Web Cutting by Sweeping Curves or Surfaces

Webcutting with sweeping creates a swept tool body in the same step as the web cut operation. There are 4 general ways to web cut with sweeping:

Web Cutting by Sweeping a Surface Along a Trajectory

This command allows one or more surfaces to be swept, creating a volume that is used for the web cut. If more than one surface is specified, the surfaces must contain coincident curves. The surfaces are swept along a direction and some distance or perpendicular and some distance or along a curve. For best results the curve to sweep the surface along should intersect one of the surfaces. The through_all option will sweep the surfaces along the trajectory far enough so as to intersect all input bodies. The stop surface <id> option is used to identify a surface at which the sweep will stop. If using this option when sweeping along a curve, the sweep will stop at the first place possible. The up_to_next option indicates that the user wants to web cut with only the first water tight volume that forms as a result of the intersection between sweep and union of all blank bodies. The [Outward|Inward] options specify a sweeping direction that is either INTO the volume or OUT from the volume.

Webcut {Volume|Body|Group} <range> Sweep Surface <id_range> {Vector <x> <y> <z> [Distance <distance>] | Along Curve <id>} [Through_all | Stop Surface <id> | Up_to_next ] [webcut_options]

Webcut {Volume|Body|Group} <id> Sweep Surface <id_range> Perpendicular {Distance <distance> | Through_all | Stop Surface <id>} [OUTWARD|Inward] [webcut_options]

surf_sweep_tool1.gif
sweeping a surface in a direction

surf_sweep_result1.gif
resultant web cut

surf_sweep_tool2.gif
along a curve to a stop surface

surf_sweep_result2.gif
resultant web cut

Figure 1. Examples of web cutting with swept surfaces

Web Cutting by Sweeping a Surface About an Axis

This command allows a one or more surfaces to be swept, creating a volume that is used for the web cut. If more than one surface is specified, the surfaces must contain coincident curves. The surface is swept about a user-defined axis or about one of the x y z coordinate axes and a specified angle. The stop surface <id> option is used to identify a surface at which the sweep will stop. The up_to_next option indicates that the user wants to web cut with only the first water tight volume that forms as a result of the intersection between sweep and union of all blank bodies. For these 2 options to work correctly the user must specify an angle large enough for the rotation to traverse the stop surface or the up_to_next surface.

Webcut {Volume|Body|Group} <id> Sweep Surface <id_range> {Axis <xpoint ypoint zpoint xvector yvector zvector> | Xaxis | Yaxis | Zaxis } Angle <degrees> [Stop Surface <id> | Up_to_next] [webcut_options]

Web Cutting by Sweeping a Curve(s) Along a Trajectory

This command allows a curve(s) to be swept, creating a surface that is used for the web cut. If multiple curves are specified, they must share vertices and form a continuous path. The curve(s) is swept along a direction and some distance or along another curve. If sweeping a curve(s) along another curve, for best results the curve(s)-to-swept and the curve to sweep along should intersect at some point. The stop surface <id> option is used to identify a surface at which the sweep will stop. If using this option when sweeping along a curve, the sweep will stop at the first place possible. The through_all option will sweep the curve(s) along the trajectory far enough so as to intersect all input bodies. For the web cut to be successful, the swept curve(s) must completely traverse a portion of a blank body(s), cutting off a complete piece of the blank body(s). Option through_all should not be used when defining the web cut with a vector and a distance or along a curve.

Webcut {Volume|Body|Group} <id> Sweep Curve <id_range> {Vector <x> <y> <z> [Distance <distance>| Along curve <id>] } [Through_all | Stop Surface <id>] [webcut_options]

Web Cutting by Sweeping a Curve(s) About an Axis

This command allows a curve to be swept, creating a surface that is used for the web cut. If multiple curves are specified, they must share vertices and form a continuous path. The curve(s) is swept about a user-defined axis or about one of the x y z coordinate axes and a specified angle. For the web cut to be successful, the swept curve(s) must completely traverse a portion of a blank body(s), cutting off a complete piece of the blank body(s). The stop surface <id> option is used to identify a surface at which the sweep will stop. For this option to work correctly the user must specify an angle large enough for the rotation to traverse the stop surface.

Webcut {Volume|Body|Group} <id> Sweep Curve <id_range> {Axis <xpoint ypoint zpoint xvector yvector zvector> | Xaxis | Yaxis | Zaxis } Angle <degrees> [Stop Surface <id>] [webcut_options]