Alias - Wavefront LearningSurfaceStudio

Learning SurfaceStudio 9.
5
Learning SurfaceStudio 9.5.
© 2000 Alias|Wavefront.
Printed in the U S A by R.R. Donnelley, All rights reserved.
Studio Documentation Team: Mona Albano, Pat Anderson, Matt Chaput, Stephen Gaebel,
Karen Hoogsteen, Adam Kozyniak, Joanne MacPhail, Margot Meijer.
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StudioTools Manuals The following manuals are available both in print and online.
The online help includes a searchable index of all manuals.
● What’s New: new and improved features in this version.
● Installation: installing and licensing Studio.
● Basic Tools
◆ Part 1 — Interface: getting online help, customizing
the interface, opening and saving files, and using the
window layouts to improve your workflow.
◆ Part 2 — General Tools: using the basic Studio tools to
create and manipulate models; picking, deleting,
editing, and transforming objects; using cameras; and
doing standard system operations.
● Release Notes: detailed software notes about this release
of the Studio software. (The printed version is the more
recent.)
● Sketching: creating conceptual design sketches and
surface or cloud data annotations within Studio.
(Sketching tools are available only in Studio for Windows
NT.)
● NURBS Modeling: creating and modifying NURBS curves
and surfaces, as well as construction and evaluation tools.
● Data Transfer for CAD and Solid Imaging: exchanging 3D
model data between Studio and CAD packages.
● EvalViewer: a stand-alone utility for industrial design. It
works as both a cloud data tool and a surface evaluation
tool. (EvalViewer is available only in Studio for UNIX.)
The following manuals are provided only online. You can

display them from Studio by selecting Help > Online docs. Parts
of these manuals appear when you use Help > Help on Function.
You can also open their PDF files from the Documentation CD
and print them.
● Alias File Formats: descriptions of native Alias file
formats.
● Stand-alone Utilities Guide: utilities that can be run
separately from Studio. Includes how to use the Alias File
Batch Translator utility.
● OpenAlias/OpenModel API: the Alias API, which
provides programmers with access to Studio’s internal
data: OpenModel to Alias wire files and OpenAlias to the
Studio application.
Studio Assistant Online The Assistant Online offers a vast Internet resource, updated
weekly, of valuable learning material. It includes:
● Lessons and finished models that allow you to exercise
modeling, rendering and presentational skills
● Content designed to optimize workflow for visual
presentation.
You can find the Assistant Online at

www.aw.sgi.com/assistant_online/design/studio/
How To Use This Book 1
About the SurfaceStudio Tutorials 1
For More Information 2
Where To Begin 2
Page Layout 3
Graphic Conventions 4
Terms 5
L e s s o n 1 Basics of the SurfaceStudio Interface 7
Introduction 7
Starting SurfaceStudio 7
Overview of the SurfaceStudio Interface 10
Arranging Windows 12
Using Tools 18
Changing Your View of the Model 45
Understanding the Scene Block Diagram 60
Conclusion 65
L e s s o n 2 Loading and Organizing Data 67
Introduction 67
Opening the Lesson File 67

Organizing the Scan Data 73
Saving Your Work 80
Importing Additional Geometry 80
Turning Object Features On and Off 82
Diagnostic Shading 86
Setting SurfaceStudio Options 90
Conclusion 91
L e s s o n 3 Fitting Curves to Scans 93
Introduction 93
Loading the Lesson Files 93
Fitting the Centerline Curve 95
Fitting X Curves 108
Fitting Front and Back Z Curves 121
Creating Front and Rear Transition Curves 124
Extending and Trimming 131
Conclusion 137
L e s s o n 4 Creating Primary Surfaces From Curves 139
Introduction 139
Loading the Lesson File 140
Creating the Top Primary Surface 141
Creating the Side Primary Surface 156
Creating the Front and Back Primary Surfaces 163
Extending and Trimming 169
Conclusion 178
L e s s o n 5 Creating Transitions 179
Introduction 179
Using Round to Create Tangent Lines 181
Creating Construction Curves 187
Creating the Surfaces with Birail 208
Alternate Methods for Creating Transitions 216
Conclusion 239
L e s s o n 6 Direct Modeling 241
Introduction 241
Examining the Scans 243
Creating the First Surface 248
Creating the Second Surface 269
Creating the Transition Surface 288
Evaluating the Surfaces 298
Conclusion 302
How To Use This Book
In This Section: About the SurfaceStudio Tutorials

• About the SurfaceStudio SurfaceStudio provides a complete set of interactive surfacing,
Tutorials page 1. modification, and evaluation tools for creating surface models that
meet the demanding levels of quality and precision required in
• For More manufacturing.
Information page 2.
In this book, we will present examples of typical production
• Where To Begin page 2.
workflows using SurfaceStudio. We will introduce SurfaceStudio’s
• Page Layout page 3. powerful tools and interactive features, and demonstrate how to use
them to accomplish your surfacing tasks.
• Graphic
Conventions page 4. The tutorials are divided into the following lessons:
• Terms page 5.
● Lesson 1: Basics of the SurfaceStudio Interface.
Introduces the SurfaceStudio user interface: starting the
program, using windows, tools, setting options, and creating 3D
objects.
● Lesson 2: Loading and Organizing Data.

Shows loading and saving files, working with scan data, and
organizing objects into layers.
● Lesson 3: Fitting Curves to Scans.

Shows how to use SurfaceStudio’s manual and automatic tools
to fit high-quality curves to polyline scan data.
● Lesson 4: Creating Primary Surfaces From Curves.

Shows how to use construction curves, such as in the lesson on
fitting curves to scans, to create primary surfaces.
● Lesson 5: Creating Transitions.

Shows how to use SurfaceStudio’s fillet and surfacing tools to
create transition surfaces between primary surfaces.
1
● Lesson 6: Direct Modeling.
Shows how to use the direct modeling method to start with
simple surfaces and interactively manipulate them to match scan
data.
These tutorials are densely packed with information and techniques

that may be new to you. You may want to re-read the lessons after
completion, or even repeat the more difficult lessons.
Some techniques, especially those related to fitting curves and direct

modeling, are interactive and can be challenging. You may want to
practice these skills after completing the tutorials.
For More Information

Note that these tutorials are introductions to technical surfacing
solutions and workflows. They are not intended as an exhaustive
guide to the capabilities and options of the SurfaceStudio tools.
For additional information and more comprehensive explanations of

tools and options, refer to the NURBS Modeling in SurfaceStudio and
Basic Tools in SurfaceStudio books.
Where To Begin
The first tutorial covers some material that may already be familiar
to you. You can make decisions about these tutorials based on
whether you are an absolute beginner, already familiar with Silicon
Graphics workstations, or already familiar with Alias|Wavefront
StudioTools products.
Absolute Beginners
You should start the tutorials at the very beginning of Lesson 1:

Basics of the SurfaceStudio Interface on page 7.
HowTo Use This Book

2
For More Information
Users Familiar With Silicon Graphics Workstations
You should log into your account (or the common SurfaceStudio
account) on your workstation and then start the tutorials with the
instructions for Starting SurfaceStudio on page 7.
Users Familiar With Alias|Wavefront Studio Products
Much of the first chapter deals with interface basics common to all
Studio products. However, you will still want to familiarize yourself
with new or SurfaceStudio-specific features.
1 Start your copy of SurfaceStudio.
2 Load the Lesson2surfs.wire file from the CourseWare

directory.
This gives you some geometry on which to try out the features
of SurfaceStudio.
3 Try the following topics:

◆ Changing the Point of Interest on page 51.
◆ Using the Viewing Panel on page 54.
◆ Turning Object Features On and Off on page 82.
◆ Diagnostic Shading on page 86.
Page Layout
The following illustration outlines the components of a typical page
in the Learning SurfaceStudio manual.

3
Page Layout
Major topic
(the large scale goal to
be accomplished)
Sub-topic
(a smaller part of the
major topic)
Description of task
(the purpose of this specific
set of instructions)
Instructions
Name of
lesson/chapter
Page
Name of topic number
on this page
Graphic Conventions
● When we want to highlight part of a screen shot, we draw a
thick line around it.
For example, the following illustrates the location of the close
box on a view window:
Highlight
● When we want to indicate a click, we use this symbol.

For example, the following illustrates clicking the Go button:
Click Symbol
● A variation of the click symbol represents dragging.
HowTo Use This Book

4
Graphic Conventions
For example, the following illustrates dragging a tool from a
tool palette:
Dragging Symbol
● In the beginning lessons, when we ask you to choose a tool, we

show the tool’s icon next to the instruction.
Terms
Click
Move the mouse pointer over an object and press a mouse
button once.
Double-click
Move the mouse pointer over an object and press a mouse
button twice fast.
Drag
Move the mouse pointer over an object and hold down a mouse
button. Then move the mouse with the button held down.
The Scene
The 3D “world” inside the view windows.
The Model
The curves, surfaces, and points that make up the object you are
creating.

5
Terms
HowTo Use This Book
6
Terms
1 Basics of the
SurfaceStudio Interface
Major topics Introduction

• Starting Before you begin working in SurfaceStudio, you should spend some
SurfaceStudio page 7. time learning how SurfaceStudio presents the model, and how you
use menus and tools to create and edit model data.
• Overview of the
SurfaceStudio Interface on In this tutorial, we will show you how to log into the system and
page 10 start SurfaceStudio, move and resize the view windows, select and
use tools, change your view of the model, and understand how
• Arranging SurfaceStudio represents the scene internally.
Windows page 12.
• Using Tools page 18.
• Changing Your View of the
Model page 45. Starting SurfaceStudio
• Understanding the Scene
Block Diagram page 60. Logging In
• Conclusion page 65.
If you have not logged in to your account on your workstation, do so
now.
Log in to your account:
● Type your user name and password at the prompts.

If you have an account on this workstation, the operating system
user environment will appear.
Running the Application
You can start SurfaceStudio two different ways: by double-clicking

its icon in an icon window, or by running it from a UNIX shell.
7
Run SurfaceStudio from the icon:
1 In the Toolchest menus in the top left corner of the screen, click
the Find menu title.
2 Click the Alias | Wavefront item.
The Icon Catalog window will open to show icons for all the
Alias|Wavefront products you have installed on your
workstation.
Double-click the SurfaceStudio icon.
The icon graphic changes to show the program is running.
Run SurfaceStudio from a shell:
1 Open a shell window.
Basics of the SurfaceStudio Interface

8
Starting SurfaceStudio
2 Type SurfaceStudio, then press Enter.
The application will print brief messages in the shell window as
it starts up.
The Start-up Process
SurfaceStudio shows the following splash window as it loads:
SurfaceStudio Splash Screen
During start-up, SurfaceStudio may warn you about unusual

conditions on your system:
● If you are already running SurfaceStudio (or if SurfaceStudio

exited abnormally the last time you ran it), the application will
ask you if you really want to start another copy.
If you are sure SurfaceStudio is not running, click Yes to

continue loading.
Once SurfaceStudio has finished loading its resources and plug-ins,

the workspace window opens.

9
Starting SurfaceStudio
Overview of the SurfaceStudio Interface
Menu Bar Control Panel
Window Area
Palette Shelves
The main parts of the StudioTools interface are:
● the Palette, located on the left
● the menu bar, located at the top
● the window area, taking up most of the interface and located in

the middle (this area may or may not contain view windows
when you first start StudioTools).
● Shelves, located at the bottom (the Shelves may or may not be

visible)
● the control panel, located on the right
As you continue through this tutorial you will become more and
more familiar with the StudioTools interface.

10
Using Help
One of the most important menus is the Help menu. The Help menu
is organized so that you can get quick and specific information on
just about any function in StudioTools.
Getting help on a tool or menu item
It’s easy to get help on any tool or menu item in the interface. Just
follow the steps below.
1 Click the Help menu,

located at the right
end of the menu bar.
2 In the Help menu,

click Help on function.
You are prompted
to select the
function for which
you want help. (This prompt appears in the promptline, located
just below the menu bar.)
3 Click a menu item or a tool icon in the Palette.

A browser window is launched and the on-line documentation
about that tool icon or menu item is displayed.
4 When you are finished reading the information, minimize or

close the browser window.

11
Arranging Windows
PerformingMenu Commands
Use the menus to choose a window layout:
1 Click the title of the Layouts menu to open the menu.
● Notice the arrow next to the All windows item. This means there
are more sub-options for this category:
2 Click the All windows item to open the sub-menu, then click the All
(Studio) item.
The All (Studio) command arranges view windows in the
“Studio” layout: top, back, side, and perspective.
“Studio” Window Layout

12
Arranging Windows
● These tutorials will sometimes refer to menu items by the path
through the menus to the item. So All (Studio) will be
Layouts > All windows > All (Studio).
● As an alternative to the single-click method, you can use the

pull-down menus by dragging the mouse down the menu and
releasing on the item you want.
Window Controls
Use these controls on the borders of view windows to move, close,

and resize the window:
Close box
Maximize box
Title bar
resize corners (4)
Window Controls
The view windows have more controls across the top, but for now
you will concentrate on the close box, title bar, maximize, and resize
corners. You will discover the functions of the other icons later in
the tutorials.
Closing Windows
Close the Top view using the close box:
● Find the close box in the upper left corner of the Top view
window.
Close Box

13
Arranging Windows
● Click the Top view window’s close box.
The Top view window disappears.
Resizing Windows
You can change the size of windows using the resize corners at each
corner.
Changing the size of the Side view window using the resize
corners and maximize box:
1 Find the resize corners in the corners of the Side view window.
resize corners
2 Drag a resize corner to change the size of the window. An

outline of the view window follows the mouse.

14
Arranging Windows
3 Release the mouse button. The corner of the window snaps to
the new size.
4 Try dragging the resize corners in the other corners to see how
they resize the window.
● Often you will want to work in one large window to see more
detail. You will use the maximize box to temporarily make the
Side view window fill the entire screen.
5 Find the maximize box in the upper right corner of the Side
view window.
Maximize Box
6 Click the maximize box of the Side view window

The side view expands to fill the entire screen.
Full-screen Side View Window
Notice that the maximize box changes to black to show the

window is maximized.

15
Arranging Windows
7 Click the maximize box again to return the Side view window to
normal size.
Moving Windows
Move and arrange the remaining windows:
1 Find the Side view window’s title bar.

The title bar is the area at the top of the window, between the
close box and the other icons on the right.
2 Drag the title bar. An outline of the view window follows the
mouse.
Dragging the Title Bar
3 Release the mouse button. The window snaps to the new

location.
● By now you probably have some view windows overlapping

other windows, similar to this:

16
Arranging Windows
The windows are like a stack of papers on a desk. As you shuffle
them, they can overlap.
2 3 3
1
2
1
3
2
1
Overlapping Windows
When windows overlap like this, you can click in a window to

move that window to the front of the stack.
4 Click the title bar of the Perspective view window to move it in

front of the other windows.

17
Arranging Windows
● The windows are probably a little disorganized at this point. You
can quickly reset them to a default layout using the commands
in the Layout menu again.
5 Choose Layouts > All windows > All (Studio).
The Active Window
Notice one of the view windows has a white border. This is how
SurfaceStudio indicates the active view window (sometimes also called
the current view window).
The active view window is always the last view window you clicked
in.
Some tools change behavior based on which view is active, but for
now you can disregard which view window is active.
Using Tools
To work on the model, you must first choose a tool. Although many
menu items affect the model, tools are your primary method of
creating and editing a model.

18
Using Tools
Tool Basics
Orient yourself in the Palette window:
1 Find the Palette window on the left side of the screen.

If the palette is not visible, go to the Windows menu and choose
Palette.
● The Palette window is divided into separate palettes of tools,

each labeled with a tab at the top.
For example, the Curves palette contains tools for creating new
curves. The Curve Edit palette contains tools for editing and
reshaping existing curves.
2 Find the Objects palette. It’s the fifth palette from the top of the
window.
● If you can’t see the Object palette, use the scroll bar on the left
side of the palette window to scroll up to the top.
3 Hold the cursor over a tool.

The name of the tool appears in a small box just below the icon.
This small text window is called a tooltip.
This feature can help you to identify tools until you become
familiar with the icons in the palette.
Note Once you are familiar with the icons in the palette, you may want
to disable tooltips. To do this, select the ToolTips option in the
Interface Options window (Preferences > Interface > Interface
options-❏).

19
Using Tools
Now you will use the geometric primitive tools to add some
geometry to the scene. The primitive tools create simple 3D
geometric shapes such as cubes, spheres, and cones.
As a technical surfacer, you may not regularly need to add these

simple shapes to a model. However, they will allow us to practice
several SurfaceStudio interface concepts, including choosing tools,
using manipulators, sub-palettes, tool option windows, and
snapping.
Create a primitive sphere in the scene:
1 Click the Objects > Primitives > Sphere tool.

A red outline appears around the icon to show it is the current
tool.
2 Click in the Top view window to place the new sphere.
A new sphere 1 grid unit wide appears where you release the
mouse button.
Using a Snap Mode
Use grid snapping to place a primitive cube:
● The Cube tool is located on a sub-palette of the Objects palette.
You may have noticed that some tools have a small yellow arrow
in the top right corner.
These arrows indicate that more, similar tools are available in a
hidden sub-palette. To access the extra tools, you must click and
hold the mouse to open the sub-palette.
1 In the Objects palette, click and hold the Sphere tool icon.

20
Using Tools
The Objects > Primitives sub-palette pops out.
Objects > Primitives Sub-palette
2 Hold the middle mouse button on the different tools in the sub-
palette to see their names.
3 Click the Cube tool.
● The sub-palette disappears. The Cube tool is selected and now

occupies the space in the main palette where the Sphere tool
was.
● This time you will place the new primitive using grid snapping.
4 Find the snap buttons, to the right of the promptline.
5 Click the Grid button to turn on grid snapping.
6 Click and drag in the Top view window.
The cube snaps to the grid intersections as you drag.
7 Place the cube at a grid point by releasing the mouse button.

21
Using Tools
8 Click the Grid snap button again to turn grid snapping off.
Note In addition to using the Grid button, you can grid snap by pressing
and holding the Alt button while you place a primitive.
Use the palette menu to select the Cone tool:
● This time we will show you an alternative method for choosing

tools from palettes.
9 Click the tab at the top of the Objects palette.
The palette collapses down to just the tab, and the other palettes
move up to fill the space.
● This feature is very useful for saving space in the palette

window and in shelves. You can still choose tools from the
palette using the palette’s menu.
10 Click the right mouse button on the Objects palette’s title tab to
open the palette’s menu.
11 Click the Primitives item to open the sub-menu.

Just like the menus at the top of the screen, arrows indicate that
an item in the palette menu has sub-items.
12 Click the Cone tool item.
● You have now seen two different ways to choose a tool from a
palette. From now on, we will ask you to choose tools by name,
such as:
“In the Objects palette, choose Primitives > Cone.”
Whenever you are asked to choose a tool, you can either click the
tool icon, or choose the tool from the palette menu.

22
Using Tools
13 Click in the Top view to place a cone in the scene.
14 Click the Object palette’s tab again to expand the Objects palette
back to normal.
Use tool options to add a half-cylinder:
1 With the right mouse button, click the title tab of the Objects
palette to open the palette menu, then open the Primitives sub-
menu.
● Notice that some items have shadowed boxes next to the name
of the item.
2 Click the shadowed box next to the Cylinder item.

23
Using Tools
3 The Cylinder options window appears.
The Cylinder Options Window
4 Double click in the text box labeled Sweep, then type 180 and
press Enter to set the sweep to 180 degrees.
5 Use the slider next to the Sections text box to set the sections to 4.
6 Click the Go button at the bottom of the window.
This button applies the settings in the window and activates the
tool.

24
Using Tools
7 Click in the Top view window to place the new half-cylinder in
the scene.
As you specified in the option window, the cylinder has a 180-
degree perimeter and is created from four sections (spans).
8 Look at the Cylinder tool icon. It has a small option box symbol in
the top left corner.
Like the symbol in the menu, this indicates the tool has options.
9 Double-click the Cylinder tool icon.

The Cylinder Options window appears.
10 Click Exit to close the options window.
Picking and Unpicking Objects
Picking refers to selecting objects in the scene for use with other
tools. For example, to move a CV, you must pick the CV, then use
the Move tool on the picked CV.
Picking objects in the scene is a fundamental part of modeling with

SurfaceStudio. Because it is so important, SurfaceStudio provides
several different tools for picking.
Pick all and pick nothing:
1 In the Pick palette, choose Object Types > All obj/lights.

All the objects in the scene highlight to show they are picked.

25
Using Tools
All Objects Picked
● Unlike most tools, the Pick > Object Types > All obj/lights tool does
not stay selected, since you never need to use it twice in a row.
When these types of tools finish, the current tool reverts to the
last tool you selected.
2 In the Pick palette, choose the Nothing tool.

The Pick > Nothing tool unpicks every object, leaving nothing
picked.
● Like the Pick > Object Types > All obj/lights tool, the Pick > Nothing
tool does not stay selected. The current tool reverts to the last
tool you used.
Use the Pick > Object tool to pick and unpick objects in the
scene:
1 Choose the Pick > Object tool.
2 Click the cone primitive in the view windows with the left
mouse button.

26
Using Tools
The cone highlights to show it is picked.
3 Click the other objects with the left mouse button. They become
picked also.
4 With all the objects picked, click one of the picked objects with
the left mouse button.
The object you clicked becomes unpicked.
● The left mouse button toggles objects between picked and

unpicked.

27
Using Tools
5 Now click one of the primitives with the middle mouse button.
The object you clicked is picked and the other objects are
unpicked.
● The middle mouse button picks only the object you click.
6 Click the picked primitive with the right mouse button.
The object is unpicked.
● The right mouse button unpicks objects. This is most useful with
pick boxes, as you will see in the next procedure.
Use pick boxes to pick and unpick several objects at once:
1 With the Pick > Object tool still selected, click one of the primitive
objects with the left mouse button.

28
Using Tools
2 Hold down the left mouse button and drag a box around all the
primitive objects.
Pick Box
All the objects inside the box toggle between picked and
unpicked.
3 Now drag a pick box with the middle mouse button around
some objects.

29
Using Tools
Now only the objects inside the box are picked.
4 Now drag a pick box with the right mouse button around some
of the picked objects.
Any objects inside the pick box are unpicked.
Pick by name:
1 Use the middle mouse button to pick only the sphere.
2 In the Windows menu, choose Information > Information window.

The Information window appears.

30
Using Tools
The information window allows you to adjust parameters for
objects in the scene.
3 Find the Name field. The name of the object should be sphere
or something similar.
4 Close the Information window.
5 Click in empty space with the middle mouse button.

All objects in the scene are unpicked.
● Remember, the middle mouse button picks only what you click.
If you pick “nothing” (empty space), then the tool acts just like if
you had chosen Pick > Nothing.
6 Type sphere, then press Enter. The text appears as you type in
the promptline at the top of the workspace window.
When you press Enter, the sphere is picked.
Shortcuts to Tools
The variety of tools available is the source of SurfaceStudio’s power,

but finding tools in the palette can potentially become time
consuming. You can make commonly used tools available more
quickly, and hide rarely used tools until you need them.
SurfaceStudio provides three solutions: shelves, marking menus,

and hotkeys.
Shelves are like the palettes, except you control the tools’ options and
their position on the shelves. You will use shelves to organize all
your commonly used tools.

31
Using Tools
Marking menus pop-up at the current mouse location. They provide a
very fast method to select the tools you use most often (such as Pick >
Object).
Hotkeys are special key combinations that perform common menu

commands or tool functions.
Creating Custom Shelves
Show and hide the shelf window:
1 In the Windows menu, choose Shelves.

The Shelves window appears.
● The Shelves window provides a floating window in which to

keep commonly used tools.
SurfaceStudio, however, provides another, even more
convenient location for shelves. In these tutorials, you will use
the shelf area in the control panel.
● Since you will not be using the Shelves window, you can close it.
2 Choose Windows > Shelves again to hide the Shelves window, or

click the Shelves window’s close button.
To help demonstrate making new shelves, you will clear the default
shelves and make new shelves specific to these tutorials.
Before you clear the default shelves, you will save them so you can
retrieve them later.
Save the initial shelf set:
1 In the Preferences menu, choose Interface > Tgl control panel. The
control panel will appear.
2 Hold the left mouse button on the Shelf Options menu button at
the top of the control panel’s shelf area to open the pop-up
menu.
3 Drag down to the Save item and release the mouse button.
A file requester appears.
4 Click in the File text field and type Default, then click Save
Shelf Set.

