Making a solid with two splines

[robinberghuys]

Hey everyone. Apologies in advance if this is a double post - I tried searching for the same problem, but couldn't find anything. I hope this is a beginner question and not too hard to answer.

 

What I'd like to do is make a solid wall. The problem is that the wall is curved, so I drew it using splines, like so:

 

 

I tried extruding, but that just extrudes the splines, it doesn't make them a solid.

 

 

I don't know how to solve this, I'm not that familiar with autoCAD yet, but maybe there is a way to make the splines (part of) a polyline or something?

 

Thanks in advance!

[shift1313]

since you are using acad07 you have sweep and loft at your disposal. You can draw the section of the wall and use your spline as a guide or path to sweep along. Is the height of the wall changing as well?

[shift1313]

just so you know. sweep will take a line segment or close pline/region and "sweep" it along a path. if you use a close region like a rectangle, your resulting object will be a solid, if you use a line, you will have a surface.

 

Loft will let you extrude between different "shapes" say you were going from a square to a circle as an example.

[robinberghuys]

since you are using acad07 you have sweep and loft at your disposal. You can draw the section of the wall and use your spline as a guide or path to sweep along. Is the height of the wall changing as well?

 

This seems like an excellent idea, thanks! But sweep doesn't seem to work.. when I try to sweep across the spline, it doesn't do anything and when I try to sweep across the extruded spline, it doesn't do anything either. It says

Select sweep path or [Alignment/Base point/Scale/Twist]:

The selected path curve is not valid.

Am I doing it wrong?

[shift1313]

im not sure but you sure do have a lot of windows/apps open:)

 

unfortunately i dont have 07 or newer at home so i cant try anything to help you out. I dont think you would be able to use your surface as a path but you should be able to use your spline. Is your rectangle a closed pline? have you used either region or pedit to join them? what if you draw a circle or some other shape at the end of your spline, will it let you sweep that?

[robinberghuys]

im not sure but you sure do have a lot of windows/apps open:)

 

unfortunately i dont have 07 or newer at home so i cant try anything to help you out. I dont think you would be able to use your surface as a path but you should be able to use your spline. Is your rectangle a closed pline? have you used either region or pedit to join them? what if you draw a circle or some other shape at the end of your spline, will it let you sweep that?

 

My rectangle is a rectangle, not a polyline. When I draw a circle and try to sweep the spline I get this.

 

By the way,I was thinking it was because the rectangle was away from the spline, but that wasn't it, either.

[shift1313]

that is very odd. the same path allows the circle to sweep but not the rectangle. when you have the select path option, there is also Alignment/Base point/Scale/Twist. Type A, i believe it is a yes or no option for keeping the sketch perpendicular to the path. change that option and try again. Also type B for base point and select where you want your base point to be, top left of your rectangle.

 

let me know if either of those work.

[robinberghuys]

Well, I got it in the end. What I did was place the wall section with its midpoint on the end of the spline. Really strange that it worked this time, because it seems like this is how it should work.

 

Anyway, thanks for the help!

[shift1313]

if you have your rectangle off in space somewhere but your spline is where you want the path it should work just fine. DId you try changing the Alignment option to No? Sometimes the issue arises when cad tries to align an object with a spline path. if it were a straight line there would be no issue.