane of interest. If the direction is opposite of what you expected, simply select the 'Reverse Tangent Direction' icon on the dialog. And unlike the old spline function, using this approach with a Studio Spline will create an associative relationship between the direction of the curve and Datum Plane.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Digital Factory
Cypress, CA
Siemens PLM:
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To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

 

[NWPadawan]

I'm glad to hear there's a way to make the spline associative but I'm having a hard time figuring it out. Could you be more specific about the knot points or even give step by step instructions? Thanks.

 

[Toost]

Na, i think that the perpendicular to planes and the tangent direction that John speaks about are completely different options.
With the perpendicular to planes, the spline will have a point on the selected plane and also be normal to that plane, the method John describes only sets the tangent in a point to be plane normal, not to be on the plane.

But, on the other hand, Why / what do you want this curve ?
I have heard the request a couple of times from Catia Users, but i have never seen the need in NX to create this curve.
I guess that Catia requires this type of curve for some purpose, which NX might not.
Functions in Cad systems are most often similar to each other, but not necessary identical.


Regards,
Tomas

 

[NWPadawan]

Thanks, Tomas. That's what I suspected about John's suggestion- that you needed to place a point on the planes, and this isn't what I'm looking for.

It's not actually for me. I'm the go-to NX guy around here and I didn't know the answer when someone asked me. He's using it for class-A surface design but exactly how, I'm not sure. In fact, I'm with you; it seems like the curve is practically useless in that it seems too difficult to control and predict. But in this scenario I just ask how and not why, haha.

 

[JohnRBaker]

You might want to look at the bridge curve since while the first point must reference an existing curve or edge, the end point can be defined as to lie on and be normal to a Datum Plane.

And for the regular Studio Spline, which yes, you have to first define a point on the plane, if that's where you want one of the knot points to be, but it's not necessary as ANY knot point can be made to define the direction of the spline at that point to be normal to ANY plane whether the point lies on the plane or not.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Digital Factory
Cypress, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.