32
Using Tools
In the next procedure, you will start a new shelf of tools commonly
used in curve fitting in preparation for the lesson on fitting curves to
scan data.
Clear the existing shelf set and create a new one:
1 Hold the left mouse button on the menu button at the top of the
shelf area to open the pop-up menu. Notice how the menu
button is now called Default, after the name of the current shelf.
2 Choose New from the pop-up menu.

A requester appears asking for the name of the new shelf.
3 Click in the text box, hit the Esc key to clear the text, and type
CurveFit. Click OK to name the new shelf.
The old Shelf set is deleted and a new, empty shelf appears in
the shelf area.
● Now you can begin adding tools to the new shelf.
4 In the Palette window, find the Curves palette.
5 With the middle mouse button, drag the Fit Curve tool onto the
Curves shelf in the control panel.

33
Using Tools
The tool appears in the shelf.
● You could move the entire Curves palette onto the shelf by
dragging its title tab, but you only want a selection of tools from
the full palette.
Next, you will add curve drawing tools to the palette.
Since you will often need to create curves of different degree in

technical surfacing, it would be useful to have customized versions
of tools with different settings.
The shelf allows you to do this. When you drag a tool onto a shelf,
the new copy of the tool keeps the settings it had when it was
dropped on the shelf, independent of the original tool in the palette.
Using this technique, you will create several versions of the two
original curve creation tools, New curve (edit pts) and New curve (cvs).
Each version will have different settings for the Degree option.
Add versions of the New Curve tools to the shelf with different
options:
1 In the Curves palette, double-click New Curves > New Curve (edit
pts) to open the tool’s option window.
(Remember that you can also choose New Curve (edit pts) ❏ from
the palette menu).
The New Curve (edit pts) option window appears.

34
Using Tools
The options let you set the knot spacing (parameterization) and
degree of the new curve.
2 Make sure Knot Spacing is set to Uniform and Create Guidelines is

off.
3 Set the Degree option to 2.
4 Find the tool icon at the top of the option window.
Option Window Tool Icon
This icon represents the tool as configured with these settings.
5 Hold down the middle mouse button on the tool icon at the top
of the option box and drag it to the CurveFit shelf.

35
Using Tools
Now when you choose this icon in the shelf, the New Curve (edit
pts) tool will create degree 2 curves.
6 Back in the option window, set the Degree to 3.
7 Use the middle mouse button to drag the tool icon at the top of
the option window to the shelf.
Another copy of the tool is added to the shelf. When you choose
this copy of the tool, the New Curve (edit pts) tool will create
degree 3 curves.
8 Click Exit at the bottom of the option window to close the

window.
Rename the tools:
1 Move the mouse over the CurveFit shelf’s title tab and press the
right mouse button to show the shelf’s menu.

36
Using Tools
● Note that the two versions of the tool have the exact same name
and icon.
To be able to distinguish between the tools, you will rename
them.
2 Find the first version of New Curve (edit pts) you dragged to the
shelf.
If you can’t remember which is which, double-click the two
icons to see their option windows. You want the version with
the Degree option set to 2.
3 Hold down the Ctrl key and double-click the tool icon.
A name requester appears.
4 Double-click in the text box and type Edit_pt_Deg_2, then

click OK to rename the tool.
5 Hold down the Ctrl key and double-click the second copy of the
New Curve (edit pts) tool.
6 Double-click in the text box and type Edit_pt_Deg_3, then

click OK to rename the tool.
7 Hold down the right mouse button on the title tab of the shelf to
open the shelf menu.
The two copies of the tool are now distinguishable in the menu.

37
Using Tools
● The two copies of the tool still have identical icons.
If you prefer to select tools using icons, you may want to edit the
icon images to help distinguish copies of a tool.
We recommend you keep the shelves collapsed and use the shelf
menus to select tools. This saves space in the shelf, and means
you will not have to edit the icons.
You will not edit icons in this lesson. If you want to edit the icons
(for example, to add a “2” and “3” to the icons for Edit_pt_deg_2
and Edit_pt_deg_3), hold down the Alt key and double-click the
tool. The XPaint utility starts with the tool image loaded.
The XPaint utility is not supported by Alias|Wavefront. Please
read the program’s online help for information about it.
Remove a tool from the shelf:
1 Add another tool to the CurveFit shelf.

Let’s now assume that this was a mistake and you wish to
remove the tool.
2 Hold the middle mouse button over the tool’s icon in the shelf.
The name of the tool appears.
3 With the middle mouse button held down, drag the label to the
upper-right corner of the window and position the cursor over
the trashcan icon.
Shelf Trashcan

38
Using Tools
4 Release the mouse button. The tool disappears from the shelf.
You can also delete groups of tools by dragging a tab with the
middle mouse to the trashcan.
You may have noticed that icons are a bit crowded on the shelf. The
large icons are good when you are learning which icon is which, but
now you will switch to the small icon size to save space in the shelf.
Change to the small icon size:
1 In the Preferences menu, open the Interface sub-menu and choose

Interface options-❏. The Interface option window appears.
2 Set the Icon Mode to Small.

If you wish, you can also turn the Show Icon Labels option on to
display name labels on all the icons.
3 Click the Go button at the bottom of the window to apply the

changes.

39
Using Tools
SurfaceStudio loads smaller versions of all the tool icons.
You have seen how to create shelves with customized tools. In later
lessons you will load pre-made shelves containing all the tools you
need to complete the tutorials.
Using and Customizing Marking Menus
An even faster method for selecting tools are the marking menus.
Marking menus generally hold fewer tools than a shelf, but are much
faster since you can use quick gestures to select tools. With practice,
selecting tools with marking menus becomes almost instantaneous.
Use the marking menus to choose common tools:
1 Hold down the Shift and Ctrl keys.
2 With the keys held down, press and hold the left mouse button.
The left mouse button marking menu appears at the location of

the mouse pointer.
3 Keep the left mouse button held down and drag down until the
Pick > Object box is highlighted.
A thick black line shows the direction of the mouse pointer.
4 Release the mouse button to select the highlighted tool.

The Pick > Object tool is now the current tool.
5 Hold Shift and Ctrl with the middle and then with the right
mouse buttons to see the other marking menus.
Each mouse button has a separate marking menu.

40
Using Tools
Middle
mouse
button
Right
mouse
button
● Once you have learned which direction corresponds to which

tool in a marking menu, you can use a quick gesture to select the
tool.
6 Hold the Shift and Ctrl keys, then drag up and release the mouse
button quickly.
The black line shows the direction but the menu is not drawn.
When you release the mouse button, the marking menu flashes
the name of the selected tool on the screen.
You have just selected Pick > Nothing.
● Use this method to select tools even faster once you have
mastered the positions of the tools on the menu.
Learn which tools are on the marking menus, and use the marking
menus whenever you need to select one of those tools. The more
you use them, the faster you will become, until you can select tools
with quick gestures.
Customize a marking menu with common tools:

Marking menus.
The MarkingMenus shelf window appears.

41
Using Tools
This is a special shelf window. The tools and menu items on the
different tabs appear in corresponding marking menus.
Middle
Right
● The procedure to modify the content of marking menus is

similar to the one for modifying shelves that we learned earlier.
Here you will make a small modification to the Pick marking
menu shelf.
2 Double click the Pick > Pick locator point tool in the Palette or
Control Panel to open the Pick Locator Options box.
3 Hold down the middle mouse button and drag the tool icon
from the top of the option box and drop it between the third and
fourth last icons on the shelf.

42
Using Tools
You now have a tool on the marking menu to pick locators.
4 Hold down Shift and Alt keys and press the left mouse button to
show the marking menu again.
The tool you just added is called Pick > Pick_locator in the
marking menu. You will change the name to something more
concise.
5 In the MarkingMenu shelf window, hold down the Ctrl key and
double-click the Pick locator tool in the shelf (second from the
right).
A dialog box appears.

43
Using Tools
6 Type Pick_Locator in the text field and click OK to rename the tool
in the marking menu.
7 Show the left mouse button marking menu again.
You now know how to customize the marking menus. In later

lessons, you will load pre-made marking menus with common
surfacing tools.
Hotkeys
Hotkeys are special key combinations that select tools or perform

menu commands. You can get a complete listing of all the hotkeys in
the hotkey editor.

Hotkeys / Menus.
The hotkey editor appears.
● SurfaceStudio’s option windows use a hierarchy similar to that

of the file lister: options are organized into hierarchical sections
that can be collapsed and expanded.
2 In the menu section, click the Layouts sub-section title to expand

it.

44
Using Tools
Click to Open a Section Heading
You can see the hotkey for the User windows item, as well as text
fields for defining other hotkeys.
● You can define your own hotkeys if you wish. For the most part
we will not use hotkeys in these lessons.
If you are new to Alias|Wavefront Studio products, we
recommend that you spend some time working with the
product before you define hotkeys, so you can learn which
commands you use frequently enough to need a hotkey.
3 Click the close box to close the hotkey editor.
Changing Your View of the Model

Before you start working with the model, you must learn how
SurfaceStudio represents the 3D model on your 2D monitor, and
how to use the view controls to get the best possible angle on the
model for the task at hand.
First, a short discussion of the different types of view controls.
Tracking, Dollying, and Tumbling the Camera
There are many different ways to move the camera in SurfaceStudio.

45
In general, you will only need to learn three camera moves to model
effectively: tumble, dolly, and track.
Track Tumble Dolly

up tilt
in
left out
right
down rotate
Common Camera Moves
Because these camera movements are so common, SurfaceStudio

uses special hotkey/mouse combinations to let you access these
movements quickly.
Use the camera move mode to move the camera in a

perspective window:
1 Hold down the Shift and Alt keys.

Keep the keys held down during the following steps.
2 Make sure the mouse pointer is over the perspective view

window.
3 Drag the left mouse button to tumble the camera:

◆ Drag left and right to rotate the camera.
◆ Drag up and down to tilt the camera.

46
Tumbling the camera changes the azimuth and elevation angles of
the camera.
4 Release the left mouse button, but keep the Shift and Alt keys
held down.
5 Drag the right mouse button to dolly the camera in and out.
Dollying moves the camera forward and backward.
6 Again, release the right mouse button, but keep the Shift and Alt
keys held down.
7 Drag the middle mouse button to track the camera.

47
Tracking moves the camera, but does not change the direction in
which the camera is pointing.
8 When you are done moving the camera, release the mouse
button and the Shift and Alt keys to exit camera move mode.
Now, try moving the camera in the orthographic windows.
Use the camera move keys to move the camera in an

orthographic window:
1 Hold Shift and Alt to enter camera move mode.
2 Make sure the pointer is over an orthographic window such as

Top, Side, or Back.
3 Drag the right mouse button to dolly in and out.

48
4 Drag the middle mouse button to track up, down, left and right.
5 Now try dragging the left mouse button to tumble the

orthographic view.
● Nothing happens. You cannot change the view direction of

orthographic windows. They always look in the same direction.
Moving the camera is a very important skill in SurfaceStudio.

Throughout this book you will need to move the camera to work
with geometry.
Using the camera move mode soon becomes second nature. With
practice, you will be able to move the camera where you need it
without thinking about the keys or the mouse.
Practice tumbling, tracking, and dollying the camera around the

model some more before you move on.
Use Look At to center on an object:
1 Use the marking menus to choose the Pick > Nothing tool.

49
Remember that the left mouse button marking menu has the
pick tools.
2 Now use the marking menus to choose the Pick > Object tool.
3 Pick one of the geometric objects you created earlier.
4 Find the Cameras palette. It’s near the bottom of the Palette
window.
5 Choose the Look at tool.

The active view window (the window with the white outline)
changes to center on the picked object.
6 Pick nothing.
7 Use the Look at tool again.

The active view changes to center on all the existing geometry.

50
When you use Look at with nothing or everything picked, the
view will center on all the geometry in the scene.
Look at is most useful to quickly find geometry that is outside the

view of a window or too far to be seen clearly.
SurfaceStudio provides two additional tools to make it easier to

move the camera around a model quickly: the “point of interest”,
and the viewing panel.
Changing the Point of Interest
Normally, camera move mode (Shift+Alt) is calibrated to best view

objects at the origin (the center of world space, coordinate 0,0,0).
This can become awkward when you want to move the camera
around objects away from the origin.
The point of interest manipulator lets you center the camera

movements on a point on the model.
Use the point of interest manipulator:
● First, make sure the point of interest manipulator is turned on.
1 In the Preferences menu, open the Interface sub-menu, then

choose Interface options-❏.
The Interface Options window appears.

51
2 Turn on the Point of Interest Viewing option.
3 Click Go to close the window and use the new settings.
4 Move the mouse pointer over the Perspective view and hold
down the Shift and Alt keys to enter camera move mode.
Keep the keys held down for the rest of this procedure.
5 Position the mouse pointer on the wireframe of one of the

primitive objects and drag with the left mouse button.
Point of Interest Manipulator
The point of interest manipulator appears on the model where

you pressed the mouse button.
6 Drag with the left mouse button to tumble. The view tumbles
around the point of interest.

52
7 Click another point on one of the primitive objects.
The point of interest manipulator jumps to the new point.
8 Drag the circle at the center of the point of interest manipulator.

The manipulator moves across the surface of the object.
9 Notice the long light blue or yellow arrow extending from the
center of the manipulator. This arrow indicates the normal at
this point on the surface.
The arrow is light blue when it is pointing toward you and
yellow when it is pointing away.
10 Click the long light blue or yellow arrow.

The view changes to look at the point down the normal.
Looking Down the Normal
11 Now look for the shorter red, green, and dark blue arrows
extending from the center of the manipulator (tumble the view
to show the arrows more clearly if necessary).
These arrows represent the local axis directions for the object.
12 Click the red arrow.

The view changes to look at the point down the X axis.

53
Looking Down the X-axis
Use the following overview illustration as a reminder of the different

controls on the point of interest manipulator.
Click an axis arrow to look at the

point along an axis direction
Click the light blue/yellow arrow to look
down the normal at this point
Drag the circle to move the point
of interest along or across the
object
Point of Interest Manipulator Overview
Using the Viewing Panel
You have probably already seen the viewing panel appear when you
enter camera move mode in the Perspective window. This window
lets you quickly switch the Perspective window to a default or user-
defined view of the model.
As you work on the model, you will probably find yourself changing
the camera view back and forth between two or more areas of
interest. The viewing panel lets you “bookmark” views of the model
and return to those views by clicking the name of the bookmark.

54
Use the viewing panel to move between different views:
1 Click the maximize box in the upper right corner of the

Perspective view window.
The Perspective view window enlarges to full screen.
2 Hold down the Shift and Alt keys to enter camera move mode.
Keep the keys held down for the rest of this procedure.
The viewing panel appears in the upper left corner of the

Perspective window.
● The images at the center of the panel (small icons of the top and
bottom of a car) represent the model.
3 Click an arrow to view the model from one of eight different

directions.
The horizontal and vertical arrows represent front, side, and
back views. The diagonal arrows represent three-quarter views.
4 Click the left image at the center to see a top view.

55
5 Click the white arrow near the bottom of the viewing panel to
return to the view previous to your last camera move.
6 Click the Viewing Panel section heading at the top of the panel to
collapse the entire panel into a small heading.
Use this technique to get the viewing panel out of the way when
you want as much viewing area as possible.
7 Click the Viewing Panel heading again to expand the panel.
8 Click the Point of Interest section heading to open it.

Options related to the point of interest manipulator appear.
9 Turn off the Visible checkbox to hide the point of interest

manipulator.
Turn the Visible checkbox on to show the manipulator again.
10 Turn on the Locked checkbox to keep the point of interest

manipulator locked at its current position.
The manipulator will not move when you click at another point
or drag its center handle. Use this option if you find that you are
moving the manipulator unintentionally.
Turn the Locked checkbox off to free the manipulator.

56
11 Turn off the Perspective checkbox.
The perspective view changes to an isographic projection.
Isographic View
● Many people find an isographic view easier for technical

modeling, since parallel lines in the model remain parallel in the
view window.
For the remainder of the tutorials, the screen shots will show
isographic views. However, feel free to turn the Perspective
checkbox back on if you prefer a perspective view.
Set and show bookmarks:
1 Move the mouse pointer over the Perspective view and hold
down the Shift and Alt keys to enter camera move mode.
Keep the Shift and Alt keys held down.
2 Find the Bookmarks section at the bottom of the Viewing Panel

If it is not visible, click on the tag in the bottom right corner of
the viewing panel. It will turn white and the bookmarks section
will appear.
3 Click the new button in the bookmarks section.

57
A new bookmark appears at the bottom of the section.
4 Move the camera to a new view on the model.
5 Click the new button again.

A second bookmark appears in the bookmark list.
6 Click the label for the first bookmark, then the second.
The view switches back and forth between the two bookmarked
views.
● To be able to distinguish between bookmarks later, you should

rename them now.
7 Click the edit button in the Bookmarks section.

The Bookmarks window appears.
8 Release the Shift and Alt keys.
9 Double-click the name of the first bookmark.

The entry turns into an editable text field.

58
10 Type a new name for the bookmark, then press Enter.
For production work you should use meaningful names such as

“back panel” or “door handle”.
11 Double-click and rename the other bookmark.
12 Note the buttons at the bottom of the window:

◆ The New button adds a bookmark of the current view. This
is the same as clicking new in the viewing panel.
◆ The Apply button changes the view to the highlighted
bookmark. This is the same as clicking a bookmark in the
viewing panel.
◆ The Delete button removes a bookmark from the list.
13 Close the Bookmarks window.
14 Hold the Shift and Alt keys in the Perspective window to show
the viewing panel.
Notice your new names in the Bookmarks section.
Use the following overview illustration as a reminder of the

different controls on the viewing panel.

59
Open/close the
viewing panel
Open/close the
P.O.I. section
Hide/show
Lock the position the P.O.I.
of the P.O.I manipulator
View the model
View the model from the top or
side-on from a bottom
reset direction Perspective or
isographic view
Return to Open/close
previous view bookmarks section
Go to book- Add/edit
marked tool bookmarks
Viewing Panel Overview
Understanding the Scene Block

Diagram
SurfaceStudio keeps track of every aspect of the scene in a data
structure equivalent to a graph. Curves, surfaces, groupings,
transformations, components, lights, and everything else in the
scene is represented by nodes in the graph. This graph is called the
Scene Block Diagram.
You may need to view the Scene Block Diagram (SBD) in certain
circumstances:
● In complex or crowded scenes, it can be easier to pick objects in

the SBD window than in a view window.
● The SBD shows important information that has no visual

equivalent in the view windows, such as how the components
and objects are grouped together.
● The SBD lets you confirm the effects of tools and menu items on
the internal structure of the scene to help diagnose problems.

60
Understanding the Scene Block Diagram
Types of Nodes
The type of graph used by SurfaceStudio is a directed acyclic graph, or

DAG. The nodes of the graph are sometimes called DAG nodes.
● Positioning node: the brown positioning nodes contain the

transformations applied to the geometry nodes below it in the
graph.
● Geometry node: the blue geometry nodes contain the internal

structure of a piece of geometry (edit points, CVs, and so on).
Different types of geometry are indicated by different icons in
the blocks.
Target surface
Curve Surface Curve on Trim surface

surface
Geometry Node Icons
Node States
● Grouped: you can group several objects together. In the graph,

this is represented by putting the objects under a new, higher
positioning node.
Grouped Nodes

61
● Instanced: you can duplicate an object as an “instance”. Instead of
a new object, an instance is just a pointer to existing geometry.
● Compressed: as the SBD window becomes more busy, you may

want to collapse a part of the graph into a single node. The node
below which other nodes are hidden looks like this.
● Invisible: you can make objects in the scene invisible. Nodes for
invisible objects look like this.
● Templated: you can “template” objects in the scene so that they

are still visible, but cannot be transformed or picked. Nodes for
templated objects look like this.
The SBD window
View and pick using the SBD window:
1 In the Windows menu, choose SBD.

The SBD window appears.
The graph in the window is the diagram of the graph for the
current scene.
2 Hold down the Shift and Alt keys, and use the middle and right
mouse buttons to track and dolly through the graph.
The camera move tools work in the SBD window just like they
do in an orthographic window.
3 Dolly into the graph close enough to see text on the nodes.

62
DAG Nodes with Labels Visible
The nodes are labelled with their names and icons showing
their types.
4 Choose Pick > Object from the Pick palette and click a geometry
node in the SBD window.
The corresponding object in the scene becomes picked.
Pick > Object and Pick > Component
The SBD window shows the difference between the Pick > Object and
Pick > Component tools.
Pick using Pick > Object and Pick > Component:
1 Pick nothing.
2 Track and dolly the SBD window to center on the graph

representation of the cube.
● You can see that the cube is constructed from six planes which
are grouped together.
3 Choose Pick > Object and pick the cube in a view window.
● In the SBD window, you can see that the grouping node is
picked.

63
4 Choose Pick > Component.
5 Find the component filter buttons to the left of the promptline.

These buttons appear when the Pick > Component tool is active.
Curves Shells
Sections
Surfaces Others
Construction
Objects
Component Filter Buttons
6 Make sure that the Surfaces button is pushed in.
7 Click the cube.
● Since you must click on an edge, which is shared by two sides, a

small box appears under the mouse pointer with the name of
both sides. Click the name you want.
● The Pick > Component tool only picks one side of the cube.
In the SBD window, you can see that instead of picking the entire
group, the Pick > Component tool picked one of the sub-nodes.

64
8 Click the close button on the SBD window.
Conclusion
You now know how to:
● Log into the system and start SurfaceStudio.
● Arrange windows.
● Use tools and tool options.
● Customize shelves and marking menus.
● Tumble, track, and dolly the view.
● Use the SBD window to understand the internal representation

of the model.

65
Conclusion
66
Conclusion
2 Loading and Organizing
Data
Major topics Introduction

• Opening the Lesson To work with saved data, you must first load it into SurfaceStudio.
File page 67. After you open the data you can organize it into layers, allowing you
to manage it more efficiently.
• Organizing the Scan
Data page 73. In this lesson, we will show you how to work with SurfaceStudio
files, open and import data, organize scan data, and toggle surface
• Saving Your Work page 80.
features and controls on and off.
• Importing Additional
Geometry page 80. We will also give you an introduction to the evaluation shading
options and construction tolerances.
• Turning Object Features On
and Off page 82.
• Diagnostic
Shading page 86. Opening the Lesson File
• Setting SurfaceStudio
Now you will load sample scan data from disk. This will
Options page 90.
demonstrate how SurfaceStudio organizes files into projects.
Organizing your files into projects and directories helps you manage
your work efficiently. Keeping an organized file system ensures that
you do not misplace important data, and makes the archiving
process simpler.
File Organization
When you first set up your user account for use with SurfaceStudio,
a directory is created in your home directory called user_data. By
default, this is where SurfaceStudio stores your files.
Inside the user_data directory you will find directories for projects.
Project directories allow you to organize all the files associated with
a job. Each project directory contains sub-directories for the different
67
types of data, including wire files, cloud data, and pix format
images.
The wire directory is used to store wire files. These are the files
created when you save a model in SurfaceStudio. These files contain
all the information about that model.
The initial set-up creates a project called demo. Until you create a
new project, this is the default project.
The user_data directory may also contains a directory called

CourseWare_SurfaceStudio. This is where you will find the
example files for use in these tutorials. If your user_data directory
does not have a CourseWare_SurfaceStudio sub-directory, you
must install it from the SurfaceStudio CD.
~ (home directory or ALIAS_WORKENV)
user_data
demo (the default project directory)
wire
cloud
misc_data
.
CourseWare_SurfaceStudio
(files for tutorials)
.
The sample file you will load contains scan data for a center console
from an automotive interior.
Loading and Organizing Data

68
Opening the Lesson File
Center Console Scan Lines
Opening a Wire File
Use the Open command to load a model from disk:
1 In the File menu, choose Open.

