Scribble in 3D

[vinzs78]

I need for a art piece to create a scribble to be 3d printed. I am trying to make 1 irregular line with a perfect tube of 1mm constain diameter.

I tried to loft or sweep with two circle on each end of the "scribble" but no success...

Anyone have an idea how i could give a colume to a 3d spline?

I have attched the itp to give a better idea what i am after.

[coreyparks]

I can't open the file you have attached bit is it something like this?  I drew a spline to start and then I started the work plane command and selected the spline close to the end I wanted to start on and then selected the end of the spline itself to attach the plane.  I created a sketch on theat plane and swept along the path.  Hope this helps.

[graemev]

I managed to create a plane perpendicular to the start point of the 3D spline and sketch a circle thereupon.  I even managed to pick the 3D spline as the path for the sweep.  The problem comes that a self-intersecting path is not compatible with the sweep tool.  Perhaps multiple non-self-intersecting splines would do the trick?  As a 3D printed item I suspect you'll actually want the wire to intersect itself here and there for structural support.

[JDMather]

Inventor 2014 is supposed to allow self-intersecting sweeps
http://wikihelp.autodesk.com/Inventor/enu/2014/Help/0000-What_s_N0/0001-What_s_N1/0003-Part3

but I could not get it to work with this "scribble".

My suggestion would be to start out with a much simpler scribble, get it working, and  then gradually increase the complexity.

If you are interested in one that doesn't self-intersect (and/or do not have access to Inventor 2014 as a student http://www.autodesk.com/edcommunity ) you might try this one

http://home.pct.edu/~jmather/content/DSG322/Inventor%20Tutorials/Inventor%2011%20Tutorial%207.pdf

Just ran a test - in 2014 I could have a self-intersecting condition as long as it wasn't "too" much.

[rdyson]

JD, according to a recent post answered by a adesk employee, a sketch can self intersect but a single surface created by that sketch cannot. The example I believe was a spring. If the swept sketch was a circle, it created a single surface that failed. He split the circle into two halves so that the top semicircular half surface intersected with the bottom surface. That allowed the sweep to suceed.

[glenn-chun · Accepted solution]

Hi vinzs78,

Please see my post:  Demystifying Self-intersecting Sweep

http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/Autodesk-Inventor/Demystifying-Self-intersecting-Sweep/td-p/4303803

Your case belongs to Type 1 mentioned in my post, so this is not allowed in sweep.

Glenn

Autodesk ShapeManager Development

[vinzs78]

Fantastic, I downloaded 2014 and it works! I just need to make a scribble that is: less complex and non interscting! thanks for all those answers...i am now re motivated to found the solution to this!