Help! Ridge c/w various heights on a 3D closed line

[oldboot]

Let’s take the lens rim of an eye glasses frame as example.

I need to ‘grow’ a ridge/wall along the rim edge. The ridge height changes along the rim circle. Following is my steps:

1. Draw the lens rim profile on TOP plane --- An ellipse. (Call ‘E’)
2. Draw a ‘crown’ curve (call ‘CC1’) on the RIGHT plane, ends joint with ‘E’ above.
3. Extend the ‘CC1’ curve to be a curve surface (call ‘CS’ ).
4. Use E to cut CS, then I get the exact 3D profile of the lens rim.

Now I need to ‘grow up’ a ridge around the 3D profile edge. What I tried to do is:

4. (No cutting for now as above but->): 4. Draw several vertical lines (different height) along the ‘E’. Just like you plant some trees around your yard fence. (Extra Planes are called for the lines when necessary)
5. LOFT all the lines just ‘planted’, use ‘E’ as Path.?But the LOFT does not follow the Path --- it goes its own way.

In my case, actually the ‘E’ is not a full ellipse, it is two different sized ‘half ellipse’ joint together.?Do I need to “Combine” them to be one piece before LOFT? I aware it just now. Not try yet.

Or if it does not work even after combined. I have to do it in following stupid way:
A. Do not ‘plant’ so many ‘trees’, just extrude (grow up) ‘E’ with enough high.
B. Create another Plane parallel to RIGHT.
C. Draw another ‘crown’ curve (CC2) above ‘CC1’ ---indicating the various height of the ridge.
D. Use the CC2 & CS to trim extruded wall & created in step “A”. The rest wall is ridge I need. BUT there are too many steps.

What will you do if you are on challenge?

It is too long article but I appreciate for all your patience on reading this.

 

[SBaugh]

You will probably have to merge the bodies together from the way I read your post.

You have a shape (Profile) that looks like Example: "0" and you want to loft it outward so you have "X" amount of lines to be used as guide curves. That's great, but first the guides have to pierce the profile directly. Secondly you have to have more then one profile to do a Loft 2 or more. The more profiles and guide curves the more precise it will be.

Surfaces maybe the other way to go. You can build with Surface bodies faster and build up to the finished body. then once a closed profile is created you can knit and thicken the surface.

Regards,

Scott Baugh, CSWP

http://www.3dvisiontech.com

http://www.scottjbaugh.com

faq731-376