The file requester appears.
This small window lets you open a file quickly if you already
know the exact path and filename. For most file operations,
however, you will use the file lister.
2 Click the Show List button.
The file requester expands to fill the screen and lists files
graphically.
You are currently in the wire directory of the demo project
directory. This is the default location for storing wire files until
you set up a new project.
You need to get to the CourseWare_SurfaceStudio
directory to load the example wire file for this lesson.

69
3 Click the button in the upper-left corner of the file display,
labeled with a white arrow pointing up and left (next to the
name of the current directory).
This button takes you to the parent directory of the current
directory. That is, the next directory up in the hierarchy.
4 Click the parent button next to the name demo to go up another

level to the user_data directory.
5 Click the name of the CourseWare_SurfaceStudio directory

to highlight it.
If you look at this illustration of the directory hierarchy, you can

see how you got to the CourseWare_SurfaceStudio directory.

70
~ (your home directory)
user_data
demo (the default project dir.)
wire
cloud
misc_data
.
CourseWare_SurfaceStudio
(files for tutorials)
wire
Path to the CourseWare directory
6 With the CourseWare_SurfaceStudio directory highlighted

in white, find the Project menu button in the bottom right of the
file lister.
7 Hold the mouse button on Project to open the menu. Then drag
up to the Set Current item and release the mouse button to select
it.
This changes the current project from demo to
CourseWare_SurfaceStudio. Now the file lister will start in
the CourseWare_SurfaceStudio directory until you set
another project.
8 Click the arrow pointing down, next to the name of the wire
directory.
The wire directory expands to show icons for the contents.
Contents of the CourseWare/wire directory

71
9 Click the icon labeled Lesson2.wire.
Lesson2.wire highlighted
10 Click the Open button at the bottom of the screen.
(As a shortcut, you can also double-click the icon to

automatically open it).
● SurfaceStudio asks you if you want to delete everything in your

model before loading the file.
11 Since you don’t care if you delete the simple geometric

primitives you created earlier, click Yes.
● SurfaceStudio loads the file.
● If you were to answer No to this request, SurfaceStudio would

keep the existing model and load the new file into a new stage.
Stages are a method of organizing model data in different files.
You will not use stages in this tutorials, but you can read more
about them in the Basic Tools manual.
12 SurfaceStudio prints Retrieving wire file

“Lesson2.wire” in the promptline and loads the file.

72
Organizing the Scan Data
To make the scan data easier to use, you will organize it into layers,
assign colors to the different types of scan lines, and change the line
style to help distinguish scan lines from construction curves.
(Note that if your scan data comes from EvalViewer, much of this
work will already have been done within that application).
Assign the X scan lines to a layer:
1 Choose the Pick > Object tool.
● You want to pick all the X scan lines so that you can put them in
their own layer.
You can’t use a pick box, because it would probably pick several
other types of scan lines also.
You could pick each X scan line one at a time, but fortunately
there’s an easier way.
2 Pick one of the X scan lines in the top window.

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3 Click in the name field of the control panel.
● The name field is a text field just below the Shelf Options section
in the control panel on the right-hand side of your screen.
This field shows the name of the currently picked object, and
allows you to change it.
4 Scroll through the field and see if you can find part of the name
that indicates this is an X section.
5 Click with the middle mouse button in the top window to pick
other X scan lines. Check to see if the same identifying text is in
their names also.
● When scanners save scan data, they sometimes give the resulting
scan lines names that indicate their scanning direction and
number.
In this case, all the X scan lines have the text xsec in their
names. Because of this, you can pick all the X scans at once using
special characters called wildcards.
SurfaceStudio has two wildcards. The asterisk (*) matches any
stretch of text. A question mark (?) matches any single character.
6 Pick nothing.

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Picking by name is the same as picking with the left mouse
button: it toggles the object between picked and unpicked. So
you need to pick nothing for a “clean slate” before you pick by
name.
7 Move the mouse pointer over the view windows and type
*xsec*, then press Enter.
The asterisk wildcards match the parts of the names before and
after the xsec text, so every object with xsec in its name
becomes picked.
8 In the Layers menu, choose New.
A new layer named L1 appears on the layer bar.
9 Double click the L1 layer button.
The button turns into an editable text field, allowing you to edit
the name of the layer.
10 Type X Sections and press Enter.
11 Hold the left mouse button on the X Sections layer button to

open the layer’s pop-up menu.
12 Choose Assign to put all the picked objects in this layer.

The only visible sign that something has happened is that the
scan lines become unpicked. However, all the scan lines that
were selected are now assigned to the X Sections layer.

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● You want to display the different types of scan lines in different
colors to more easily distinguish them.
Since red is the color used in the interface for X, you will display
objects in the X Sections layer in dark red.
13 Hold the left mouse button on the small color chip on the right
side of the X Sections layer button.
The layer’s color menu appears.
14 Drag to the dark maroon color (first from the left on the bottom
row) and release the mouse button to select it.
All the objects in the layer are displayed in the new color.
● Now you want to get the X scan lines out of the way to make it
easier to pick the other geometry.
15 Hold the left mouse button on the X Sections layer button to

open the layer’s pop-up menu.

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16 In the Set State sub-menu, choose Inactive.
The objects in the layer turn light blue to indicate they are
inactive.
The inactive state is similar to templated, except that the
geometry is visible only: you cannot pick or snap to it.
Assign the other scan lines to layers:
1 Pick all the Y scan lines.

You can do this by typing *ysec* in the promptline.
2 Create a new layer and rename it to Y Sections.
3 Assign the picked geometry to the layer.
4 Change the layer color to dark green (third from the left on the
bottom row of the color menu).

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5 Set the state of the Y sections layer to Inactive.
6 Use a pick box to pick all the remaining cross section curves.
7 Create a new layer and rename it Z Sections.
8 Assign the geometry to the layer.
9 Change the layer color to dark blue (the first color from the left
on the top row).
When fitting curves, you will create construction curves directly on

top of the section scan lines. You can use a different line style to make
it easier to tell the construction curves from the scans.
Change the line style of the scan lines:
1 Use the layer button pop-up menus to set the state of the three
section layers to Pickable.
2 Pick all the scan lines.
3 In the ObjectDisplay menu, choose Line style-❏.

The Line Style option window appears.

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4 Make sure the Objects option is set to Active, and set the Display
Type option to Dashed.
5 Click Go to close the window and make the change.

The scan lines are now drawn with dashed lines.
6 You are done with the scan lines for this lesson. Set the state of
the three section layers to Inactive.
Next you will import some surfaces on top of the scan data. You will
use the surfaces to demonstrate principles of editing and
transforming objects in the scene.

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Saving Your Work
Now is a good time to save your work.
Save the file:
1 In the File menu, choose Save As.

A file requester appears.
● You don’t want to save this file into the

CourseWare_SurfaceStudio directory: you should keep
that directory “clean”.
Instead, you will save the file to the demo project in your home
user_data directory.
2 In the Path field, type

~/user_data/demo/wire/
SurfaceStudio expands the ~ character into the true path of your
home directory.
3 In the File field, type L2complete.wire.
4 Click Save Wire to save the file.
Tips for Saving
● Save often!
● Save at checkpoints. Whenever you make a design decision, save

a version of the file so you can return to that point later if you
want to go in a different direction.
● Use filename extensions to distinguish different types of files.

For example, add “.wire” to the filenames of wire files, and
“.pix” to the filenames of PIX format image files.
Importing Additional Geometry

To demonstrate tools and controls related to surfaces, you will add
previously prepared surfaces to the scan line data. These surfaces are

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Saving Your Work
stored in a separate file in the CourseWare_SurfaceStudio
directory.
You have seen that File > Open replaces the current scene with the
contents of the opened file. What you want to do now is add the
contents of a file to the current scene.
The File > Import > File command lets you load data from a file
without replacing the model you are working on.
Use the Import command to add the contents of a file to the

scene:
1 In the File menu, choose Import > File ❏.

The option window for the File > Import > File command opens.
The options let you change how the new file will be imported.
2 Make sure all the options in the Wire Options section are set to
ON.
3 Click the Import File button at the bottom of the window.

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Importing Additional Geometry
● The file lister appears.
This file lister is exactly the same as the one you used to open the
scan line data file.
4 Double-click the icon labelled Lesson2surfs.wire to load the

file.
5 SurfaceStudio prints Retrieving wire file

“Lesson2surfs.wire” in the promptline and loads the
surfaces in the file.
When SurfaceStudio finishes loading the file, the surfaces
contained in the file appear in the view windows with the scan
data you originally opened.
Turning Object Features On and Off

Turn surface features on and off using the control panel:
1 Choose Pick > Object.
2 Pick all the surfaces.

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3 Find the Display section of the control panel.
4 Click the plus button labeled Cv/Hull.
The CVs and hulls of the selected surfaces appear.
5 Click the minus button for Cv/Hull.

The CVs and hulls disappear.
● The plus buttons turn a certain feature on for all the picked
objects. The minus buttons turn the feature off for all the picked
objects.
6 Click the minus buttons for Iso U and Iso V.

The interior isoparms disappear from surfaces with multiple
spans, leaving only the surface edges.

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7 Click the plus buttons for Iso U and Iso V to turn interior
isoparms on again.
8 Click the plus button for Curvat U.

After a short delay, U curvature comb locators appear on the
selected surfaces.
9 Click the minus button for Curvat U to turn the locators off.
10 Pick nothing.
Show dynamic cross sections with curvature:
1 Pick only the top primary surface.
1 Click the plus button labeled Cross Sections: X.

After a short delay, X cross sections appear on the surface.

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2 Click the plus button for Curvature on sections: X, located below
the Cross Sections buttons in the control panel.
Curvature comb locators appear on the cross sections.
● The initial size of the combs may be too small to see at this
distance, so you will increase their scale.
3 Click the Curvature tool at the bottom of the control panel.

A new section of curvature options appears in the control panel.
4 Increase the scale to around 5 to show the curvature combs

more clearly.
5 Click the plus sign for Cv/Hull to turn on the CVs and hulls of the
surface.
6 Choose the Pick > Point Types > CV tool.
7 Pick one of the CVs of the surface.

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8 Choose the Xform > Move tool.
9 Press the right mouse button and drag the mouse up to move the
CV.
The cross sections and curvature combs update interactively as
you move the CV.
10 In the Edit menu, choose Undo to return the CV to its previous

position.
11 Choose the Pick > Object tool and pick the top slab surface again.
12 Click the minus buttons for Cross Sections: X and Cv/Hull.

The cross sections, curvature combs, CVs, and hulls disappear.
13 Pick nothing.
Diagnostic Shading
Now you will take a quick tour of the evaluation shading options
available in SurfaceStudio.

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Diagnostic Shading
Check the model using the different shading options:
1 For each of the X, Y, and Z Sections layers, open the layer

button’s pop-up menu and turn the Visible item off.
The layer buttons are drawn with a dashed outline to show that
the objects in the layer are invisible.
Invisible Layers
2 Find the Diagnostic Shading section of the control panel.
3 Click the single color shading button (the second button from
the left on the top row).
The model is shaded using a single color.
Single Color Shading
4 Tumble around the model to see the highlight move across the
surface.
5 Click the small arrow under the shading buttons.

The shading options section appears.
6 Move the Transparency slider until the number in the text field
reads about 0.7.
The shaded surfaces becomes 70% transparent.
7 Tumble around the model.

Transparency allows you pick geometry through obscuring
surfaces and visualize the entire model even while shaded.

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Diagnostic Shading
Surfaces can be shaded partially transparent
8 Repeat the process for each of the shading buttons: click the
shading button, move the camera around the model to see its
effects.
◆ Random color shading gives each surface a random color.

This clearly shows the different surfaces used in the model.
Random Color Shading
◆ Curvature map shading shows the curvature values on the

surfaces as colors.
Curvature Map Shading
◆ IsoAngle shading displays single (black and white) or

multiple (color) shaded isoangle lines or isoangle curves-on-
surface on selected surfaces to help you visually evaluate

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Diagnostic Shading
continuity across surface boundaries. In the real world, this
tool is equivalent to moving a linear light source across
surfaces to detect discontinuities or pooling effects
◆ Vertical zebra stripe shading reflects black and white stripes

onto the surfaces. This helps show the smoothness and
imperfections of the surface as well as aid in viewing the
curvature continuity of surfaces as you tumble around the
model.
Zebra Stripe Shading
◆ Reflection map shading reflects a complex color image onto

the surfaces. This helps show the shape of surfaces as you
tumble around the model.
Reflection Map Shading
◆ The second reflection map shading button has an option to

load your own custom image file as a reflection map.
◆ When you are done, click the wireframe button to turn off
shading (the left button on the top row).

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Diagnostic Shading
Setting SurfaceStudio Options
Before you begin production work with SurfaceStudio, you need to
set the tolerances to match those of the CAD package you will be
exporting to.
Set the construction options:
1 In the Preferences menu, choose Construction options....

The Construction Options window appears.
● This window lets you set the different modeling tolerances. If

you will export your data to one of the CAD packages listed in
the Construction Presets section, simply click the name of the
CAD package and SurfaceStudio will automatically set the
tolerances appropriate to that software.

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Setting SurfaceStudio Options
2 In the Construction Presets section, click General CAD Settings.
These are tolerances commonly used in CAD packages.
3 Close the Construction options... window.
● Now you need to save these settings.
4 In the Preferences menu, choose User options > Save options.
5 In the File text field, enter SurfaceStudio_user_options.
6 Click Save Options to save your current settings as the default.
Conclusion
● Work with SurfaceStudio projects and file management.
● Open a file containing scanned section data.
● Organize the X, Y, and Z scan data into layers.
● Import surfaces into the scene from a file.
● Turn on and off object features such as CVs, hulls, isoparms, and
curvature combs.
● Use the evaluation shading options in the control panel.
● Set construction tolerances in SurfaceStudio to improve export

to other CAD packages.

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Conclusion
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Conclusion
3 Fitting Curves to Scans
Major Topics Introduction

• Loading the Lesson Scanning a physical model creates complex polygonal datasets that
Files page 93. are difficult to build from. To construct high-quality surfaces from
the polygonal data, you must first fit curves to the scanned sections.
• Fitting the Centerline
Curve page 95. In this lesson, we will show you how to create quality curves that fit
pre-existing section data. You can then use these curves to create
• Fitting X Curves page 108.
high quality surfaces in SurfaceStudio. You will fit curves to the
• Fitting Front and Back Z section data using manual and automatic methods, using a
Curves page 121. technique to ensure correct tangents in and out of the construction
curve. You will learn how to check and correct the deviation and
• Creating Front and Rear curvature of the constructed curves. Finally, you will learn how to fit
Transition transition curves using free curves and blend curves.
Curves page 124.
• Extending and
Trimming page 131.
Initial Scans
Loading the Lesson Files

For this lesson you need to load three files:
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● The wire file containing X, Y, and Z scanned polylines. You will
fit construction curves to these scans.
● A technical surfacing shelf set. These shelves contain tools

commonly used in technical surfacing workflows.
● A set of technical surfacing marking menus. These marking

menus are similar to the default, but have added commands
commonly used in surfacing.
Open the lesson wire file:
1 In the File menu, choose Open-❏.
2 Set all the options in the Wire Options section to ON. Click Open
File. A file requester appears.
3 Click Show List to open the file lister.
4 In the CourseWare_SurfaceStudio project wire directory, double-

click the icon labeled Lesson3.wire.
SurfaceStudio loads the scans from the file.
● Your perspective window should look similar to this:
Initial Scans for Curve Fitting
Load the tutorial shelf set:
1 Open the pop-up menu at the top of the control panel shelf area
and choose Replace.
A file lister appears.
2 Within the CourseWare_SurfaceStudio directory, go to the

misc_data sub-directory.
Fitting Curves to Scans

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Loading the Lesson Files
3 Double click the file named SSTutorial.shelf to load the shelf
set.
The new shelves appear in the control panel.
Load the tutorial marking menus:
1 In the Preferences menu, choose Interface > Marking menus.

The MarkingMenus shelf window appears.
2 Find the Options pop-up menu at the right end of the window’s
title bar.
3 In the Options pop-up menu, choose Replace shelf set.

A file requestor appears.
4 Within the SurfaceStudio CourseWare directory, again go to

the misc_data sub-directory. Double-click the file named
SSTutorial.mmenu to load the set of marking menus.
5 Hold down the Shift and Ctrl keys and press the left, middle,
and right mouse buttons to show the new marking menus.
Left, middle, and right tutorial marking menus
Fitting the Centerline Curve

The first thing you will do is fit curves to the centerline scan by
drawing an initial curve and modifying it to match the scan line.

95
The scan data represents one half of a symmetrical object, mirrored
across the center scanline. You should take advantage of symmetry
in the model whenever possible to reduce complexity and effort in
modeling, since you have to construct half of the symmetrical part.
Centerline of symmetrical model to be fitted
Several surfaces that you can create from the fitted data use the
centerline as an edge, so it is important to fit curves to the centerline
now to provide that edge later.
Isolate the Centerline Scan
You will make all other scan lines temporarily invisible to allow an
unobstructed view of the centerline curve.
Make only the centerline scan visible:
1 Click the X sections layer to open its menu and turn the Visible
option off.
2 Repeat for the Z sections layer.
3 Choose Pick > Object and pick the centerline.
4 Using the left mouse button, draw a pick box around all the
curves (including the centerline curve).
Remember that the left mouse button toggles objects between
picked and unpicked. Now every scanline except the centerline is
picked.

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5 Open the right mouse button marking menu. Choose Invisible (at
the North position).
The picked scans disappear, leaving only the centerline scan
visible.
Isolated centerline X-section
You will first fit a curve to the top part of the centerline curve. To do
this you will create a rough initial curve, then refine it by moving
control vertices (CVs).
Fit the Top Part of the Centerline Curve
Use curve snap to place a degree 2 curve on the centerline:
1 In the right mouse button marking menu, choose Side_View.

The side view expands to fill the screen.
2 In the Curves shelf, choose the Edit_pt_Deg_2 tool.
3 While holding down the Ctrl and Alt keys for curve snapping,
click to place the first endpoint roughly at the tangent point
between the top of the scanline and the front transition.
4 Continue holding down the curve snapping keys and click to

place the second endpoint roughly at the tangent point between
the top of the scanline and the rear transition.

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Centerline section with approximate fit endpoints indicated
Adjust the Curve to Fit
Attach a min-max deviation locator to the curve:
1 In the Evaluation shelf, choose Deviation_Curve_Curve.

This tool shows the deviation between two curves as a comb
plot, where the length of the quills represents the difference
between the curves at that point.
2 Click the scanline, then click the curve you just created.
A min-max deviation comb appears between the curve and the
scanline.
Measure the deviation between the cross section and the fitted curve
3 Drag the left mouse button to the left to scale up the comb.

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Move CVs for a better fit:
1 In the left mouse button marking menu, choose CV (at the East
position).
2 Click the interior CV of the curve you created.
3 In the middle mouse button marking menu, choose Move (at the
North position).
4 Move the CV toward the scanline for a better initial fit.

The maximum deviation should decrease as you move the CV.
Try to achieve a deviation as close to 0.1 mm as possible.
● For this lesson, we will use a tolerance of 0.1 mm. It will be

difficult to achieve this tolerance with only one interior CV, so
you will increase the degree of the curve to provide more
control.
When fitting curves and surfaces to scans, you always want to use
the minimum geometry necessary to fit the original scans. The best
way to achieve this is to start with a small degree and increase it as
necessary.
SurfaceStudio makes this easy by providing controls to quickly

increase or decrease the degree and number of spans of the picked
geometry.
Increase the degree to allow a better fit:
1 Choose Pick > Object and pick the curve you created.
2 In the control panel, find the Degree text box.

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The Degree and Spans controls are located in the middle of the
control panel. If they are not visible, scroll the lower portion of
the control panel to the top.
3 In the left Degree text box, type 3 and press Enter.
The text box on the left corresponds to the U direction of the

picked object. The text box on the right corresponds to the V
direction. Since curves do not have a V direction, the text box on
the right is grayed out and not editable.
● SurfaceStudio shows a preview of the degree 3 curve and

displays the deviation from the original in the promptline.
Since we increased the number of control points in the curve, the
deviation change should be zero. If you were to decrease the
degree of a curve, you would see a deviation between the
original and the rebuilt versions.
4 Click the Accept button in the bottom right corner of the view
window to accept the change to the curve.
You must always remember to click Accept after changing the
degree or number of spans of a curve or surface. Otherwise the
object will revert to its original state.
Next you will adjust the interior CV near the back for good tangency
out, then slide the CV along the tangent to match the curve.
This method gives good results when you go to build from the curve
later.
Continue to adjust the curve by finding the tangents and

sliding:
● Until now you have been using the Xform > Move tool to move
CVs. Now you will use the Move CV tool from the control panel
to adjust the fit of the curve.
Because the Move CV tool is designed specifically for CVs, it
provides greater control and flexibility than the standard Move
tool.

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1 Choose the Move CV tool from the tools at the bottom of the
control panel.
(For convenience, this tool is also on the middle mouse button
marking menu.)
2 In the CV move section of the control panel, set the Mode pop-up
menus to XYZ and CV.
3 Drag the rear interior CV so that the hull between the CV and
the rear endpoint is tangent with the scan at the endpoint.
You will find it useful to dolly in close to the intersection to
visually check the hull’s tangency to the scan, and out again to
check the deviation along the curve.
● Remember that your initial placement of the endpoints was

visually estimated. Any problems fitting the curve are clues to
how to place the endpoints more precisely.
4 Watch for the following conditions:

◆ The curve should remain on or above the scan for its entire
length. The curve should not cross the scan line.
Use the deviation comb plot to check this. The comb should
not cross the scan.
◆ If you find it difficult to move the interior CV without the
curve undercutting the scan, the rear endpoint CV may be
too far back.
Use curve snapping to move the rear CV that defines the
tangent point slightly closer to the front of the scan and try
adjusting the tangent again.
This may take several tries, and it may require you to adjust
the front CVs in the same way.
◆ The deviation comb should decelerate uniformly toward
the endpoint. If there is a “hump” in the deviation plot at
the endpoint, you need to move the tangent point.
5 Repeat the previous step for the interior CV near the front: drag
the CV so that it lies on the tangent in, and watch for the
conditions listed above.
The four CVs influence each other: changing one will affect the
deviation and tangents in the rest of the curve. Because of this,
achieving the proper tangents will require you to alternate
between moving the front and back CVs in an iterative process.

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6 In the CV Move section of the control panel, set the left Mode pop-
up menu to Slide.
Slide mode moves the CV along the hulls connecting it to its
neighbor CVs.
● Now that you have set good tangents in and out, you will want
to maintain them as you adjust the interior CVs to fit the scan
better.
Slide mode allows you to keep an interior CV on the tangent (the
hull between the CV and the endpoint) while moving the CV.
7 Click the rear interior CV.

Arrows appear on the CV. The arrows indicate hulls along which
the CV can slide.
CV Slide Mode moves the CV along the hull
8 Drag the arrow pointing toward the rear endpoint to slide the
CV along the hull.
Try to decrease the deviation between the curve and the scan.
9 Continue to slide the front and rear interior CVs along the
tangents until the deviation is below 0.1 mm.
If you find it difficult to achieve this tolerance, you have not
found the correct tangents at the endpoints and will need to re-
work the tangents using the tips already suggested.
Now you should have good tangency at the endpoints of the curve,
and low deviation. There are two additional checks to ensure the
quality of this fitted curve: the curve curvature locator, and the
Extend tool.

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Fitted Centerline Curve
Check for smooth curvature:
1 Pick nothing.
2 Choose Pick > Object and pick only the fitted curve.
3 In the Evaluate shelf, choose the Curve_Curvature tool.

A curvature locator appears on the fitted curve. This locator is
similar to the deviation locator you have been using so far to fit
the curve, except the comb plot indicates the curvature value at
points along the curve.
4 Drag the left mouse button to the right to increase the size of the
comb plot.
The larger the scale of the comb plot, the easier it is to see
changes in the curvature.
5 Drag the middle mouse button to the right to increase the

sampling density slightly.
Increasing the number of samples gives a more accurate reading
of the curvature, but will decrease the speed of interaction with
SurfaceStudio.
6 Check for the following conditions:

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Curvature plots showing bad and good curvature examples
● The comb plot should have a smooth rate of change without any
reversals in curvature.
● The comb plot should not cross the curve (this is called an
inflection). Inflections are marked by large blue arrows.
● Watch for sharp accelerations at the endpoints. Some

acceleration is acceptable, but too much indicates that the
endpoint CV needs to be moved further inward.
You will find out whether the endpoint has too much curvature
when you try to extend the curve in the next procedure.
Extend new curves to check the placement of the tangent

points:
1 In the Modify shelf, choose Extend_New.

The Extend_New tool extrapolates the curvature from the
endpoint of an existing curve to build a new curve.
2 Click the fitted curve near the rear.

Because the fitted curve and the scan are right on top of each
other, SurfaceStudio does not know which you wanted to pick.
A small menu pops up showing you the choices.
Choose the fitted curve from the list.
3 Drag the left mouse button to extend a new curve off of the end
of the fitted curve.
● If the tangent point and fit of the original curve are correct, the
extension will follow the scan for a short distance and then
continue above the transition.

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Natural extension indicating correct tangent location
● If the extension is flat and follows the curve for some distance, it
indicates that you can move the tangent point further outwards.
Flat extension indicating incorrect tangent angle or location
● If the extension curves back on itself, the curvature at the

endpoint is too high or low and you need to move the tangent
point further inward or outwards respectively.

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Curled extension indicating incorrect tangent angle
4 If you see a problem with the curvature, press the Delete key,
click Yes to delete the extension curve, then go back and adjust
the endpoints and tangent.
5 Now check the curvature in the front of the curve the same way.
● Once you have achieved good curvature along the fitted curve,
you can clean up the construction aids and move on to the next
scan.
6 Choose Pick > Object and pick any remaining extension curves,
then delete them.
7 In the Evaluate shelf, choose the Del_All_Locators tool to delete

the deviation and curvature combs.
Fit Curves to the Front and Back of the Centerline Scan
Now you need to fit the other “primary” parts of the centerline scan
at the front and back.
Fit curves to these sections of the scan:

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Front and back primary portions of the curve
Use the same method to fit curves to the front and back
primary portions of the scan:
1 Use curve snap to place a degree 2 edit point curve on the scan.
As you draw the curve, slide one endpoint to the bottom of the
scan and place the other endpoint where you estimate the
tangent point will be.
2 Create a deviation locator between the scan and curve by

selecting Deviation_Curve_Curve tool in the Evaluate shelf. For
hints about how to complete these steps, see Adjust the Curve to
Fit on page 98.
3 Move the interior CV for a better fit.
4 Continue to adjust the curve by finding the tangents and

sliding.
5 Check for smooth curvature.
6 Extend new curves to check the placement of the tangent points

by choosing Extend_New in the Modify shelf.

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Before Moving On
Put the new fit curve in new layer:
1 Choose Pick > Object and pick any remaining extension curves,
then delete them.
2 In the Evaluate shelf, choose the Del_All_Locators tool to delete the

deviation and curvature combs.
1 In the Layers menu, choose New.

A new layer appears in the layer bar.
2 Double-click the new layer button.

The name of the layer changes to an editable text field.
3 Type Fitted Curves and press Enter to rename the layer.
4 Pick the three fitted curves you have created so far.
5 In the Fitted Curves layer’s pop-up menu, choose Assign to

put the picked curves in the new layer.
6 In the right mouse button marking menu, choose Visible to reveal

the scans you hid earlier with the Invisible command.
● You do not need to fit any more Y scan lines, so you can make
the layer invisible for now.
7 In the Y sections layer’s pop-up menu, turn off Visible to hide

the Y sections.
8 Save your work before proceeding.
Fitting X Curves
Next you will fit curves to three X scans. This time you will use the
Curve Fit tool to fit the curves automatically instead of moving CVs.

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Fitting X Curves
Isolate the First Section Curve
Make only three X section scan lines visible:
1 In the X sections layer’s pop-up menu, turn on Visible.
2 Pick the three scans you will fit.

Pick X scans under the very back, very front, and middle of the
top curve you fitted earlier.
Side view showing x scans to pick
3 In the Fitted Curves layer’s pop-up menu, turn off Visible.
4 With the left mouse button, draw a pick box around all the
scans.
5 In the right mouse button marking menu, choose Invisible.

All the scans but the three you want to fit become invisible.
Side and back views of 3 X-sections to be curve fit
6 In the right mouse button marking menu, choose Back_view.

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Fitting X Curves
● You will work on the top scan first, so you will want to template
the other two scans.
7 Pick the two bottom scans.
8 In the right mouse button marking menu, choose Tgl_Template.

SurfaceStudio displays the scans in a lighter color, indicating
that they are templated and cannot be picked.
9 Dolly and track to center the top scan in the view window.
Top X section visible with remaining X sections templated
Use the Fit Curve Tool
The Fit Curve tool automatically creates a curve and fits it to a scan
line. The tool automates much of the manual fitting process you used
on the centerline scan.
Use the Fit Curve tool to fit a curve automatically:
1 From the Curves shelf, choose Fit_Curve ❏.

The Fit Curve Control window appears.

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Fitting X Curves
Fit Curve Control window
2 Click the scanline.

The Fit Curve tool attempts to fit a curve to the entire scan.
3 The Degree field controls the degree of the fitted curve. It should
be set to 3. If it isn’t, double-click in the field and type 3.
The Fit Curve tool can probably fit the top portion of the curve
within our tolerance with a degree 2 curve. However, you need
a degree 3 curve to provide controls for tangency both across the
axis of symmetry and into the transition.
4 In the Fit Curve Control window, click Deviation.

A deviation locator appears on the fitted curve. Note the
maximum deviation displayed in the locator. You will want to
fit the top curve within 0.1 mm.
As you can see, trying to fit the entire scan with one curve
results in a low-quality curve with high deviation.

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Fitting X Curves
Curve Fit tool initially attempts to fit entire curve
● More than one curve is required to fit the scan. You can use the
Fit Curve tool to move the existing curve to the top primary
portion of the scan.
● After you create a curve using the Fit Curve tool, the Fit Curve
Control window displays the position coordinates of the start
point and the end point of the curve.
5 Drag the blue handle at the bottom of the scan up to the tangent
point between the top primary portion and the transition.

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Fitting X Curves
Relocate the handle so the curve fits the top primary portion
● The Fit Curve tool has two methods for fitting a curve to a
scanline: Least Squares and Hull Fit. You should always try both
methods to see which gives a better fit and distribution of CVs.
6 In the Fit Curve Control window, the Fitting Method pop-up menu
controls which method the tool uses. Try both options to see
which one gives lower deviation.
In most cases, the Hull Fit method gives the best fit and
distribution of CVs.
● Next you will fit the side primary portion of the scan.
7 With the Fit Curve tool still active, click the side portion of the
scan.
The Fit Curve tool fits a new curve to the remaining portion of
the scan.

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Fitting X Curves
Note It is possible to achieve tangent continuity across the curves by
overlapping the ends of the two curves. You can flip the blue
handle of the side curve onto the end of the top curve. If the blue
handle turns into a dashed green line, the Fit Curve tool did achieve
tangent continuity across the two curves.
8 Drag the blue handle at the top of the new curve down to the
tangent point between the side portion of the curve and the
transition.
Fit Curve the side portion of the cross section
9 Set the Fitting Method to Hull Fit to get a deviation less than 0.1
mm.
Balance top curve across centerline:
1 In the left mouse button marking menu choose CV.

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Fitting X Curves
2 On the top fitted curve, pick the CV to the left of the endpoint
on the axis of symmetry
Pick the CV next to the CV that lies on the axis of symmetry
3 Hold down the Ctrl key to turn on magnet snapping.

Magnet snapping snaps objects to CVs and edit points.
4 With the right mouse button, click near the endpoint on the axis
of symmetry.
Using the right mouse button snaps in the vertical direction
only. This aligns the picked CV vertically with the endpoint on
the axis of symmetry. This ensures the curve will be tangent
across the axis of symmetry.
Adjust the curve for constant curvature across centerline:
1 Pick nothing.
2 Pick the top fitted curve.
3 In the Evaluate shelf, choose Curve_Curvature.
● The curvature comb plot should be a smooth curve with no

reversals.

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Fitting X Curves
Curvature plot on top primary curve
● The curvature must be smooth across the axis of symmetry. You

can check this using SurfaceStudio’s symmetry functions.
To see the curvature across centerline better, you can create the
mirrored half of the top curve.
4 Pick the top fitted curve.
● Duplication, rotation, and scaling are all relative to an object’s

pivot point.
To duplicate the top curve across the axis of symmetry, you
should place the pivot point where the curve touches the axis of
symmetry (in this case, the endpoint of the curve).
5 In the middle mouse button marking menu, choose Set_Pivot.
6 Hold down the Ctrl key to turn on magnet snapping, and click
with the left mouse button near the endpoint on the axis of
symmetry.
The pivot point snaps to the endpoint.
7 In the Edit menu, choose Duplicate > Object ❏.

The Duplicate Object Options window appears.

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Fitting X Curves
Duplicate Object Options Window
8 Find the three text fields labeled Scaling. This field correspond to
X, Y, and Z.
9 In the Y (middle) text field, enter -1.
10 Click Go to create the duplicate. Scaling multiplies the position

values of an object by a number to change its size. Multiplying
by a factor of 1 does not change the size. Multiplying by -1 does
not change the size, but changes the sign of the position values,
effectively flipping the object across the pivot point.
For more information, see Note The Duplicate Objects options let you place, scale, or rotate objects
Duplicating Objects in the as they are copied.
General Tools section of the
Basic Tools book. Use the Translation, Rotation, and Scaling options to specify offset
values for the X, Y, and Z axes. These offset values are applied to
the copied geometry, and move it off of the original geometry. The
values can be positive or negative numbers.
Alternatively, you can use the Distance on geometry to specify an
offset to the copied geometry. To do this, in the Duplicate Object
Options box, set the Transform in option to Geometry space.
11 In the Evaluate shelf, choose Curve_Curvature to create a

curvature locator on the duplicate curve.
12 Check the axis of symmetry where the curvature plots meet. It

should be smooth, without a peak or valley.

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Fitting X Curves
Curvature plat across axis of symmetry should be smooth
13 If you do not have smooth curvature across the centerline, you

need to adjust the position of the interior CVs.
Remember that the movement of both interior CVs is
constrained: one CV is preserving tangency across the centerline,
and the other is maintaining the tangent in from the transition.
When you move the CV to create smooth curvature, you can
only move it horizontally to preserve the tangency across the
axis of symmetry.
14 In the left mouse button marking menu, choose CV.
15 Pick the two CVs on either side of the axis of symmetry.
Pick CVs that control tangency
16 In the middle mouse button marking menu, choose Nonp_Scale.
17 Drag the middle mouse button left or right to scale the CVs in or
out from the pivot point on the axis of symmetry.

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Fitting X Curves
Move the CVs so that the curvature is smooth across centerline.
While moving the CVs for curvature, ensure the deviation does
not go above 0.1 mm.
Scale CV’s nonproportionally to smooth curvature across axis
Use Extend_New to check the curvature:
1 In the Modify shelf, choose Extend_New.
2 Click the fitted curve near the rear.
3 Drag the left mouse button to extend a new curve off of the end
of the fitted curve.
● If the tangent point of the fitted curve is correct, the extension

will follow the scan for a short distance and then continue above
the transition.
● If the extension is flat and follows the curve for some distance, it
indicates that you can move the tangent point of the fitted curve
further back.
● If the extension curves back on itself, the curvature at the

endpoint is too high and you need to move the tangent point of
the fitted curve further inward.
4 If you see a problem with the curvature, press the Delete key to
delete the extension curve, then go back and refit the curve with
a different tangent point.
5 When you are satisfied with the curvature, use Pick > Object to
pick any remaining extension curves, then press the Delete key.
Clean up the fitted curves and move on to the next scan:
1 Pick the duplicated curve, then press the Delete key.

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Fitting X Curves
2 In the Evaluate shelf, choose Del_All_Locators.
3 Pick the top and side fitted curves.
4 In the Fitted Curves layer’s pop-up menu, choose Assign.
5 Pick the scan.
6 In the right mouse button marking menu, choose Tgl_template.
7 In the left mouse button marking menu, choose Template.
8 Pick the middle scan.
9 In the right mouse button marking menu, choose Tgl_template.
Repeat for Second and Third Section Curves
Use the same method to fit the second and third section curves:
1 Use the Fit Curve tool to fit curves to the top and side primary
portions of the scan.
2 Use magnet snapping with the right mouse button to vertically

align the CV next to the endpoint on the axis of symmetry to
ensure tangency.
3 Duplicate the top curve to check the curvature across the axis of
symmetry.
4 Use Nonproportional scaling to achieve good curvature across

the axis of symmetry.
5 Clean up the duplicated curve and locators.
6 Assign the fitted curves to the Fitted Curves layer before

proceeding.

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Fitting X Curves
Fitted X sections
Before Moving On
Return the X Sections layer to its original state and hide it:
1 Pick any templated scans and use Tgl_Template to untemplate

them.
2 In the X sections layer, choose Visible to show the other scans you
hid earlier.
3 In the X sections layer’s pop-up menu, turn off Visible.
Fitting Front and Back Z Curves

Now that you’ve seen the two methods for curve fitting, manual
and Fit Curve, you can practice either or both methods on the Z scans
that need to be fit. We recommend that you use the method you feel
less proficient in, as an opportunity to become more familiar with it.
In this section we will provide less detailed direction since the

procedures are identical to those in the previous sections.
Prepare the two curves you want to fit:
1 Make the Z sections layer visible.
2 Choose Side_View.

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3 Pick the two scans at the very bottom of the model at the front
and back.
Side view indicating Z sections to pick
4 With the left mouse button, draw a pick box around all the
curves.
5 Choose Invisible.
6 Choose Top_View.
Top view showing isolated Z sections for fitting
Use the curve fitting methods you have learned to fit curves to
the scans:
1 Use dolly and track to center the scan you want to fit in the view
window.
2 Use the Curve Fit tool or the manual method to fit a curve to the
primary portion of the scan with a deviation less than 0.1 mm.

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Curve Fit to the primary portion of both the front and rear Z sections
3 Use magnet snapping with the right mouse button to

horizontally align the CV next to the endpoint on the axis of
symmetry to ensure tangency.
4 Duplicate the curve to check the curvature across the axis of

symmetry.
5 Use Nonproportional scaling to achieve good curvature across

6 Clean up the duplicated curve and locators.
7 Use Extend_New for a final check of the tangent locations.
8 Delete any extension curves.
9 Assign the fitted curve to the Fitted Curves layer before

proceeding.
Before Moving On
Return the Z Sections layer to its original state and hide it:
1 Choose Visible to show the other scans you hid earlier.
2 In the Z sections layer’s pop-up menu, turn off Visible.

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Creating Front and Rear Transition
Curves
In this section you will use free curves and blend curves to fit curves
to transitions.
Fitting curves to transitions is not always necessary in the technical

surfacing workflow, but it is a useful skill to learn. It is also a good
introduction to blend curves.
Set the view for fitting curves to the transitions:
1 Make the Y sections layer visible.
2 Choose Top_View.
3 Pick all the scans except the centerline scan.
4 Choose Invisible.
5 Choose Side_View.
6 Make the Fitted Curves layer visible.
Fit using a Free Curve and Align
Use a free curve to connect the top and front curves on the
centerline:
1 Dolly and track to center the front transition in the view

window.
2 In the Curves shelf, choose Edit_pt_Degree_5.

Since curvature continuity constrains two interior CVs, you
know that to maintain curvature continuity with the two
existing curves, you will need at least four interior CVs.
3 Use magnet snapping to snap the endpoints of the new curve to

the endpoints of the two existing curves.

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Creating Front and Rear Transition Curves
Magnet snap curve to endpoints
4 Add a deviation locator between the new curve and the scan.
Degree 5 curve snapped to end points with deviation measure
5 Click the new transition curve near its connection with the
existing front curve.
6 Click the front curve near its connection with the transition
curve.
Arrows indicate location and order to pick for Align operation

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7 Now do the opposite end of the new curve: click the new curve
near the connection with the existing top curve, then click the
top curve.
Front Transition as a result of Align operation
SurfaceStudio modifies the transition curve to have curvature

continuity with the front and top curves.
● The initial alignment will probably not match the scanned

transition. You will need to change the curvature scale to project
the transition curve farther from the primary curves.
8 From the Modify shelf, choose Align_Curvature ❏.

The Align Control window appears.
9 In the Align Control window, drag the Curvature Scale for a better
fit. You will not be able to fit the scan perfectly yet.
Align Control with Tangent and Curvature Scale sliders indicated

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● When you aligned the transition curve with the top curve, you
lost construction history at the other end.
To change the alignment between the transition curve and the
front curve, you will need to realign the curves.
10 Click the transition curve and the top curve to align them.
11 In the Align Control window, drag the Curvature Scale for a better
fit.
12 Continue to realign and scale at both ends until you cannot

lower the deviation any further.
Note If you click the Create History control option, you will be able to
change the parameters of the geometry after you exit the tool
without losing the alignment. Once you are satisfied with the
alignment, you can delete the history information with Delete >
Construction History. If you click the Auto. Recalc. control option,
SurfaceStudio updates the new curve with the current values in
the Align Control window.
Fit Using a Blend Curve
Blend curves provide a much easier method for fitting a transition.

They are free curves with added construction history that allows
you to specify and edit connections and continuity.
You will use a blend curve to fit a curve to the rear transition.
Use a blend curve to connect the top and back curves:
1 Dolly and track to center the rear transition in the view window.
2 In the Blend_Curves shelf, choose Blend_curve_create.

The Blend curve create tool lets you create blend curves by
placing constraints which the blend curve will pass through.
● Blend curves have greater functionality for attaching to curves

and surfaces than normal curves. To place a blend curve
constraint on an existing object, you only have to click or drag
on the object.

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3 Place the first constraint on the top curve and with the mouse
button still held down drag to the end of the curve.
● The constraint slides right off the end of the curve! This is
because the constraint did not attach to the top curve, it attached
to the scan.
To attach the constraint to the top curve, you must first template
the scan.
4 Press the Delete key to delete the constraint you just created.
5 Pick only the scan and use Tgl_Template.
6 Choose Blend_curve_create again. Place the first constraint on

the top curve and slide it to the end of the curve.
7 Place another constraint on the back curve and slide it to the top
of the curve.
Drag to endpoint
Click here
Placing Blend Curve constraint points
Edit the constraints:
1 In the Blend_Curves shelf, choose Blend_curve_edit.
2 Click the first constraint you created to select it.
3 In the Blend_Curves shelf, choose Constraint_Geometry.

A direction manipulator appears on the constraint.
● New constraints begin as location constraints, where the curve

merely has to pass through the constraint
The Constraint_Geometry tool changes the constraint to a
geometry constraint, where the curve has to pass through the
constraint in a certain direction relative to a curve or surface.

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4 On the manipulator, click the direction line projecting out from
the end of the curve.
First constraint aligned using “Constraint Geometry”
5 In the Blend_Curves shelf, choose pt_g2.

The pt_g2 tool makes the blend curve curvature continuous
with the curve to which it is attached at this constraint.
“G2” is a mathematical term for curvature continuity. G0 is
positional and G1 is tangent continuity. G4 and G5 are higher
levels of curvature.
6 Choose Blend_curve_edit and click the other constraint.
7 Choose Constraint_geometry.
8 On the manipulator, click the direction line projecting out of the

curve.
Second constraint aligned and set to G2
9 Choose pt_g2 to make the blend curve curvature continuous

with the back curve at this constraint.
● Provided that the tangent points were placed correctly, the

blend curve will already roughly match the transition.

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Adjust the constraint parameters for a better fit:
1 Untemplate the scan.
2 Add a deviation locator between the scan and the blend curve.
3 Choose the Blend_curve_edit tool again.
4 Click blend curve to select it, then click the first constraint.
The manipulator reappears.
● Note the circle and square handles on the long arrow projecting
from the manipulator. You can use these handles to change
curvature and tangent scaling at this constraint.
Blend curve scaling manipulators
5 Drag the edge of the circle handle to change the curvature scale.
Try to improve the fit at this end of the curve.
6 Click the other constraint, and use its curvature scale handle to
improve the fit at the other end of the curve. Try to fit the blend
curve within 0.1 mm.
7 Pick the blend curve, the top curve and the back curve.
8 In the control panel, click the “plus” button labeled Curvat U.

Curvature locators appear on the picked curves.
● The initial sampling rate may be too low to give an accurate

picture of the curvature (the top of the comb plot will appear
segmented). Also, the scale of the comb plot may be too low to
show changes in curvature.
You can use the curvature options in the control panel to change
the attributes of any picked curvature locators.

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9 In the control panel, click the Curvature icon to show the
curvature options.
10 Drag the Scale slider right until you can clearly see the changes
in curvature.
11 Drag the UV Curvature Samples slider right until the top of the
comb plot appears smooth.
Curvature relationship between three curves
● The curvature comb plot will show curvature continuity

between the blend curve and the primary curves.
Before Moving On
Delete locators and assign the curves:
2 Pick the fitted curves and assign them to the Fitted Curves
layer.
3 Choose Visible to show the scans you hid earlier.
Extending and Trimming

Now you will extend the curves to the theoretical intersections
Show only the fitted curves:
1 Make the three sections layers invisible.

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2 Make the Fitted Curves layer visible.
3 Display the perspective view.
Perspective view of fitted curves prior to extending
Extend the middle side and top curves:
1 In the Modify shelf, choose Extend_Original.

The Extend_Original tool is the same tool as Extend_New, except
the Merge option is on. This means the extend operation extends
the original curve instead of starting a new curve.
2 Dolly and track to center the curves you fitted to the middle X
sections.
3 Click the side curve near the top and drag up to extend it so that
its endpoint is above the top curve.
Side curve extended upwards
● With the Extend_Original tool selected, you can also extend the
curve by typing the length to extend the curve in the promptline.

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4 Type 30 in the promptline and press Enter to extend the curve
30 mm from its original length.
5 Click the end of the top curve opposite the axis of symmetry,
then drag right to extend the curve past the extended side
curve.
or
Click the end of the top curve opposite the axis of symmetry,
then type 30 in the promptline and press Enter.
● The two curves now extend beyond the theoretical intersection.
Top curve extended outwards
You can trim the curves back to the intersection with the
Curve_Section tool.
Trim the curves to the intersection:
1 Working in the Back view, in the Modify shelf, choose

Curve_Section ❏.
The Curve Section Options window appears.

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Curve Section Option window
2 The options for the Curve_Section tool can significantly change

how the tool works. Make sure the Sectioning Mode is set to Trim,
and the Sectioning Criterion is set to Geometry.
Trim mode trims a curve or curves to a certain point determined
by the Sectioning Criterion. The Geometry criterion uses the
intersection with another curve or surface as the sectioning
point.
● The promptline asks you to select the curve to section (that is,
the curve that will be trimmed).
3 Click the side curve below the intersection with the top curve.
Where you click determines which part of the curve you want to
keep.
A red arrow indicates the part of the curve to keep.

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Red Arrow indicates section of curve to keep
4 Click the Go button in the bottom right corner of the view

window.
● The promptline asks you to select the curve or surface to section

with. The first curve will be trimmed to its intersection with this
curve or surface.
5 Click the top curve.

The side curve is trimmed back to its intersection with the top
curve.
Side curve sectioned back to the intersection with the top curve
6 Click the top curve on the part of the curve you want to keep.

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Red Arrow indicates section of curve to keep
7 Click Go.
8 Click the side curve.

The top curve is trimmed back to its intersection with the side
curve.
Top curve sectioned back to the intersection with the side curve
Repeat for the other construction curves:
● Extend and trim the following pairs of curves:

◆ the remaining fitted X curves.
◆ the top Y curve with the front Y curve.
◆ the top Y curve with the back Y curve.
You will not extend or trim the transition curves.
● Extend the front and back Z curves out from the end opposite

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Final fitted curves with extend operation complete
9 Save your work.
Conclusion
● Fit curves with low deviation and good curvature using manual
and automatic methods.
● Find and use good tangents in and out of the fitted curves.
● Fit transitions using free curves and blend curves.
● Intersect and trim curves to their theoretical intersections.
Fitting curves is a very important skill to master. You may want to

continue to practice the skills from this lesson on the lesson data, or
on your own section data.

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Conclusion
138
Conclusion
4 Creating Primary Surfaces
From Curves

• Loading the Lesson In the lesson on fitting curves, you learned several strategies and
File page 140. tools for fitting curves to scan data. Now you will learn how to use
some of SurfaceStudio’s surface creation tools to construct primary
• Creating the Top Primary surfaces from fitted curves.
Surface page 141.
In this lesson, we will show you how to create primary surfaces,
• Creating the Side Primary
check the deviation between the surfaces and the scan data, extend
Surface page 156. the surfaces to intersect each other, and trim the surfaces back to the
• Creating the Front and Back intersections.
Primary Surfaces page 163.
At the end of this lesson, you will have the primary surfaces,
• Extending and overbuilt to define the basic shape of the part. In a later lesson you
Trimming page 169. will model transitions between primary surfaces.
Completed Primary Surfaces
The Prepared File
You will load a pre-made file containing fitted curves and carry-over
data from the CourseWare directory.
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For this lesson, we have done additional work on the model. We
have extended the side curves down and trimmed them to the
bottom of the part.
1. Extend the side and 2. Create line extending 3. Trim side and
front curves down. horizontally from lowest front curves to
point. horizontal line
with Curve section
Steps to Prepare the Model for this Lesson
This step is necessary because you will overbuild the primary

surfaces down to the lowest point of the part. This makes the side
surface more rectangular.
Because NURBS surfaces are basically rectangular sheets, it is always

better to build a rectangular surface and trim it than to try to build a
non-rectangular surface. Rectangular surfaces give an even
distribution of CVs and hulls along the side surface.
Loading the Lesson File

2 If the file lister is not shown, click Show List to open the it.
3 Go to the CourseWare_SurfaceStudio/wire directory.
4 Double-click the icon labeled Lesson4.wire.

SurfaceStudio loads scans and fitted curves from the file.
5 If necessary, use the Look At tool (Alt+L) to center the windows

on the model.
Creating Primary Surfaces from Curves

140
Creating the Top Primary Surface
Use the Birail Tool
The Birail tool sweeps one or more generation curves along two path
curves. You will use the Birail tool to sweep the top X fitted curves
along the Y centerline curve and the theoretical intersection between
the top and side surfaces.
There is no curve corresponding to the theoretical intersection yet.

You will have to create the curve using the New Curve (edit pts) and
Curve Stretch tools.
Create construction curves for the Birail operation:
1 Click the Curves layer button to make it the creation layer.

The Curves layer is drawn with a yellow background to show
that it is the creation layer.
Setting the creation layer means that any geometry you create
from now on will automatically be assigned to that layer.
3 Use curve snap to snap the first edit point to the top of the side
X curve nearest the front of the model.
4 Use curve snap to snap the second edit point to the top of the
side X curve nearest the back of the model.

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5 In the Curves shelf, choose Curve Stretch-❏.
The Curve Stretch option window appears.
Curve Stretch Options
The Curve Stretch tool lets you reshape a curve by moving

handles attached to the curve. The changes are distributed
uniformly along the entire length of the curve.
● You want the new curve to pass through the ends of the top
curves (the generation curves). You could accomplish this by
simply snapping edit points to the ends of the three curves.
However, this would create a two-span curve, which would not
match the other path curve (the centerline).
Instead you will draw a one-span curve between the first and
third top curves and use the Curve Stretch tool to bend the curve
so it passes through the middle top curve.
6 Set the Number of Points option to 3, then click Go.

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7 In the Side view window, click the curve you created earlier
where it visually intersects the side X curve in the middle.
Because you are clicking the intersection of two curves, a pick

lister pop-up menu will appear. Choose the curve you just
created from the list.
The Curve Stretch tool attaches handles to the curve, and the
middle handle is automatically selected.
● When you use the Curve Stretch tool with more than two
handles, the tool places a handle where you click. You want to
move the middle of the curve to pass through the middle
intersection. Therefore you need to click the construction curve
at the intersection to place a handle there.
8 Use curve snap and drag the middle handle up to the top of the
middle fitted curve.
Now you have the two path curves for the Birail. You will use Birail
to sweep the top curves along the centerline and the theoretical
intersection.

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Use Birail to create the top surface:
1 In the Surface shelf, choose Birail-❏.

The Birail Control window appears.
Birail Control Window
2 Set Generation Curves to 2+.

You will blend between three generation curves sweeping along
the two path curves.
3 Turn Rebuild Paths on.

This is necessary because the two path curves have different
parameterizations. The Birail tool will use matched versions of
the paths to create the surface.
4 In the Continuity menu, choose Position.

This tells the Birail tool you only require positional continuity
with other surfaces. Since you do not have any other surfaces
yet, the Birail tool will not use the continuity options when it
builds this surface.
● Now you will choose the generation curves.

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5 In the view windows, click the three top curves in order from
front to back.
3
2
6 Click the Go button in the bottom right corner of the view

window to tell the Birail tool you are done selecting generation
curves.
7 Click the two path curves.
Labels appear on each curve to show its role in the Birail

operation.
● The surface is not constructed. If the Birail tool had been

successful, you would see a highlighted surface.
● To find out why Birail could not create the surface, check the
promptline history for error messages.
8 Click the small button to the left of the promptline.

The Promptline History window appears.

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Promptline History Window
9 Read the most recent messages at the bottom of the window. The
Birail tool reported that one of the generation curves does not
intersect the centerline path curve.
● The Birail tool requires the generation curves to intersect the

path curves before it will construct the surface. Curves you fit to
scanlines in one plane will not necessarily intersect curves fitted
in another plane exactly.
You will have to snap the ends of the top curves to the centerline.
You can do this using curve snap and construction planes.
Make the Generation Curves Intersect the Rail Curve
Construction planes are objects that represent a temporary

coordinate system. They are often useful when you are creating
geometry which is rotated from the normal axes, or away from the
origin.
In this case, the most important feature of construction planes is that

while they are active, modeling is restricted to the construction
plane. You can use this feature to make sure the curves you snap will
intersect, but will not move out of the plane you fit them in.

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Use construction planes to make the curves intersect:
1 In the Const_Planes shelf, choose FreePlane.

The promptline asks you to position the plane.
2 Use curve snapping to snap the construction plane to the back

top curve, and slide it to the end on the centerline.
● You want the construction plane’s orientation to match the

plane in which you fit the top curve. You will use the
construction plane’s manipulator to rotate it from its default
orientation.
3 Click the small brown handle near the center of the manipulator
that looks like the plane orientation you want.
The plane rotates 90 degrees to match the plane in which you fit
the top curve.

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4 Click Go to set the construction plane.
The grid re-orients to match the construction plane, and the
name of the construction plane appears in the bottom left corner
of the view windows.
5 In the Curves shelf, choose Curve_Stretch-❏.

The Stretch Curve options window appears.
6 Set the Number of Points to 2, then click Go.
7 Click the back top curve to select it for stretching.

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8 Click the handle near the centerline to select it.
9 Using curve snapping, click the centerline curve.
The handle snaps onto the centerline curve, but not where you
click. The handle is constrained to the construction plane, so it
stays in the same plane as the rest of the curve.
You may not see the handle move, because the distance is so
small. The Curve stretch tool displays the distance the handle has
moved in the promptline while you hold the mouse button. This
may be the only indication that the handle moved.
10 Choose Pick > Object and pick the construction plane.

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11 Choose Xform > Move, then use curve snapping to snap the
construction plane to the end of the middle top curve.
12 In the Const_Planes shelf, choose Set_Plane to set the coordinate

system to the new position of the construction plane.

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13 Repeat the Curve stretch procedure for this curve: choose Curve
stretch, select the handle near the centerline, and snap it onto the
centerline curve.
14 Move the construction plane to the end of the front top curve,
set the plane, and repeat the Curve stretch procedure.
15 You are finished fixing the curves. Pick the construction plane
and delete it.
Create the Top Surface
Use the Birail tool again to create the top surface:
1 In the Surface shelf, choose Birail.

Because you are using the same options as before, you do not
need to open the options window this time.
2 In the view windows, click the three top curves in order from
front to back, then click Go.

operation, and the surface is constructed.

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Completed Top Birail Surface
4 In the Modify shelf, choose Symmetry Align.

The Symmetry Align tool maintains continuity across centerline
along an edge of a surface.
5 Click the edge of the new top surface that lies on the centerline.
SurfaceStudio will warn you that the symmetry align will

remove the construction history of the Birail operation. Click Yes
to replace the history.
Blue lines appear on the edge to show that it is maintaining
tangency with an implied mirror half.
Blue Hatch Lines Indicate Symmetry Alignment

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Check the Surface Fit
Now you will check how the new surface matches the scan data.
Check the deviation between the surface and the scan data:
1 Make the X Sections layer visible.
2 Pick the new top surface.
3 In the control panel, click the plus button for Cross Sections: X.
Cross-section lines appear on the surface.
4 Click the Cross section button at the bottom of the control panel
to display the Cross Section section.
● The three text boxes labeled Step control the spacing between X,
Y, and Z cross-sections.
5 Set the first Step text box to 10 to space the X cross-sections at 10

mm.
6 Make sure the cross-sections match the scan lines.

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7 Pick the top surface.
8 Pick five or six scan lines on the surface, at regular intervals.
9 Click the ScanSurfDeviation button at the bottom of the control

panel.
Deviation combs appear between the surface and the picked
scan lines, and the Deviation section appears in the control
panel.
10 In the Deviation section of the control panel, increase the Scale to

20.
The combs become larger and easier to see.

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Scanline-to-surface Deviation Combs
● The Minimum Threshold setting allows you to show only the

deviation values above your acceptable tolerance.
11 Set the Minimum Threshold to 0.15.

Deviation comb values below 0.15 mm disappear.
Although the curves were fit to within 0.1 mm, the surface is
interpolated between those curves, and may not fit to the same
tolerance. We will ease the tolerance by 0.05 mm to account for
this.

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● The comb plots should only show deviation where the scans fall
off from the surface in the transition. There should be no
deviation across the top of the surface.
If the deviation combs still showed unacceptable deviation, you
would need to consider recreating the surface, refitting the
curves, or checking the original scan data for errors.
Before Moving On
Assign the completed surface to a new layer:
1 Create a new layer called Primary Surfs.
2 Pick the top surface and assign it to the new layer.
Creating the Side Primary Surface
Create Construction Curves
Use Curve Stretch to add a bottom rail:
1 Click the Curves layer to make it the creation layer.
3 Use curve snap to snap the first edit point to the bottom of the
side X curve nearest the front of the model.

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4 Use curve snap to snap the second edit point to the bottom of
the side X curve nearest the back of the model.
5 In the Curves shelf, choose Curve Stretch-❏.

The Curve Stretch option window appears.
6 Set the Number of Points option to 3, then click Go.
7 In the Side view window, click the curve you created earlier
where it visually intersects the side X curve in the middle.

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Because you are clicking the intersection of two curves, the pick
lister pop-up menu will appear. Choose the curve you just
created from the list.
The Curve Stretch tool attaches handles to the curve, and the
middle is automatically selected.
8 Use curve snap and drag the middle handle down to the top of
the middle fitted curve.

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Create the Side Surface
Use Birail to create the side surface:
1 In the Surface shelf, choose Birail.
2 In the view windows, click the three side curves in order from
front to back, then click Go.
3
2
1

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operation, and the surface is constructed.
Completed Side Birail Surface
Check the Surface Fit
Check the deviation between the surface and the scan data:
1 Pick the new side surface.
2 In the control panel, click the plus button for Cross Sections: X.

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Cross-section lines appear on the surface.
3 Make sure the cross-sections match the scan lines.
4 Pick the side surface.
5 Pick five or six scan lines on the surface, at regular intervals.
6 Click the ScanSurfDeviation button at the bottom of the control

panel.
Deviation combs appear between the surface and the picked
scan lines.

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7 In the Deviation section of the control panel, set the Minimum
Threshold to 0.15.
Deviation comb values below 0.15 mm disappear.
● You may notice that there is a hollow in the scan lines which
creates deviations between the scans and the surface near the
back of the model.
This demonstrates a situation that would require a decision
whether to accept the deviation and continue, try to re-create the
surface, or re-fit the curves.
In this case, you can assume that the scan lines are in error and
continue with the tutorial.

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Deviation Combs Show a Hollow in the Scans
Before Moving On
Assign the completed surface to the Primary Surfs layer:
2 Assign the surface to the Primary Surfs layer.
3 Make the X sections layer invisible.
Creating the Front and Back Primary

Surfaces
Create the Front and Back Surfaces
Use the Swept tool to create the front surface:
1 In the Surface shelf, choose Swept-❏.

The Swept tool creates a surface by sweeping a generation curve
along a path curve.
2 Set the following options:

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Creating the Front and Back Primary Surfaces
◆ Sweep Mode to Parallel
◆ Sweep Pivot to On Curve
◆ Fixed Curve to Path
3 Click the front Z curve.
A small manipulator appears on the curve. This manipulator

controls the point on the curve which will travel along the path
curve.
4 Drag the mouse to move the manipulator to the centerline end of

the front Z curve.
5 Click Go.

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6 Click the front Y curve on the centerline to select it as the path
curve.
Another manipulator appears on the path curve. This

manipulator controls the starting point for the sweep.
7 Drag the mouse to move the manipulator to the bottom of the

front Y curve.
8 Click Go.
The Swept tool creates a new surface.

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Completed Front Swept Surface
Use Swept to create the back surface:
1 Choose the Swept tool again.
2 Click the back Z curve.
3 Drag the mouse to move the manipulator to the centerline end of

the back Z curve.

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4 Click Go.
5 Click the back Y curve on the centerline to select it as the path

curve.
6 Drag the mouse to move the manipulator to the bottom of the

back Y curve.

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7 Click Go.
The Swept tool creates a new surface.
Completed Back Swept Surface
Before Moving On
Assign the completed surfaces to the Primary Surfs layer:
1 Pick the new front and back surfaces.

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2 Assign the surfaces to the Primary Surfs layer.

Now you have primary surfaces created from fitted curves. The next
step is to make these surfaces intersect along their edges so we can
add transitions.
Rather than try to reshape the surfaces so that their edges meet
exactly (which would be extremely difficult and time consuming),
you will simply extend the surfaces past each other and trim back to
the intersections.
Extend the Surfaces
Use Extend to extend the surfaces past the theoretical

intersections:
1 Make the Fitted Curves layer invisible.

This prevents accidentally picking the curves instead of the
surfaces.
2 In the Modify shelf, choose Extend_Original.
3 Click the back edge of the top surface.
4 SurfaceStudio will warn you that extending will remove the

Birail history. Click OK to remove the history.
5 Drag the mouse to extend the top surface past the back surface.

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6 Extend the front of the top surface forward past the front
surface.
7 Extend the outside edge of the top surface away from the
centerline past the side surface.

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8 Repeat the extend operation for the remaining three surfaces:
◆ Extend the side birail up, forward and back.

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◆ Extend the front sweep up and out.
◆ Extend the back sweep up and out.
9 In the control panel, click the one-color shading button to show

the over-built surface more clearly.

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Extended Primary Surfaces
10 In the control panel, click the wireframe button to return to a

wireframe display before continuing.
Now you want to trim the surfaces back to their intersections. To do

this you first need to create curves on surface to define the trimmed
areas.
You will use the Intersect tool to create curves on surface where the
extended surfaces intersect.
Intersect
Use the Intersect tool to create curves on surface:
1 Pick the top surface.

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2 In the Surface shelf, choose Intersect-❏.
The Intersect Options window appears.
Intersect Options Window
The Intersect tool creates curves on surface based on intersections

between the picked surface and surfaces you click while the tool
is active.
3 Set Creates Curves on Surface to Both Surfaces.

This option creates curves on surface on both the intersecting
surfaces.
4 Click Go.
SurfaceStudio prompts you to click the intersecting surfaces.
5 Click the edges of the side, front, and back surfaces.

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Each time you click, curves on surface are created on the
original (top) surface and the clicked surface where they
intersect.
7 Choose the Intersect tool again.
8 Click the top, front, and back surfaces to create curves on

surface.
● You do not need to use the Intersect tool on the front or back
surfaces. Because you used Intersect on the top and side surfaces
with the Both Surfaces option, the front and back surfaces
already have curves on surface.

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Trim
Use the Trim tool to trim the surfaces back to the curves on
surface:
1 In the Modify shelf, choose Trim-❏.

The Trim tool trims a surface region defined by curves on surface.
2 Make sure the Shrink Surface option is off.
● When you trim a surface, the trimmed area is not deleted, but
merely hidden. Normally you can use the Untrim tool to easily
recover the trimmed region.
The exception is when the Shrink Surface option is on. This
option deletes parts of the trimmed surface and cannot be
undone.
3 Click Go.
4 Click an edge of the top surface.

SurfaceStudio prompts you to select the region or regions of the
surface to keep or discard.
5 Click the part of the surface you want to keep. This is the area
inside the curves on surface.

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A cross appears showing the region you clicked.
6 Make sure the buttons in the bottom right corner of the view
window are set to Keep.
7 Click Go.
8 The Trim tool trims the surface to the curves on surface.
Trimmed Top Surface
9 Repeat this operation for the remaining three surfaces: select the
surface by clicking its edge, click inside the curves on surface to
define the region to keep, and click Go to trim the surface.
● If you cannot trim a surface, the curves on surface may not

define a closed region. You may not have intersected the
surfaces properly. If the surfaces do not trim, do the following:
◆ Check the promptline history for error messages.

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◆ Delete all curves on surface.
◆ Try repeating the intersecting procedure.
Completed Primary Surfaces
Conclusion
● Use Birail and Swept to create primary surfaces from fitted

curves.
● Create and apply construction planes.
● Use Curve Stretch to reshape an entire curve to create an

intersection.
● Use scan deviation measurements to check surfaces against scan

data.
● Extend surfaces.
● Use the Intersect tool to create curves on surface.
● Trim surfaces with curves on surface.

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Conclusion
5 Creating Transitions

• Loading the Lesson Once you have created primary surfaces, you can use SurfaceStudio
File page 180. to add transitional surfaces between the completed primary
surfaces.
• Using Round to Create
Tangent Lines page 181. Transition surfaces include rounded fillets (called secondary surfaces)
along edges between primary surfaces, and corners (sometimes
• Creating Construction
called tertiary surfaces) where fillet surfaces meet.
Curves page 187.
• Creating the Surfaces with
Birail page 208.
• Alternate Methods for
Creating
Transitions page 216.
Horiz. Fillet Corner Vert. Fillet Horiz. Fillet
In this lesson, we will show you a reliable method for creating

curvature-continuous transition surfaces using the Round and Birail
tools. This method gives you the most control over the shape of the
transition surfaces.
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Then we will show you alternative methods for creating transition
surfaces to give you more flexibility in different circumstances.

You will load a pre-made file containing finished primary surfaces
from the CourseWare directory.
The lesson file consists of three simple primary surfaces. The

surfaces do not have multiple spans, but you will see flow lines on
the surfaces because the patch precision has been increased to show
the shape of the surfaces.
Surfaces Contained in the Lesson Wire File
2 If the file lister is not shown, click Show List in the requester
window to open it.

SurfaceStudio loads the primary surfaces from the file.
Creating Transitions
180
on the model.
● The lesson file has three pre-made layers: Round, Circ fillet, and
Freeform fillet. You will work in the Round layer for the first part
of the tutorial, and switch to the other layers when you begin
looking at alternative methods for creating transitions.
6 The Round layer button should have a while outline indicating it

is the creation layer. If the layer button does not have a white
outline, click it to make the Round layer the creation layer.
Using Round to Create Tangent Lines

The first step to create the transitions is to create curves on surface
with which to trim the primary surfaces back to make room for the
transitions.
You will use the Round tool to create the curves on surface and
automatically trim the primary surfaces.
Use Round to create curves on surface for fillets:
1 In the Surface shelf, choose 9.0 Round-❏.

The 9.0 Round Object Options window appears.
9.0 Round Object Options Window
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The 9.0 Round tool creates fillet surfaces and corners along
shared surface edges.
2 In the options window, set Trim Type to Automatic and Tangency to

Accurate, then click Go.
3 Click the edge between the top surface and a side surface.
The edge changes color and a radius manipulator appears.
4 Type 50 and press Enter to set the fillet radius along this edge.
The radius manipulator changes to show the new radius.
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5 Click the Tgl extend edge button in the bottom right corner of the
view window.
The highlighted build line extends beyond the original edge.
● The Round tool works by creating curves on surface, trimming,

then creating surfaces between the trim edges.
Create Curves
on Surface Trim the Surfaces Create a Fillet Surface
How the Round Tool Works
(Depending on the Trim Mode setting, the creation of curves on

surface and the trim operations are both optional.)
In cases where an edge is at an acute angle to the surface or
surfaces, the curves on surface will not extend all the way to the
surface edge.
The Tgl extend edge button ensures that the curves on surface
will intersect all surface edges.
Offset curves on surface do Offset curves on surface

not reach edges because of from extended edge.
acute angle.
Tgl Extend Edge
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6 Click the edge between the top surface and the other side
surface.
7 Click Tgl extend edge.
8 Click the edge between the two side surfaces.
9 Type 100 and press Enter to set the radius along this edge.
10 Click Tgl extend edge.
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11 Click the Build button in the bottom right corner of the view
window to create the fillet surfaces.
The Round tool creates curves on surface, offset by the radius
distance parallel to the edge. Then the Round tool creates fillet
surfaces, and a corner surface where edges meet.
Round creates surfaces with many isoparms and tangent continuity

only. While these surfaces are acceptable for many other purposes,
for technical surfacing you will require a less complex set of surfaces
with curvature continuity.
For this reason, you will delete these surfaces and use the curves on
surface created by the Round tool to build new transitions.
Inspect and delete the initial surfaces:
1 Pick nothing.
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2 In the control panel, click the horizontal or vertical zebra stripe
shader button to see highlights on the surfaces.
3 Tumble around the model to see the highlights travel across the
edges between the primary and transition surfaces.
● The sharp direction changes in the highlight stripes show that

the Round surfaces have only tangent continuity with the
primary surfaces.
4 In the control panel, click the wireframe button to return the

display to normal.
5 Pick one of the surfaces created by Round.
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All the surfaces become picked.
● The Round tool automatically groups together the surfaces it

creates, so picking one surface picks the entire group.
6 Press the Delete key and click Yes to delete the surfaces.
Creating Construction Curves
Create and Edit Blend Curves on the Outside Edges
Create blend curves at the ends of the transitions:
1 In the Blend Curves shelf, choose Blend Curve Create.
2 Snap the first constraint on the bottom edge of one of the side
surfaces and slide it to the corner toward the vertical transition.
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3 Snap the second constraint on the bottom edge of the opposite
side surface and slide it to the corner toward the vertical
transition.
4 Choose Blend Curve Create again to start a new curve.
5 Create more blend curves at the ends of the transitions as shown

in the following illustration. Wherever possible, snap the
constraints to the edge you want the blend curve to travel out of
or into.
Edit the directions of the blend curves:
1 In the Blend Curves shelf, choose Blend Curve Edit.
2 Click the blend curve at the bottom of the vertical transition.
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3 Click one of the constraints to select it.
4 In the Blend Curves shelf, choose Constraint_Geometry.

A directional manipulator appears on the constraint.
● You will use the manipulator to change the direction of the

blend curve, so it matches the direction of the bottom edge of
the surface to which the constraint is attached.
There are four methods for changing the direction of the curve
from the constraint:
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◆ Click a dashed direction line extending from the constraint to
match the curve to the tangent or normal plane of the
surface to which the constraint is attached.
◆ Drag on one of the dotted rotation arcs to rotate the direction
in one axis.
◆ Click the small circle, located on the long blue arrow
approximately halfway between the center of the
Direction lines manipulator and the square tangent scaling handle. This is
the free rotation handle.
Rotation arcs
Free rotation handle
With the free rotation handle selected, drag the left, middle,
or right mouse buttons to rotate the direction in the three
local axes.
◆ Click the free rotation handle to select it, then use curve
snapping to snap the direction to a curve such as the surface
edge to which the constraint is attached.
● The direction line method is the easiest in this case, because the
dashed lines match the bottom edge of the surface.
5 Click the dashed line extending from the center of the

manipulator along the bottom edge of the surface.
6 Repeat the process at the other end of the curve: click the
constraint to select it, choose Constraint_Geometry, then click the
dashed line extending along the edge of the surface.
7 With the Blend Curve Edit tool still selected, hold down the shift
key and with the middle mouse button click one of the blend
curves at the outside end of a horizontal transition.
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Shift + MMB
● Shift-clicking allows you to pick other blend curves besides the

one you are working on.
8 Use the same method to edit the directions of this blend curve,
then the final blend curve at the end of the opposite horizontal
transition.
9 Pick nothing.
Next you will create blend curves around the corner transition. You
will untrim the side surfaces to allow you to snap the blend curves
directly to the curves on surface (rather than the trim edges) and set
the direction from them.
Create and Edit Curves Surrounding the Corner
Untrim the side surfaces:
1 In the Modify shelf, choose Untrim.
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2 Click the two side surfaces.
The trimmed parts and the curves on surface become visible

again.
Create blend curves surrounding the corner:
1 Choose Blend Curve Create to start a new curve.
2 On one of the side surfaces, snap the first constraint to the

vertical curve on surface closest to the transition and slide it to
the top.
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3 Use curve snapping to place the second constraint halfway
along the bottom edge of the top surface and slide it to the end
closest to the transition.
You must use curve snapping to place this constraint so the

constraint will stop at the end of a curve on surface. Without
curve snapping the constraint can travel freely across the
surface and will slide right around the transition.
With curve snap: the constraint Without curve snap: the constraint
stops when it reaches the end is free to travel around the surface
of the curve on surface. edge.
4 Choose Blend Curve Create again to start a new curve, and repeat
the process on the other side of the corner.
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5 Choose Blend Curve Create again to start a new curve.
6 Place the first constraint on the horizontal curve on surface on

one of the side surfaces, and slide it to the end closest to the
transition.
7 Place the second constraint on the horizontal curve on surface on

the opposite side surface, and slide it to the end closest to the
transition.
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8 Pick nothing.
Edit the direction of the blend curve at the bottom of the

corner:
1 Choose the Blend Curve Edit tool
2 In the Blend Curves shelf, choose Constraint_Geometry.

3 Click the dashed line extending out from the center of the
manipulator along the curve on surface.
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4 Use the same method at the other end of the curve: click the
other constraint to select it, choose Constraint_Geometry, and click
the dashed line extending along the curve on surface.
Set the Directions of the Vertical Curves Around the Corner
Edit the direction at the bottom of one of the vertical blend

curves:
1 Hold down the shift key and with the middle mouse button click
one of the vertical blend curves on the sides of the corner.
Shift + MMB
2 Click the constraint at the bottom of the curve to select it, then
choose Constraint_Geometry.
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3 Click the dashed line extending out from the center of the
manipulator along the vertical curve on surface.
You want the direction at the top of the blend curve to align with the
parameterization of the top surface. This will ensure a quality
surface later on.
To achieve this, you will use the Project tangent tool to align a new
construction curve to the parameterization of the top surface, then
match the direction of the blend curve to the construction curve.
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Create construction geometry with which to align:
1 In the right mouse button marking menu, choose Palette to show

the full palette of tools.
2 In the Curves palette, choose New Curves > New Curve (edit pts)-❏.
The New Curve (Edit Points) Options window appears.
New Curve (Edit Points) Options Window
3 Set Curve Degree to 1, then click Go.

A one degree curve is simply a straight line or series of straight
lines.
You will use a degree 1 curve here because you only want a
curve to mark a direction, so you do not need any curvature.
4 Use magnet snapping to place the first edit point at the top end
of the vertical blend curve you just edited.
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5 Use magnet snapping to place the second edit point at the
bottom end of the blend curve.
6 Close the Palette window.
7 In the Curves shelf, choose Project_Tangent-❏.

The Project Tangent Adjustment window appears.
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The Project_Tangent tool aligns a curve to a surface tangent.
8 Click the degree one curve you just created near the top surface
to specify the end of the curve you want to project.
9 Click the edge of the top surface to specify the surface from
which you want to project the curve.
A manipulator appears on the curve and the options in the
Tangent Alignment window become available.
200
10 In the Project Tangent Adjustment window, hold the mouse button
on the Tangent Align pop-up menu to open it.
11 Choose U or V from the Tangent Align menu so that the straight

construction curve becomes perpendicular to the surface edge.
(do not pay attention to the direction lines on the manipulator).
◆ If the curve does not become perpendicular to the surface

edge, choose the other option (for example, if you chose U,
change to V).
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Curve is projected from
wrong parameterization.
Choose the other parameter
(U or V) from Tangent Align
menu.
◆ If the curve becomes perpendicular but does not extend out

of the surface, open the Tangent Align menu and choose
Reverse.
Curve is projected in the

wrong direction.
Choose Reverse from the
Tangent Align menu.
You now have a construction curve pointing out from the surface,
aligned to the correct parameterization.
Next you will use the manipulator on the constraint at the top of the
blend curve to match the direction of the blend curve to the direction
of the construction curve.
Edit the direction at the top of the blend curve:
1 Choose Blend Curve Edit.
2 Click the blend curve to which you snapped the construction

curve.
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3 Click the constraint at the top of the curve to select it.
4 Choose Constraint_Geometry.
5 Click the free rotation handle on the manipulator to select it.

Remember that the free rotation handle is a small circle on the
long blue arrow, about halfway between the center of the
manipulator and the square tangent handle.
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Free Rotation Handle
The free rotation handle is small and can be hard to see. If you
cannot see the manipulator, try clicking where the blue arrow
intersects the dotted rotation arcs.
6 Use curve snapping to snap the handle to the construction curve

which you just aligned to the top surface.
The blend curve is now aligned to the correct parameterization

of the top surface.
7 Pick nothing.
8 Pick the construction curve.
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9 Press the Delete key and click Yes to delete the curve.
This blend curve is complete. Now you can repeat the process for
the blend curve on the opposite side of the corner.
Repeat the process for the other blend curve:
1 Use Blend Curve Edit to select the constraint at the bottom of the
blend curve.
3 Set the direction at the bottom of the curve by clicking the

dashed line extending out of the vertical curve on surface.
4 Choose New Curve (edit pts) with the Degree option set to 1.
5 Magnet snap the edit points of the new curve to the ends of the
blend curve.
6 Choose Project_Tangent, click the construction curve, then click

the top surface.
7 Use the Tangent Align pop-up menu to set the opposite alignment
(U or V) that you set for the other side.
8 Use Blend Curve Edit to select the constraint at the bottom of the
blend curve.
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10 Set the direction at the bottom of the curve by clicking the free
rotation handle to select it, then snapping the handle to the
construction curve.
11 Pick only the construction curve and delete it.
Before Moving On
View the blend curves and retrim the side surfaces:
1 Notice how you have aligned the blend curves to the surfaces:
◆ The bottom ends of the curves project out of the surface
edges.
◆ The top ends of the curves align with the parameterization

of the top surface.
2 In the Modify shelf, choose Trim.
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3 Click one of the side surfaces.
4 Click inside the area you want to keep.
5 Make sure the Keep button is selected, then click Go.
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6 Repeat for the other side surface.
Creating the Surfaces with Birail

Use Birail to create the transition surfaces:
1 In the Surface menu, choose Birail-❏.

The Birail Control window appears.
2 In the Birail Control window, set the following options:

◆ Set Generation Curves to 2.
◆ Turn Rebuild Paths on.
◆ Set the continuity for gen.1 and gen.2 to Position.
◆ Set the continuity for path 1 and path 2 to Curvature.
◆ Set Continuity Max New Spans to 0.
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◆ Turn Explicit Control on.
◆ Set the Gen. Degree and Path Degree to 5.
◆ Set the Gen. Spans and Path Spans to 1.
Birail Control Window
3 Click the blend curve at the outside end of one of the horizontal
transitions to select it as the first generation curve.
209
4 Click the blend curve near the corner at the opposite end of the
horizontal transition to select it as the other generation curve.
5 Click the bottom edge of the top surface between the two
generation curves to select it as the first path curve.
210
6 Click the top edge of the side surface between two generation
curves to select it as the other path curve.
The Birail tool sweeps the generation curves along the path
curves to create the surface. Labels on each edge of the new
surface show the continuity achieved on that edge.
● If one of the path edges fails to achieve curvature continuity,

delete the surface and redo the Birail, but click the path curves in
the opposite order.
7 Repeat the process to create Birail surfaces along the other two
transition areas.
Remember to use the blend curves as the generation curves and
the surface edges as the path curves.
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Use Birail to create the corner surface:

◆ Set the continuity for gen.1, gen.2, path 1, and path 2 to
Curvature.
◆ Set the Gen. Degree and Path Degree to 7.
2 Click the inside vertical edge of one of the birail surfaces leading
into the corner to select it as the first generation curve.
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3 Click the inside vertical edge of the opposite birail surface to
select it as the other generation curve.
4 Click the top edge of the vertical birail surface (at the bottom of
the corner) to select it as the first path curve.
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5 Click the rounded edge of the top surface (at the top of the
corner) to select it as the other path curve.
The Birail tool sweeps the generation curves along the path
curves to create the surface. Labels on each edge of the new
surface show the continuity achieved on that edge.
● If one of the path edges fails to achieve curvature continuity,

delete the surface and redo the Birail, but click the path curves in the
opposite order.
Check the Quality of the Surfaces
Use evaluation tools to check the surfaces:
1 Pick nothing.
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2 Use the horizontal and vertical zebra stripe shaders to see how
the highlights travel across the transition surface now.
● To hide the wireframe of the model and show only the shading,
use DisplayTgls > Model. Choose the menu item again to toggle
the model wireframe back on.
3 Use the default reflection shader to see an image reflected on the

surfaces.
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4 Use the curvature map shader to show the curvature values
across the surfaces as color.
The colors on some surfaces (such as the corner in the diagram)

may be “inverted” if they have a different UV orientation from
the rest of the model. This does not affect the actual shape of the
model.
You can correct the display by using the Reverse tool with the
Swap U and V option to change U coordinates on the surface to V
coordinates and vice-versa.
5 Click the wireframe button in the control panel to return the

view to normal.
Alternate Methods for Creating

Transitions
Now you will see several alternative methods for creating transition
surfaces:
● Methods for creating simple transition surfaces between two

surfaces using circular and eccentric fillets.
● Alternate methods to the Round tool for creating curves on

surface.
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Alternate Methods for Creating Transitions
● Alternate methods to blend curves and Birail for creating
transition surfaces using Freeform fillets.
● Alternatives to curves on surface as contact points for freeform

fillets.
Methods for Creating Simple Transitions
Switch to the Circ fillet layer:
1 In the Round layer’s pop-up menu, turn off Visible.
2 In the Circ fillet layer’s pop-up menu, turn on Visible.
3 Click the Circ fillet layer button to make sure it is the creation
layer. The layer button should have a white outline.
Use the Fillet tool with the Circular option to create a transition
surface:
1 In the Surface shelf, choose Fillet-❏.

The Fillet Options window appears.
2 Set the following options:

◆ Set Construction to Circular.
◆ Set Tangency Achieved to Accurate.
◆ Turn Trim Curves on.
◆ Turn Blend Control off.
◆ Set the Knee Ratio to 1.0
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3 Click Go.
4 Click one of the surfaces.

Lines appear on the surface showing the direction of the surface
normals.
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● The normals should point toward the “inside” of the model
(that is, the normals should point toward the center of the fillet
radius).
5 If the normals are not pointing in the correct direction, click the
Reverse button in the bottom right of the view window.
6 When the normals are oriented correctly, click Accept.
7 Repeat for the other surface: click the surface, click Reverse if
necessary to point the normals toward the center of the fillet
radius, then click Accept.
The Fillet tool creates a new circular fillet with tangent continuity
between the two surfaces you clicked. This process may take a
while.
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● The common edge between the two surfaces is slightly shorter
than the surfaces themselves, creating an acute angle. The Fillet
tool does not have enough information to continue past the
common edge and stops building the fillet surface before it
reaches the end of the surfaces.
In this case, you could overbuild the surfaces or use Round with
the Tgl Extend Edge option instead.
● SurfaceStudio prompts you to type a knee ratio. The knee ratio

allows you to change the normal radius of a circular fillet.
8 Type a knee ratio of 0.1 and press Enter.

The fillet becomes sharper, because the radius at the midpoint of
the fillet (the knee) is one tenth the normal radius of the fillet.
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9 Type a knee ratio of 2.0 and press Enter.
The fillet becomes flatter, because the radius at the knee is twice
the normal radius of the fillet.
10 Type 1.0 and press Enter to return the fillet to a circular shape.
11 Click Accept to finish the surface.
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Alternate Methods for Creating Curves on Surface
Switch to the Freeform fillet layer:
1 In the Circ fillet layer’s pop-up menu, turn off Visible.
2 In the Freeform fillet layer’s pop-up menu, turn on Visible.
Contents of the Circ Fillet Layer
3 Click the Freeform fillet layer button to make sure it is the creation
layer. The layer button should have a white outline.
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Use a primitive plane to create a curve on surface:
1 In the Primitives shelf, choose Plane.
2 Type 0,0,0 and press Enter to place a new NURBS plane at the
origin.
3 Use the Move and Nonp scale tools to Move and scale the plane
so it intersects the side surface.
Make the plane large enough so there is room between the side
surface and the edges of the plane.
4 Pick only the side surface.
5 In the Surface shelf, choose Intersect.

SurfaceStudio prompts you for the geometry you wish to
intersect with the side surface.
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6 Click the primitive plane.
The Intersect tool creates a curve on surface on the side surface
where it intersects the plane.
● The curve on surface is linked to the plane with construction

history. You can continue to edit the orientation of the plane and
the curve on surface will automatically update.
7 Rotate the plane to see the curve on surface update.
Duplicate the common edge to create a curve on surface:
1 In the Curves shelf, choose Duplicate Curve.
2 Click the edge between the side and top surfaces.
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The Duplicate Curve tool duplicates the edge to create a new
curve.
3 Move the new curve in Y to position it directly under the

tangent line you want on the top surface.
4 In the Modify shelf, choose Extend Original.
5 Click one end of the new curve and extend it beyond the edge of
the top surface. Repeat at the other end of the curve.
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This step is analogous to the Tgl Extend Edge button in the Round
tool.
6 In the right mouse button marking menu, choose the Top

orthographic view.
7 Pick only the top surface.
8 In the Surface shelf, choose Project-❏.

The Project Options window appears.
9 Set the Projection Vector to Current Window, turn off Invoke Trim
Automatically, then click Go.
10 Click the duplicate curve to project it.
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The Project tool projects the curve along the view direction onto
the top surface and creates a curve on surface.
11 Switch to a perspective view to see the new curve on surface.
● The curve on surface is linked to the duplicate curve with

construction history. You can continue to edit the position of the
duplicate curve and the curve on surface will automatically
update.
12 Move the duplicate curve to see the curve on surface update.
You will now use these curves on surface as contact points for
constructing a freeform fillet.
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Alternate Methods for Creating Transition Surfaces
As you saw in the first part of the tutorial, one method for creating
transition surfaces from curves on surface is to use blend curves to
create generation curves and Birail to create surfaces.
An alternate method is to use the Fillet tool with the Freeform option
to build a rounded surface directly between two curves on surface.
Hide the construction geometry:
1 Pick the duplicate curve and the primitive plane.
2 In the ObjectDisplay menu, choose Invisible.
● The construction geometry becomes invisible. Making the

geometry invisible gets it “out of the way” for other operations,
but allows you to go back and edit it by making it visible again.
Use Freeform Fillet to create a surface:
1 In the Surface shelf, choose Fillet-❏.
2 Set the Construction option to Freeform, set Freeform Type to

Tangent, and turn on Blend Control.
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3 Click Go.
4 Click the two curves on surface to select them as the contact

points for the new fillet.
The Fillet tool creates a new surface and blend controls appear in
the bottom right of the view window.
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● Like Round, the Fillet tool creates a surface that is acceptable for
some purposes, but is too complex for technical surfacing. Also,
because you placed the curves on surface very quickly, simply as
an example, they may not result in an ideal fillet.
You have three ways to improve a Fillet surface:
◆ Edit the shape of the surface using the blend controls.
◆ Change the surface topology using the Degree and Spans
controls in the control panel.
◆ Edit the surface manually with tools such as Align and
Move CV.
For this example, you will use the blend controls to edit the
shape of the fillet surface slightly.
5 Drag the left mouse button to change the depth of the fillet.
The new depth displays in the prompt line, and when you
release the mouse button the surface updates.
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6 Drag the middle mouse button to change the bias between the
two ends of the fillet.
● A bias value of 0 places the “corner” of the fillet halfway

between the two ends of the fillet. Values less than 0 move the
corner toward the first curve you clicked. Values greater than 0
move the corner toward the second curve you clicked.
7 You can also change the depth and bias by typing two numbers
on the prompt line. Type 0.5 0 and press Enter to return the
depth to 0.5 and the bias to 0.
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8 Click the different buttons in the bottom right of the view
window to change the method for joining the fillet to the curves
you clicked:
◆ Click Primary to favor the degree of freedom of the first curve
you clicked.
◆ Click Secondary to favor the degree of freedom of the second
curve you clicked.
◆ Click Blend to blend equally between the two curves you
clicked.
◆ Click Ortho to join the fillet to the curves at 90 degrees and
blend in the middle.
Depending on where you placed the curves on surface, the
differences between the joining methods may be small.
9 Click the Go button in the bottom right of the view window to

finish the surface.
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10 In the control panel, set the Spans text boxes to lower values to
simplify the surface. Click Yes to delete the construction history.
SurfaceStudio shows the deviation between the original surface

and the rebuilt surface in the prompt line.
11 If the deviation is acceptable, click Accept to change the surface.

Otherwise, enter different values and check the deviation again.
Note that this is simply an example of rebuilding a fillet surface
with the control panel. You do not need to spend any time
trying to perfect this surface.
Alternatives to Curves on Surface
Next we will show you how to use isoparms/flow lines as input

curves for tools such as freeform Fillet. You can use these methods as
alternatives to creating curves on surface.
Delete the objects from the previous example:
1 In the ObjectDisplay menu, choose Visible.

The duplicate curve and primitive plane you created earlier
become visible again.
2 Pick the objects you created in the previous example:

◆ The duplicate curve.
◆ The primitive plane.
◆ The fillet surface.
3 Press the Delete key, then click Yes to delete the objects.
4 Pick the two curves on surface and press the Delete key.
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Use patch precision to show flow lines to use as input curves:
2 In the Surface shelf, choose Patch_Precision.

The Patch precision tool controls the number of flow lines
displayed between each span of the surface.
3 Drag the left mouse button to the right to increase the number of
flow lines on the surface.
Continue until you have a flow line corresponding to the tangent

line you want.
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● Using flow lines is fast, guarantees that the tangent line will
have an even offset from the surface edge, and gives identical
parameterization with the surface. The drawback of this method
is that the placement is not exact.
The next method allows a more precise placement of the tangent
line.
Use Insert to place an isoparm to use as an input curve:
1 In the Modify shelf, choose Insert.

The Insert tool inserts an edit point in a curve, or an edit point
isoparm in a surface.
2 Click an isoparm on the top surface which is parallel to the

common edge with the side surface. Drag to position the new
isoparm.
3 You can also type a parameter value to place the isoparm

exactly. Type 0.85 and press Enter to move the new isoparm.
4 Click Go to insert the isoparm on the surface.
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Now you will “trim” the surfaces. When using isoparms, you cannot
use the Trim tool, which works with curves on surface. Instead, you
will use Detach to separate the surface at the isoparm, then hide part
of the surface.
Use Detach to trim the two surfaces:
1 In the Modify shelf, choose Detach.

The Detach tool separates a curve or surface into two objects at a
certain edit point or isoparm.
2 Click the flow line corresponding to the tangent point on the

side surface.
The Detach tool divides the side surface into two new surfaces at
that flow line.
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3 Click the isoparm you inserted on the top surface.
The Detach tool divides the top surface into two new surfaces at
that isoparm line.
4 Pick the two “extra” surfaces created by the detach operations.
5 In the ObjectDisplay menu, choose Invisible.
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Create a freeform fillet between the two edges:
1 In the Surface shelf, choose Fillet.
2 Click the top edge of the side surface.
3 Click the corresponding edge on the top surface.

The Fillet tool creates a new surface between the two edges.
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Conclusion
● Create tangent continuous surfaces and curves on surface using

the Round tool.
● Use blend curves to create transition curves between surfaces.
● Use the direction manipulator to edit the continuity of blend

curves.
● Use Project tangent to create construction geometry for use with

blend curves.
● Use Birail to create curvature continuous transition and corner

surfaces.
● See the difference between tangent and curvature continuity

using diagnostic shading.
● Use Fillet tool options to create circular fillets with different knee
ratios, and freeform fillets between surface curves.
● Create curves on surface using construction geometry and the

Project and Intersect tools.
● Use the Patch precision, Insert, and Detach tools to create

isoparms/flow lines to use as construction curves.
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Conclusion
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Conclusion
6 Direct Modeling

• Loading the Lesson You have seen one method for creating surfaces from scan data:
File page 241. fitting curves to the data, then creating surfaces using the fitted
curves.
• Examining the
Scans page 243. Now we will show you another method, called direct modeling. Using
direct modeling, you will create a simple surface, then mold the
• Creating the First
shape of the surface directly to match the scan data.
Surface page 248.
• Creating the Second In this lesson, we will show you how to create simple surfaces from
the scans, then edit the surfaces to match the scan data while
Surface page 269.
maintaining simple geometry and a regular hull network.
• Creating the Transition
Surface page 288. You will also apply skills you learned in previous lessons to create a
transition surface from construction curves, and check the deviation
• Evaluating the and quality of the surfaces using SurfaceStudio evaluation tools.
Surfaces page 298.

2 If the file lister is not shown, click Show List to open the it.

SurfaceStudio loads scans from the file.
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The Contents of the Loaded Wire File
The file contains X, Y, and 3D scan lines describing one half of a

symmetrical truck hood.

on the model.
Features in the Lesson File
This part was scanned in X and Y. Because the part is so flat, no Z

scans were created. The file also contains 3D scans showing the
tangent lines between the different areas of the part: two primary
surfaces, and transition.
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Back
“Inside”
ea
n Ar
First Surface s itio
n
Area Tra
3D Lines
Second Surface
Area
“Outside”
Front
The Surface Areas and 3D Lines
Often you will have to work without these kinds of clarifying scans.
However, in this case we will assume that extra scans have been
taken to help you fit the surfaces.
Examining the Scans

The first thing you will do is check the scan data. When first
provided with scan data, you should check it for imperfections to
see where you will get incorrect deviation, or even whether you
need to re-scan the part.
You should also look for surface features such as areas of high
curvature and curvature breaks. You can use this information to
plan how and where to fit surfaces to the data.
Add more camera tools to the marking menu:
1 In the right mouse button marking menu, choose Palette to show

the tool palettes window (if the palette is not visible).
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243
Examining the Scans
2 Find the Cameras palette.
3 In the Preferences menu, choose Interface > Marking Menus to

show the marking menu shelves.
4 In the Marking Menus window, click the Misc (right mouse button)
tab to show the tools on the right mouse button marking menu.
Right Mouse Button Tab
5 In the Cameras palette, drag the following tools to the marking

menu shelf:
◆ Cameras > World Move camera > Dolly.
◆ Cameras > Local Move camera > Twist.
◆ Cameras > Local Move camera > Azimuth/elevation.
● Now you will edit the Dolly tool on the shelf to set options
related to surfacing.
6 Double-click the Dolly tool in the shelf to show the Viewing Options
window.
Viewing Options Window
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Examining the Scans
7 Set Scaling to Non Proportional.
The non-proportional option of the Dolly tool allows you to
squeeze the entire view in one direction. This is very useful for
exaggerating small differences in the model.
8 Click Save to keep the settings.
● Before moving on, you will give the tools shorter, descriptive
names to keep the marking menu compact.
9 Remember that you can rename a tool on a shelf by holding

down the Ctrl key and double-clicking the tool. Rename the
tools you added to the shelf:
◆ Rename Cameras > World Move camera > Dolly to
Non_prop_View.
◆ Rename Cameras > Local Move camera > Twist to Twist_View.
◆ Rename Cameras > Local Move camera > Azimuth/elevation to
Roll_View.
10 Click and hold the options button in the title bar of the Marking
Menus window to show the pop-up menu, and choose Save Shelf
Set.
A file requester appears. The path is automatically set to the
default directory for saving marking menu shelf sets.
11 In the filename text box, type Lesson6.mmenus, then click

Save Shelf Set.
SurfaceStudio saves the shelf set in the default directory. This
will allow you to load the shelf set again if you lose it.
12 Close the Palette and Marking Menu windows.
13 Hold down Shift and Ctrl keys and the right mouse button to
show the edited marking menu.
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Examining the Scans
Edited Right Mouse Button Marking Menu
Use non-proportional dolly to check the scan data:
1 Click the zoom box to size the Perspective view window to fill
the screen.
2 Hold down the Shift and Alt keys to show the viewing panel.
Make sure the Perspective option is off.
3 In the bookmarks section of the viewing panel, click new to

create a new bookmark.
Setting bookmarks will allow you to quickly and easily toggle
between normal and non-proportional views of the model.
4 In the viewing panel, click the front view arrow to show the
front of the model.
5 In the right mouse button marking menu, choose Non_prop_View.
6 Drag the middle and left mouse buttons to squeeze the view
horizontally.
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Examining the Scans
When the view is squeezed horizontally, vertical differences are
exaggerated. You can use this to see very small differences or
inflections, stray points in the scan lines, and surface features
such as tangent lines.
7 Check the quality and features of the X and 3D scanlines.
● You won’t see any imperfections in the lesson file, and the
features and boundaries are already identified in the lesson file
with 3D lines. However, these viewing methods are useful for
checking production scan data.
8 In the viewing panel, click a side view arrow to show the side of
the model.
● The squeezed view is best for exaggerating small differences in

horizontal lines. You can twist the view of the model to make it
more horizontal and further exaggerate it in the non-
proportional view.
9 In the viewing panel, create a new bookmark so you can return

to this non-proportional view.
10 In the right mouse button marking menu, choose Twist_View.
11 Drag the left mouse button to rotate the view until the model is
roughly horizontal in the view window.
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Examining the Scans
Horizontally Squeezed Side View
12 Check the quality and features of the Y and 3D scanlines.
13 In the viewing panel, click the bookmark you created earlier to

return to a normal view of the model.
Creating the First Surface

The first surface you will create is the large primary surface between
the centerline and the 3D tangent line closest to the centerline.
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248
You will start with this surface because it is best to start building
from a fixed position, in this case the centerline.
Use Square to create the first surface:
1 In the Surface shelf, choose Boundary surfaces > Square-❏.
2 Set the Continuity pop-up menu to Free Boundary, and turn on

Explicit Control.
3 In the Surface Degree Controls section, set U and V degree to 2, and

U and V spans to 1.
4 Close the Square Control window.
5 Use curve snapping to place the four corners of the new surface:
◆ Snap the first corner locator on the centerline scan and slide
it to the top.
◆ Snap the second corner locator to the centerline scan and

slide it to the bottom.
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249
◆ Snap the third corner locator to the inside 3D line (closest to
the centerline) and slide it to the bottom.
◆ Snap the fourth corner locator to the inside 3D line and slide
it to the top.
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● The order in which you placed the corners controls which
directions on the surface are U and V.
We had you place the corners in this order for consistency with
the following instructions. When you create surfaces with
Square, you can start with any corner and add the corners in
either clockwise or counter-clockwise order.
● You can specify edges for the Square tool in two ways: if you
click a curve, isoparm, or surface edge, Square will use that
curve as an edge for the new surface. If you use curve snap,
Square will use the locator as a corner for the new surface.
You can mix and match these two methods. You can specify four
curves, two curves and one corner, one curve and two corners,
or four corners, as in this example.
6 In the control panel, click the plus button labeled CVs/Hulls.
7 In the Modify shelf, choose Symmetry_Align.
8 In the Top view window, click the edge of the surface on the
centerline.
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Notice how the surface begins to take shape. The Symmetry_Align
tool has moved the inner row of CVs to maintain tangency with
the centerline edge.
Fit the Centerline
Use Move CV to get an initial fit to the centerline scan:
1 In the Perspective view window, pick the surface.
2 Choose Move CV from the tools at the bottom of the control

panel.
3 In the CV Move section, set the mode to XYZ/Hull and click the
box labeled Y to lock the Y axis.
Locking the Y direction keeps you from accidentally moving the
surface off the centerline.
4 Select the inner hull running across the surface (perpendicular to

the centerline).
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252
5 Use the left and right (X and Z) mouse buttons to move the hull
until you have a good visual fit of the inside surface edge to the
centerline scan.
You will find the best way to fit the surface edge is to move the
hull far forward to where the curvature is highest in the scan
data.
6 Pick nothing.
7 Pick both the surface and the centerline scan.

An easy way to do this is to draw a pick-box with the middle
mouse button.
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253
Remember that the middle mouse button picks only what you
click or draw a pick-box around.
8 In the control panel, click the Scan deviation button at the bottom.
A deviation comb appears between the surface edge and the
scanline.
9 In the Deviation section of the control panel, set the Scale to 20.
The deviation comb becomes more visible.
● The Scan deviation tool works by measuring the distance between

the surface and the scan in the surface’s normal direction.
Therefore, if you tried to see the scan deviation before you use
Symmetry Align in this case, you would get odd or no
measurements along the surface edge.
You obviously cannot achieve acceptable deviation with a degree 2

surface. However, it is always good to start with the simplest
geometry and only increase complexity as necessary.
You will increase the surface degree to give you more hulls with
which to fit the centerline scan.
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254
Increase the degree of the surface:
1 Pick only the surface.

You can do this easily using the pick lister in the control panel.
Hold the mouse button on the pick lister pop-up menu to show
a list of all picked objects, then pick the surface from the list.
2 In the control panel, increase the U degree of the surface to 3.

The control panel has two text boxes labeled Degree. The left text
box is the U degree, and the right text box is the V degree.
3 Click Accept to increase the degree.
Design a good distribution of hulls:
1 In the CV Move section of the control panel, turn on the Step Size
option.
The Step Size option scales your mouse movements so that large
gestures move the CV a small amount. This is necessary when
working with such small distances.
2 Continue to use Move CV to move the hulls for a better fit along
the centerline.
● Keep in mind the following suggestions throughout the fitting

process:
◆ You will want to move the hulls from the back of the
surface, which is relatively flat, to the front where the
curvature is highest.
◆ You will have to adjust both hulls running across the surface
(perpendicular to the centerline) to improve the fit.
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◆ Do not allow one hull or CV to “do all the work.” This will
lead to kinks in the hull distribution. Move each hull
incrementally to prevent this.
◆ It may be easier if you try to keep all the deviation above or
below the scanline at first.
● Begin to imagine a good distribution of hulls and work toward

that goal.
A good hull distribution:
◆ Puts more hulls in areas of high curvature.
◆ Has even or smoothly changing spacing between hulls.
◆ Has consistent direction change along hulls, with no

zigzags, W shapes, or pronounced peaks.
The following illustration shows how the hulls should

eventually look at the end of the fitting process.
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256
3 Try to fit the surface to within 0.5 mm before increasing the
degree again.
Once you try to fit the surface, you will see that you will need to
increase the degree again. Therefore you should not spend a
long time trying to get great deviation with two hulls.
4 Increase the U degree to 4.
5 Use the viewing panel to switch to a side view of the model.

Make sure you are creating a good hull distribution as outlined
above.
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257
6 Continue to move the hulls in X and Z to fit the centerline.
● You will find that by moving the hulls toward the front of the
surface you can fit the area of high curvature to a good tolerance.
However, you still need more control to handle the flat portion
at the back of the surface.
7 Increase the U degree to 5.
8 Continue to move the hulls until you believe you have a good
distribution of hulls and the deviation is around 0.25 mm.
Continue to refine the centerline fit:
1 In the viewing panel, click the bookmark you created earlier of a

twisted, non-proportional side view.
2 Check the hull distribution. The non-proportional view will

highlight any zigzags or peaks.
3 In the CV Move section of the control panel, decrease the Step Size
to 0.01.
Because you have already fit to a low deviation, you need to
make smaller movements. As you continue to fit, you may even
want to decrease the step size further.
● Use the bookmarks to switch back and forth between the normal
and non-proportional views.
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258
4 Continue to fit until you cannot decrease the deviation any
more. You may not be able to fit below 0.1 mm.
Good Hull Distribution
Check the surface curvature:
1 In the control panel, turn on Y cross-sections. In the Cross

Sections section of the control panel, set the Step text boxes to
100.
2 Turn on curvature on Y cross-sections (Click the plus button

labeled Curvature on sections: Y).
Curvature combs appear on the Y cross-sections.
3 In the Curvature section of the control panel, set the Scale to 8.
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259
● The curvature combs should show constant acceleration from
the back to the front of the surface.
4 Turn off the Y cross-sections.
5 Create a new layer and rename it Fitted Surfs.
7 Assign the surface to the new layer.
8 Turn on Symmetry in the Fitted Surfs layer.
9 Pick the surface again.
10 Turn on X cross-sections and curvature on X sections. Curvature

combs appear on the X cross-sections.
● The combs should show smooth curvature across the centerline.

You may want to dolly in closer to see where the curvature comb
crosses the centerline more closely.
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11 Turn off X cross-sections.
12 Turn off Symmetry in the Fitted Surfs layer.
Fit the Outside Edge
You have anchored the surface with good positional continuity

along the centerline. Now you will use the 3D scanline on the other
side of the surface to achieve positional continuity on the outside
edge, and define the tangent out to the transition surface.
Fit the surface to the 3D line in the top view:
1 Use the viewing panel to switch to a top view of the model.
2 Choose the Move CV tool from the bottom of the control panel.
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261
3 In the CV Move section of the control panel, set the Mode to Slide/
CV. Turn off Step Size to allow you to make large, quick
movements.
You will use the slide mode to maintain the general shape of the
hull network. You will only slide the CVs of the outside edge
along the hull connecting them to the CVs in the middle of the
surface.
4 Click a CV on the outside edge to select it. Then click the small
arrow indicating the hull along which you want to slide. Choose
the hull connecting the CV to the corresponding CV in the
middle of the surface.
5 Slide CVs along the tangents toward and away from the
centerline to fit the outside edge of the surface to the 3D line in
the top view.
6 Once you have a rough fit, turn Step Size on in the CV Move
section of the control panel to allow finer movement.
7 Use a non-proportional view to highlight the deviation along the

scanline.
8 Use the bookmarks to return to a normal view.
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Pull the Surface Into Place in 3D
Now that you have positional continuity along the edges, you will
now move individual CVs in the Z-axis to fit the surface to the
scanlines.
Fit the surface:
1 Pick the surface.
2 In the control panel, increase the V degree to 4.

This will give you enough control points to keep curvature
continuity across the centerline and still fit the outside edge of
the surface.
1st column of CVs: Position on centerline

2nd column: tangent continuity across centerline
3rd column: curvature continuity across centerline
3 Make the ysecs layer invisible.
4 Choose Pick Objects in the xsecs layer.

All the scanlines in the xsecs layer become picked.
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5 Pick the surface also.
6 Choose Scan Deviation from the tools at the bottom of the control
panel.
Deviation combs appear between the scanlines and the surface.
7 In the Deviation section of the control panel, set the Scale to 30

and the Minimum Threshold to 0.1.
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Now the deviation locators will only display values greater than
your tolerance of 0.2 mm. Wherever you decrease the deviation
below the tolerance, the deviation comb will disappear. When
all the deviation combs disappear, you have fit the surface
within the tolerance.

panel. Set the Mode to XYZ/CV and the Step Size to 0.01. Click the
boxes to lock X and Y and unlock Z.
Because you have already fit the outside edge in the top view,
you will only move CVs up and down to fit the surface in Z.
10 Move CVs from the two outside columns to fit the surface to the
scanlines in Z.
You cannot move the three inner “columns” of CVs (CVs on the
three closest hulls parallel to the centerline) because they are
maintaining curvature continuity across the centerline.
Do not move CVs

on these three hulls
Only move CVs on

these two columns
● Move each CV incrementally. Don’t try to decrease all the

deviation with one CV. Go from CV to CV, moving them up or
down in small amounts. This will help keep good hulls.
● Make sure you do not introduce zigzags or peaks in the hull

distribution as you move CVs.
An excellent method for achieving a good hull distribution is to
actually move the CVs where they should be for an ideal hull
distribution, then figure out how to decrease deviation without
changing the hulls too much.
The following illustration shows an ideal hull distribution:
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● Use the following techniques to help check the hull distribution:
◆ In the menus, choose DisplayTgls > Model to hide the model so
that only the hull network is visible. Choose the command
again to show the model again.
◆ Check the hulls in the top and side views.
◆ Use non-proportional views to highlight differences along
the hulls.
◆ Use the Roll tool in the right mouse button marking menu to
“roll” the model to see how parallel hulls relate to each
other.
11 Continue fitting the surface until the maximum deviation is less

than 0.2 mm.
Check the surface curvature:
2 Turn on Symmetry in the Fitted Surfs layer.
3 In the control panel, turn on X cross-sections and curvature on X

cross-sections.
4 Switch to a non-proportional view and squeeze the view

horizontally to exaggerate the vertical differences across the
combs.
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5 Look for any problems in the curvature across the centerline.
Dolly in and use non-proportional viewing to highlight where
the curvature combs cross the centerline. Fitting to the 3D line
may have pulled the surface slightly out of curvature continuity.
● If you see any peaks or dips in the curvature combs along the
centerline, you will need to make slight adjustments to fix the
problem.
Choose Move CV and set Mode to Slide/Hull. Click the inside hull
one over from the centerline, and slide it along the tangent
toward the centerline.
If the problem is localized, you may want to slide individual
CVs instead of the entire hull.
6 Use the bookmarks in the viewing panel to return to a normal

view.
7 In the control panel, turn off all cross-sections.
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9 In the Diagnostic Shading section of the control panel, click the
Surface Evaluation icon to check the curvature of the surface.
10 Select CrvX from the Surface Evaluation Type pop-up menu.

By selecting CrvX, you can view the curvature of the surface in
the direction of the X-axis. Note that the change in color across
the surface is gradual.
11 Use the Curvature Color Scale to adjust the assignment of color to

curvature values. As you shift the shading bar back and forth,
note that there is little change in color on the surface.
12 Increase the value in the Curvature Color Scale field to 50.

Note that even though the scale is much larger now, the change
in color across the surface is still gradual. This indicates that the
curve in the X direction has no significant change.
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13 Click the wireframe icon in the control panel to turn off shading.
14 Turn off Symmetry in the Fitted Surfs layer.
Save Your Work
In the File menu, choose Save As and save your work. You may want
to save often during this tutorial, using incremental file names (such
as direct.1.wire, direct.2.wire) to make it easier to return
to a previous version if you run into problems.
You have now completed the first surface of the hood. Now you will
create the second primary surface, making sure to parameterize the
second surface to match the first surface for a better transition later.
Creating the Second Surface

Use Square to create the second surface:
1 Make the xsecs and 3Dlines layers visible, and make the ysecs
layer invisible.
2 In the Surface shelf, choose Square_4corners.
3 Use curve snap to place the four corners of the new surface:
◆ Snap the first corner locator on the outside middle 3D scan
and slide it to the top.
◆ Snap the second corner locator to the outside middle 3D

scan and slide it to the bottom.
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◆ Snap the third corner locator to the outside 3D line and slide
it to the bottom.
◆ Snap the fourth corner locator to the outside 3D line and

slide it to the top.
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4 In the control panel, click the plus button labeled CVs/Hulls.
Fit the second surface using Fit Scan
Using the Fit Scan tool, you can modify an existing surface to fit
section data. Fit Scan eliminates the manual surface manipulation
required to fit surface patches to section data, and significantly
reduces the amount of time required in reverse engineering and
Class-A surfacing.
When you select the Fit Scan tool, the active surface geometry will be
modified to fit the shape that the scan data describes.
Use Move CV to match hulls with the first surface:
1 In the control panel, set the U degree of the new surface to 5.

.
You know that the surface must be degree 5 in U to match the

degree of the first surface. Matching the degree ensures a
simple, high-quality transition later. Now you will match the
parameterization as well using the Move CV tool.

panel, and set the Mode to XYZ/Hull. Lock Z and unlock X and Y.
Turn Step Size off.
3 Move the hulls running across the surface (perpendicular to the

centerline) in X and Y to match the hull positions of the first
surface.
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4 Look at the surfaces in the Top window to verify that the hull
positions do match. The hulls should appear to transition
smoothly between the two surfaces.
Use Fit Scan to fit the surface to the section data
1 In the Ortho(Camera) window, select the second surface and all

of the X cross-sections (the section data to which you will fit the
second surface).
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2 Click the square in the upper left hand corner of the Fit Scan icon
to open the Fit Scan Settings box. This will trigger the Fit Scan
operation and open the Fit Scan Settings window.
3 If Keep Originals is on when you open the settings window, turn

it off. Doing this will help you to keep the model view as clean
as possible.
4 Change the U Degree setting to 5 and the V Degree setting to 3.
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5 Click the Apply button.
You are now looking at the modified surface geometry.
Fit the Outside Edge
Move CVs to fit the outside surface edge to the outside 3D scan
line:
1 Use the view panel to switch to a top view.
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2 Choose Move CV. Turn off Step Size, lock Z and unlock X and Y.
3 Move the outside edge CVs to fit outside edge.

As you move the CVs in Y to fit to the edge, move them back in
X to match the flow from the first surface through the inside
edge.
Notice that the flow is flatter at the front and more fanned near
the back, matching the desired shape of the surface.
4 Tumble the view to clearly show the outside edge, the cross-
sections, and the scan lines.
5 In the CV Move section of the control panel, turn on Step Size,

lock X and Y, and unlock Z.
6 Move the outside edge CVs up and down in Z to fit the outside
edge visually.
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Check deviation between the surface and the scans:
1 Choose Pick Objects in the xsecs layer.

All the scan lines in the xsecs layer become picked.
2 Pick the surface.
3 Choose Scan Deviation.

Deviation combs appear between the surface and the X scan
lines.
4 In the Deviation section of the control panel, turn off Min to hide
the minimum deviation labels and reduce clutter.
5 In the Deviation section of the control panel, set the Minimum

Threshold to 0.5.
Setting the minimum threshold gives you instant feedback when
you fall within the tolerance.
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● Your tolerance for the outside surface will be 0.5 mm.
The second surface is more challenging than the first, because it
does not have as much “given” information (the position and
tangency across the centerline).
Because of this, you can allow for a looser tolerance on the
second surface in this lesson. Depending on the project, your
work environment, and time pressures, your production
tolerances may be more or less strict.
● Notice that the area of high curvature and deviation runs along
the length of the surface near the outside edge.
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You will pull the hull next to the outside edge outward to put
more control in this area.
7 Choose Move CV. Set the Mode to Slide/Hull.
8 Click the interior hull next to the outside edge.
Arrows appear on each CV indicating possible slide directions.
9 Click one of the arrows pointing along the hulls connecting this
hull to the outside hull.
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10 Drag the mouse to slide the hull outward to the area of
deviation.
11 In the CV move section of the control panel, set the Mode to NUV/
Hull.
NUV mode moves the CV or hull along the Normal, U, or V
directions of the surface.
12 Drag the left mouse button to move the hull along the surface
normals.
The deviation decreases dramatically on the surface.
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Move individual CVs to design the hull distribution:
1 In the CV Move section of the control panel, set the Mode to XYZ/
CV.
2 In the control panel, click the minus button labeled Deviation.

SurfaceStudio hides the deviation combs.
3 Use the view panel to switch to a top view.
4 Move individual CVs to design a good hull distribution. The

following illustration shows an ideal hull network:
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Designing a good hull distribution includes doing the
following:
◆ Fit the front and back edges of the surface.
◆ Move the CVs in the hulls running along the surface to

blend between the shape of the inside and outside surfaces.
5 Use the view panel to switch to a perspective view.
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6 Using the cross-sections as a guide, move individual CVs in X, Y,
and Z to improve the fit of the surface.
The following illustration shows an ideal hull network:
Ideal Network: Top, Front, and Perspective Views
When moving CVs, remember the following:

◆ Once again, don’t try to shape the entire surface with one
CV. Go from CV to CV, moving each incrementally.
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◆ You must balance a good hull network and low deviation.
For example, if a CV should move toward the front of the
surface for a good hull network, it will probably need to
move down in Z to decrease deviation.
If you move a CV forward for ...you must move it down
better hull distribution... for better deviation
Example of Maintaining Hulls and Low Deviation
◆ Keep tumbling around the surface to view it from different

angles. One particular angle may not show all the deviation
or the true direction of the hulls.
7 Continue to move CVs until you have a good visual match

between the cross-sections and the scan lines.
Move CVs for an exact fit:
1 Show the deviation locators again. Click the plus button labeled
Deviation in the control panel.
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2 In the CV Move section of the control panel, set the Step Size to
0.01.
Now that you have a good visual fit and a good hull
distribution, you do not want to make any large movements of
CVs.
If you find that a value of 0.01 mm still moves the CVs too
quickly, decrease the Step Size to 0.005.
3 Continue to fit to the xsecs until the deviation is less than 0.5
mm.
4 Make the ysecs layer visible.
5 Choose Pick Objects in the ysecs layer.
6 Pick the surface.
7 Click the Scan Deviation tool at the bottom of the control panel.
Deviation combs appear between the Y cross-sections and the Y
scan lines.
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8 Continue to fit the surface and maintain the hull distribution
until the deviation from the both the X and Y sections is less
than 0.5 mm.
Check the Surface Quality
Use evaluation tools to check the surface quality:
2 In the control panel, turn on curvature on X cross-sections.
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● These curvature combs show how the curvature changes along
the cross-sections. You can see that where the surface curves
downward it pulls the cross-sections, and so the combs do not
give a good indication of the curvature across the front of the
surface.
To see how the curvature changes across the front of the surface,
use the curvature on U controls.
3 Turn off the curvature on X cross-sections.
4 Click the plus button labeled Curvat U.

Curvature combs appear on flow lines with constant parameter
values.
5 Click the Curvature tool at the bottom of the control panel to

show the Curvature section.
6 In the Curvature section of the control panel, set the Spacing to

Length and the first Num text box to 10.
SurfaceStudio displays 10 curvature combs across the surface.
● The combs should appear similar to the following illustration:
7 Turn off Curvat U.
8 Turn on Curvat V.
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9 Look at the combs in a side view. They should have constant
acceleration from the back of the surface to the front, as in the
following illustration:
If the curvature combs show flatness or deceleration, you will

need to go back and move CVs slightly to correct the problem.
10 In the control panel, turn off Curvat V and X cross-sections.
11 Make the xsecs and ysecs layers invisible.
12 Pick nothing.
13 In the control panel, use horizontal and vertical zebra stripes to

show highlights on the two surfaces.
The stripes should line up closely, but not exactly, between the
two surfaces.
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14 Click the wireframe button in the control panel to return the
view to normal.
Before Moving On
Clean up the model and save:
1 Pick both surfaces.
2 Turn off CVs/Hulls and X and Y cross-sections.
3 Assign the surfaces to the Fitted Surfs layer.
4 Make the 3Dlines, xsecs, and ysecs layers visible.

You will build the transition between the surface edges, so you
can hide the 3D scan lines for now.
5 Save your work.
Creating the Transition Surface

Use a blend curve to connect the top and back curves:
1 In the Blend_Curves shelf, choose Blend_curve_create.
2 Use curve snapping to place the first constraint on the front edge
of the first surface and slide it to the end farthest from the
centerline.
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Blend curve constraints will automatically “snap” themselves to
curves and surfaces. In this case, you know you want the
constraint on the bottom edge, so you use curve snapping to
lock the constraint to the edge, instead of letting it travel over
the entire surface.
3 Place another constraint on the front edge of the second surface

and slide it to the end closest to the centerline.
● The curve takes on an initial shape that is incorrect. You must

edit the blend curve constraints to reshape the curve with the
correct direction and continuity.
4 In the Blend_Curves shelf, choose Blend_curve_edit.
5 Click the first constraint you created to select it.
6 In the Blend_Curves shelf, choose Constraint_Geometry.

A direction manipulator appears on the constraint.
7 On the manipulator, click the dashed direction line projecting

out from the end of the front edge of the surface.
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8 In the Blend_Curves shelf, choose pt_g2.
The pt_g2 tool makes the blend curve curvature continuous with
the surface.
9 Choose Blend_curve_edit and click the other constraint.
10 Choose Constraint_geometry.
11 On the manipulator, click the dashed direction line projecting

out from the front edge of the second surface.
12 Choose pt_g2 to make the blend curve curvature continuous

with the back curve at this constraint.
Repeat the procedure at the back of the model:
1 Choose Blend_curve_create.
2 Snap the first constraint to the end of the back edge of the first
surface, then snap the second constraint to the end of the back
edge of the second surface.
3 Choose Blend_curve_edit and select the first constraint.
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4 Choose Constraint_Geometry and click the dashed direction line
on the manipulator projecting out from the surface edge.
5 Choose pt_g2 to make the constraint curvature continuous.
6 Choose Blend_curve_edit and select the other constraint.
7 Choose Constraint_Geometry and click the dashed direction line

on the manipulator projecting out from the surface edge.
8 Choose pt_g2 to make the constraint curvature continuous.
Finished Blend Curves
Now you have construction curves with which to create the

transition surface. Since you have four curves (the two blend curves
you just created, plus the edges of the two surfaces), you could use
either the Square or the Birail tools to create the surface.
In this case, it is best to use Birail:
● Square blends the shapes of its construction curves toward the

center of the surface. In this case the shape of the front and back
curves will be lost compared to the much longer edge curves.
● The Birail tool keeps the shape of the generation curves as it

sweeps them along the path curves. In this case it will preserve
the shapes of the front and back curves better than the Square
tool.
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Use Birail to create the transition surface:
1 In the Surface shelf, choose Birail-❏.

◆ Set the Generation Curves pop-up menu to 2.
◆ Turn Rebuild Paths off.
◆ Use the pop-up menus in the continuity table to set gen.1
and gen.2 to Position and path.1 and path.2 to Curvature.
Continuity Table in the Birail Control Window
◆ Turn on Explicit Control.

◆ Set the Gen. Degree and Path Degree controls to 5.
◆ Set the Gen. Spans and Path Spans controls to 1.
3 In the Control Options section of the Birail Control window, turn on

Create History and Auto. Recalc.
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● You will use construction history to edit the surface after it is
created. Construction history links any curves, surfaces, or
manipulators used to create a curve or surface, so that editing
the construction geometry with automatically update the object
it created.
In this case, the Birail tool with create a link between the
construction curves and the new surface, so that editing the
curves will update the shape of the transition surface.
4 Click the blend curves you created to select them as the

generation curves.
5 Click the surface edges to select them as the path curves.
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Birail creates the surface. The labels on the edges report whether
the continuity you asked for was achieved. The Path 1 and Path 2
edges should have “Curvature”. The Gen.1 and Gen.2 edges will
not have labels, since positional continuity is the default.
Edge Labels
● If one of the labels reports that continuity “(failed)”, Birail could

not achieve curvature continuity along that edge. If your surface
has failed continuity, try the following:
◆ Make sure the Rebuild option is off in the Birail Control
window.
◆ Click the path curves in the opposite order.
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◆ Go back and look for problems in the blend curves and
possibly reconstruct them.
◆ Recheck the curvature on your surfaces.
6 In the control panel, turn on CVs/Hulls for the new surface.
● The new surface was created with a less-than-ideal distribution

of hulls.
7 Use the horizontal zebra stripe shader to see highlights

travelling across the transition.
The curvature across the transition is not very smooth.
8 Click the wireframe button to return the view to normal.
You have two options to improve the surface: you can manually edit
CVs to improve the hull distribution, or you can take advantage of
construction history by editing the original blend curves to change
the surface.
In this example, you will edit the blend curves to update the surface
through construction history.
Use construction history to edit the surface:
1 In Blend Curves shelf, choose Blend Curve Edit.
2 Click the blend curve.
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Because the curve and the surface occupy the same space, a pick
list menu will appear. Choose the blend curve from the list.
3 Click one of the constraints to select it.

The manipulator reappears.
● Note the circle and square handles on the long arrow projecting
from the manipulator. You can use these handles to change
curvature and tangent scaling at this constraint.
4 Use the curvature and tangent scaling handles on the

manipulator to try to improve the hull distribution.
Drag the edge of the circle handle to change the curvature scale.
Drag the edge of the square handle to change the tangent scale.
Try to pull the two adjacent hulls slightly closer to the edge of
the surface where the curvature is highest.
5 Click the other constraint, and use the manipulator handles to

try to improve the hull distribution at this end of the curve.
Again, try to pull the two adjacent hulls slightly closer to the
edge of the surface where the curvature is highest.
6 Repeat the process for the blend curve at the other end of the
surface. Try to improve the hull distribution by changing the
curvature and tangent scaling of the constraints.
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Check the deviation between the transition surface and the
scan lines:
1 Turn on Visible in the xsecs layer, then choose Pick Objects.
2 Pick the transition surface.
3 Choose Scan Deviation from the tools at the bottom of the control
panel.
Deviation combs appear between the surface and the scan lines.
4 If you still have deviation greater than 0.5 between the

transition surface and the scan lines, you have two options:
◆ Continue to adjust the scaling of the blend curve constraints
to change the shape of the surface.
◆ Manually adjust CVs with the Move CV tool.
5 When you are done checking the deviation, go to the Evaluate

shelf and choose Del_All_Locators.
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Evaluating the Surfaces
Now that you have completed the transition surface, you can
evaluate all three surfaces. Evaluate the surfaces twice. First use the
Dynamic Section tool, then use the IsoAngle tool.
Prepare the surfaces for evaluation:
1 Pick all three surfaces.
2 In the control panel, turn on X cross-sections.
3 Check the match between the cross-sections and the scan lines.
4 Turn off the X cross-sections and make the xsecs layer invisible.
Use the Dynamic Section tool to evaluate the surfaces:
1 Select Evaluate > Dynamic Section or click the Dynamic Section icon.
2 Select the blue center of the manipulator.
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3 Align the blue axis with the transition surface.
4 Select Evaluate > Dynamic Section-❏ or click the upper left corner
of the Dynamic Section icon.The Dynamic Section Options box will
appear.
Any adjustments that you make in this options box will
immediately be reflected in the surface cross-sections.
5 Experiment with the number of planes and the step size.
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6 Click Curvature in the bottom right corner of the window.
Experiment with the curvature scale in the options box.
Curvature scale controls the size of the curvature combs on the

cross-section lines.
7 Click Geom to replace the display of sections with curve

geometry.
8 Save the new curves as a wire file.
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Use the IsoAngle tool to evaluate the surfaces:
You can use the IsoAngle as well to evaluate continuity across

surface boundaries.
1 Select Evaluate > IsoAngle or click the IsoAngle icon.
There are two ways you can set and manipulate the light source for
the surfaces. You can either manipulate the locator or use your
mouse. Experiment with the light source using your mouse first. To
directly manipulate the iso angle characteristics:
2 Use the left mouse button to set the light source for the surfaces.
3 Use the middle mouse button to adjust the width of the light
source.
4 Use the right mouse button to move the light source.
Now, experiment with the manipulator:
5 Click Show Manipulator in the bottom right corner of the window.
6 Use the manipulator to move the light source. The arrow icon
represents the light source.
7 Select Evaluate > IsoAngle-❏ or click the upper left corner of the
IsoAngle icon.The IsoAngle Control box will appear.
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8 Turn off Shaded surface.
9 Turn on Visual Curves. As opposed to the Shaded Surface display,

Visual Curves displays curves-on-surface where the highlight
occurs.
10 Experiment by manipulating the curve as you did above.
11 Click the Wireframe icon in the control panel to return the view to
normal.
Conclusion
● Use the Square tool to create surfaces by specifying corners on

the scan data.
● Reshape surfaces manually using the Move CV tool.
● Design the surface for a clean hull distribution for higher quality
surfaces.
● Use the Minimum Threshold option to hide deviation combs within

the tolerance.
● Use diagnostic shading to evaluate surface curvature.
● Create transition surfaces using blend curves and the Birail tool.
● Use construction history to edit surfaces by modifying their

construction curves.
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Conclusion
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Conclusion
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Conclusion
Numerics C creating
blend curves 127
boundary surfaces 249
3D model camera surfaces with square tool 269
changing view 45–59 moving 45–59 transition with Fillet tool and
palette 244 Circular option 217
tracking, dollying and transitions with alternate
tumbling 45 methods 216
A camera move keys 48
camera move mode 46
transitions with Birail
tool 208
creating surfaces
activating changing direct modeling 241
point of interest 52 degree of curve 99
creation layer 141, 217
active windows 18 changing view
cross-sections 298
adding bookmarks 57 Look At tool 49
curvature on 85
Align tool 126 viewing panel 54
options 153
application checking showing and hiding 84
running it 7 curvature, with Extend_New
curvature 266
starting up 7 tool 119
checking with Extend_New
deviation between surface
arranging windows 12–18 tool 119
and scan data 153
arrow on tool icons 20 constant 115
for smooth curvature 103
editing locator 103
assigning surface curvature 259
map shader 88
curves 131 surface quality 285
on cross-sections 85
scan lines 73, 77 tangent point placement 104
on isoparms 286
Circular option on sections 259, 260
creating transition 217 showing and hiding 84, 103
smooth 103
B closing windows 13
components 63 surface, checking 259
curvature color scale 268
picking 64
bias, fillet 231 cone 22 curvature map shader 216
Birail tool 144, 151, 208, 212, connecting Curve 156
292 curves 288
continuity table 292 curve
using 141 constant curvature 115 matching to scan line 95
vs. Square 291 construction history 293 curve fitting 95
blend curves 187, 288 surface editing 295 Curve section tool 133
creating 127 construction options curve snap 97
direction of 195 setting 90
curve snapping 97, 193, 204,
editing 128, 130, 189, 190, 203, construction planes 147 249
289, 296
continuity table 292 Curve stretch tool 142, 148
bookmarks 247, 262, 267
adding 57, 59 control panel curves
removing 59 curvature color scale 268 assigning 131
renaming 58 diagnostic shading 87, 268 connecting 288
setting and showing 57 fit scan 271 degree 1 198
using 58 location in SurfaceStudio 10 duplicating 224
wireframe button 89 fitting to scans 97, 110
boundary surfaces
conventions isolating 109
creating 249
graphic 4 isolation 96
CourseWare_SurfaceStudio projecting from surfaces 197,
directory 69 200
stretching 142, 148 directory wire 68
trimming 133 wire 68 File menu
curves on surface 174, 183, 224, distributing Save As 80
226 hulls 255, 280 files
customizing dollying 45 filename extensions 80
hotkeys 45 non-proportional 244, 246, importing 81
marking menus 40, 41 262 opening 69
shelves 32–40 Duplicate curve tool 224 organization 67
CVs saving 80
duplicating objects 116, 224
moving 99, 100, 271, 282 fillet creation tools
showing and hiding 83 dynamic cross sections Fillet 217, 228, 238
with curvature 84 Round 182, 183, 187
cylinder 24
Dynamic Section tool 298 fillet parameters
bias 231
depth 230
D E join type 232
knee ratio 220
DAG 61 Fillet tool
edges creating transitions 217
degree 99, 198, 271 fitting 261
increasing surface 255 fillets
editing rounded 179
deleting direction of curve 195
locators 120, 131 Fit Curve tool 110
surfaces 185 Evaluate menu fit scan 271
Dynamic Section tool 298
depth, fillet 230 IsoAngle tool 301 fitting
Detach tool 236 curves 95
evaluating curves to scans 97, 110
deviation 254 deviation between two surface edges 261
between surface and curves 98 surfaces to scans 255, 256,
scans 276 surface quality 214 265, 266
checking 153 surfaces 298
scan 276 free curve 124
evaluation
scan to surface 154 free rotation handle 190, 203
deviation locator 98 surface 86
diagnostic shading 86, 87 evaluation tools 285
curvature map 88, 216
direct modeling 268
isoangle 88
EvalViewer 73
examining
G
random 88 scan data 243 generation curves 141
reflection map 89, 215 Extend tool 104, 119, 132, 169 geometry
single color 87 Extend_New tool 119 importing 80
transparency 87
extending graphic conventions 4
zebra stripes 89, 186, 215
surfaces 131 grid snapping 21
direct modeling 241
diagnostic shading 268 grid snapping. See also
directed acyclic graph hotkeys 20
(DAG) 61
direction
F
of curve 195
direction manipulator 289
features
turning on and off 82–86
H
directional manipulator 196 file Help menu 11
hotkeys 32, 44 isoparms location in SurfaceStudio 10
camera move keys 48 curvature on 286 menus
camera move mode 46 inserting 235 Toolchest 8
curve snap 97 showing and hiding using 12–18
customizing 45 interior 83
model
hull distribution 255, 256, 266, join types, fillet 232 changing view 45–59
275, 280, 282 knee ratio 220 model, showing and
hulls layer hiding 215
moving 252, 271 assigning scan lines 73, 77
showing and hiding 83 modeling
layers tolerances 90
assigning objects 75 modifying
color 76 surfaces with fit scan 271
I creating 75
creation layer 141, 217
renaming 75
Move CV tool 100, 252, 271, 284
slide mode 102
icon states 77 moving
starting up from the icon 8 symmetry 260 camera 45–59
starting up from the shell 8 layout CVs, for better fit 99
Icon Catalog 8 page 3 Xform tool 100
icon size lesson file moving windows 16
interface options 39 opening 67–72 nodes 61
importing line style 78 node states 61
prepared surfaces 80 line styles 78 Nonp scale tool 223
importing files 81 loading non-proportional scaling 118
inactive layer state 77 scan data 67–72 non-proportional view 244,
Insert tool 235 loading files 69 246, 262
inspecting locators object features
surfaces 185 deleting 120, 131 turning on and off 82–86
interface logging in to SurfaceStudio 7 objects
control panel 10 aligning 126, 152, 251
Look At tool 49 assigning to layers 75
main window 10
menu bar 10 magnet snapping 116, 198 changing degree of curve 99
overview 10 manipulating copying and positioning 117
Palette 10 direction 196 detaching 236
Shelves 10 point of interest 51 duplicating 116, 224
extending 104, 119, 132, 169
interface options manipulating windows 12–18 isolating 96
icon size 39 manipulator, direction 289 line style 78
point of interest 52 making invisible 97
marking menu
Intersect tool 173, 223 customizing 41–44 naming 74
intersecting picking and unpicking 25
marking menus
curves with construction scaling 223
adding tools 243
planes 147 showing and hiding
customizing 40, 41
features 82–86
isoangle shading loading 95
templating 110
diagnostic shading 88 shelf window 41
shortcuts 32 objects menu 20
IsoAngle tool 301
using 40 opening files 69
isographic camera view 57
matching option boxes 23
isolating curve to scan line 95
curves 109 options
menu bar shading 86
isolating objects 96
organizing Preferences menu assigning
files 67 Construction options 90 77
scan data 73–79 primitive NURBS objects changing line style 78
overview cone 22 isolating 96
control panel 10 creating 20 ScanSurfDeviation tool 154
interface 10 cylinder 24 scene block diagram 60–65
menu bar 10 plane 223
Palette 10 sphere 20 secondary surfaces
Shelves 10 rounded fillets 179
Project tangent tool 197, 200
SurfaceStudio main section data 272
window 10 Project tool 226
sections option 24
page layout 3 projects 71
setting
Palette promptline history 145 bookmarks 57
location in SurfaceStudio 10 reflection map shader 89, 215 construction options 90
using 18–45 renaming tolerances 90
palette bookmarks 58 setting tolerances 90
camera 244 layers 75 shading 87
Palette window 19 objects 74 curvature map 88, 216
tools 36 random color 88
palette/shelf menus 22
resizing reflection map 89, 215
password 7 objects 118, 223 single color 87
patch precision 180, 234 resizing windows 14 transparency 87
perspective vs. isographic 57 zebra stripes 89, 186, 215
rotating
Perspective window while copying objects 117 shading options 86
viewing panel 54 Round tool 181, 182, 183, 187 shadowed boxes 23
pick rounded fillets shelf/palette menus 22
components 63 secondary surfaces 179 shell
pick box 28 transitional surfaces 179 starting up from the shell 8
Pick palette 25 running the application 7 Shelves
Pick tool 26 saving 80 location in SurfaceStudio 10
picking files 80 shelves
all 25 shelves 32 adding tools 33, 34
by name 30, 75 tips 80 clearing 33
components 64 wire files 80 customizing 32–40
nothing 25 work 80 loading 94
objects 25 SBD 60–65 removing tools 38
wildcards 75 nodes 61 saving 32
window 62 shortcuts 31
picking objects
with scene block diagram 60– scaling shortcuts
65 while copying objects 117 curve snap 97
curve snapping 249
pivot point 116 scan data hotkeys 32, 44
Plane tool 223 direct modeling 241 marking menus 32, 40
EvalViewer 73 shelves 31, 32–40
point of interest examining 243
activating 52 tools 31
loading 67–72
locking 56 organizing 73–79 showing
showing and hiding 56 bookmarks 57
using 51 scan deviation 276
sliding 100
positioning Scan deviation tool 254
snap buttons 21
objects while copying 117 scan lines
assigning 73 snap mode. See also
hotkeys 20 fitting to section data 272 adding to shelves 33, 34
snapping importing 80 marking menu 243
to control points inspecting and deleting 185 options 23
(magnet) 116, 198 intersecting 173, 223 picking components 63
to curves 97, 193, 204, 249 rebuilding 233 removing from shelves 38
to grid 21 spans 233 renaming 36
transitional 179 shortcuts 31
spans, reducing 233 trimming 176, 206 small icons 39
sphere primitive 20 untrimming 191, 192 using 18, 18–45
splash window 9 surfaces, creating tools Palette 18–45
Square tool 249, 251 Square tool 249 tracking 45
creating surfaces 269 surfaces, modifying transition surfaces 179, 288
vs. Birail 291 symmetry align 251
transitions
stages 72 SurfaceStudio 8 alternate creation
starting SurfaceStudio 7 about tutorials 1 methods 216
Help menu 11 creating with Birail tool 208
starting up
interface 10 rounded fillets 179
from the icon 8
logging in 7
from the shell 8 translations
running it 7
process 9 while copying objects 117
running it from the icon 8
start-up screen 9 Trim tool 176, 206
running it from the shell 8
troubleshooting 9
splash window 9 trimming
workspace window 9
starting 7 surfaces 131
starting up SurfaceStudio 7 starting up 9
troubleshooting
start-up screen 9 troubleshooting during start-
during start-up 9
StudioTools manuals 3 up 9
using Help menu 11
using menus 12–18
sub-palettes 20 workspace window 9 tumbling 45
surface in orthographic windows 49
sweep option 24
editing with construction unpicking
history 295 sweeping
objects 25
evaluation 298 generation curves 141
Untrim tool 191, 192
evaluation tools 285 Swept tool 163, 166
evaluation, using dynamic untrimming
Symmetry align 251
section tool 298 surfaces 191
Symmetry align tool 152
evaluation, user account 7
using isoangle tool 301 Tangent Align menu 201
user name 7
increasing degree 255 tangent points
using
surface curvature 259 placement 104
Birail tool 141
surface evaluation 86 tangents 100 blend curves 127
surface fit templating 110 construction planes 147
checking 153 Tgl extend edge 183, 226 deviation combs 98
Dynamic Section tool 298
surface quality Tgl Template 110 Fit Curve tool 110
checking 285 theoretical intersections 131 free curve 124
surfaces tips hotkeys 44
creating with fit scan 271 saving 80 IsoAngle tool 301
creating with Round tool 181 Look At tool 49
detaching 236 tolerances marking menus 40
evaluating quality 214 setting 90 pick boxes 28
extending and trimming 131 Toolchest menus 8 Round tool 181
fitting to scans 255, 256, 265, tools tools 18–45
266 adding 243 viewing panel 54
using menus 12–18
using Pick tool 26
using SurfaceStudio 11
vertical curve
editing direction of 196
view
changing 45–59
viewing panel
bookmarks 57
bookmarks section 57
perspective option 57
point of interest section 56
using 54
view directions 55
wildcards 75
window
location in SurfaceStudio 10
windows
active 18
arranging 12–18
closing 13
moving 16
palette 19, 22
resizing 14
wire
directory 68
file 68
wire files
opening 69
saving 80
wireframe button
control panel 89
Xform tool 100
zebra stripes 89, 186, 215

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Learning SurfaceStudio 9.

The following are trademarks of Alias|Wavefront:

Maya is a registered trademark of Silicon Graphics, Inc. exclusively used by Alias|Wavefront.

Not all features described are available in all products.

Alias|Wavefront, 210 King Street East, Toronto, Canada M5A 1J7

The following manuals are provided only online. You can

You can find the Assistant Online at

For More Information 2

L e s s o n 1 Basics of the SurfaceStudio Interface 7

Overview of the SurfaceStudio Interface 10

Changing Your View of the Model 45

Understanding the Scene Block Diagram 60

L e s s o n 2 Loading and Organizing Data 67

Opening the Lesson File 67

Saving Your Work 80

Importing Additional Geometry 80

Turning Object Features On and Off 82

Setting SurfaceStudio Options 90

Loading the Lesson Files 93

Fitting the Centerline Curve 95

Fitting X Curves 108

Fitting Front and Back Z Curves 121

Creating Front and Rear Transition Curves 124

Extending and Trimming 131

L e s s o n 4 Creating Primary Surfaces From Curves 139

Loading the Lesson File 140

Creating the Top Primary Surface 141

Creating the Side Primary Surface 156

Creating the Front and Back Primary Surfaces 163

Extending and Trimming 169

L e s s o n 5 Creating Transitions 179

Using Round to Create Tangent Lines 181

Creating Construction Curves 187

Creating the Surfaces with Birail 208

Alternate Methods for Creating Transitions 216

Loading the Lesson File 241

Examining the Scans 243

Creating the First Surface 248

Creating the Second Surface 269

Creating the Transition Surface 288

Evaluating the Surfaces 298

In This Section: About the SurfaceStudio Tutorials

● Lesson 2: Loading and Organizing Data.

● Lesson 3: Fitting Curves to Scans.

● Lesson 4: Creating Primary Surfaces From Curves.

● Lesson 5: Creating Transitions.

These tutorials are densely packed with information and techniques

Some techniques, especially those related to fitting curves and direct

For More Information

For additional information and more comprehensive explanations of

You should start the tutorials at the very beginning of Lesson 1:

HowTo Use This Book

Users Familiar With Alias|Wavefront Studio Products

1 Start your copy of SurfaceStudio.

2 Load the Lesson2surfs.wire file from the CourseWare

3 Try the following topics:

How To Use This Book

● When we want to indicate a click, we use this symbol.