How to Design a Bevel on Curved Surface - Guitar Body

[reynolds087RH7ST]

I'm trying to create a bevel that wraps around a guitar body. The shape of the bevel should follow a spline I made in the 2D sketch of the top of the guitar, which I used to split the extruded body. The bevel should cut to the depth of a curve I am trying to put on the side of the body for the variable depth of the bevel cut. I tried sketching a spline from the side view, and splitting the body, but since the bevel curves and extends across both an XZ plane and a YZ plane, it's causing a problem. Rather than the spline ending at the vertices of the top face of the guitar body, and endpoint of the "top" spline, it ends about a third of an inch below the top face of the guitar.

I added a couple images, hopefully that helps.

[davebYYPCU]

You will have to adjust the vertex to go where you want it with Move Tool, point to point.

Go to the Patch / Surface Section, (orange Icon Set)

use Loft, Select both curves. 

Use that body as cutter for Split Body.

Remove Or Hide the offcut, do not delete it.

Might help...

[reynolds087RH7ST]

Thanks, I tried that just now, but it won't let me move that point to the top of the guitar body. See the attached image. "OK" is grayed out.

[reynolds087RH7ST]

I think the problem is that I am trying to split a 3-dimensional face with a 2D spline. I would like to continue the curve of the spline upward around the bottom of the guitar until it reaches the top face of the guitar, but as the split curves around the bottom of the guitar, it just maintains the height of the last intersecting point of the sketch when the face becomes perpendicular to the sketched spline. How would I draw a spline around the curved face of the side of the guitar, rather than only on a 2D plane?

[davebYYPCU]

You're right you need a 3d sketch, 

Enabled in preferences? 

Ticked in the sketch palette? 

[reynolds087RH7ST]

Well, I enabled that in the preferences, but I still can't seem to figure out how to draw the spline on that curved face on the side of the guitar.

Would anyone be willing to do a screencast of how you would go about creating a similar bevel to the one in this attached picture? Doesn't need to be exact. I think I just need to know the basic concepts that I need to research, and from there I can run with it. Right now, I'm just dead in the water on this.

[davebYYPCU]

We'll need your file to stop or reduce the guessing. 2 photos, difference guitars.

File Export as F3D, or post a link for a F3Z file.

Attach to another message in a box below this window.

Might help....

[reynolds087RH7ST]

Thank you! Ok, here is the file. The 2nd spline that I was trying to split with is in the center of the guitar. If you look at it from the back view, that's supposed to be the variable depth of the bevel, and then it should taper back up to the top as it comes around the bottom of the guitar. Here are a couple pictures of other guitars for examples.

[davebYYPCU · Accepted solution]

Like this?

You seem to know Split Body, so went with that method, but also used a few different tools in different areas, 

so that you may see that combinations of various tools can get it done.

You dilemma came from the bevel turning back on itself, at the heel.  You were on the right track, so I split the tail off the small body you supplied, did it in 2 operations, and combined everything back together.  (one - 3d sketch)

Step up the timeline, check out the tools and settings with edit feature.

Happy to answer questions.

[reynolds087RH7ST]

I tried to follow along, but it seems like some of the sketches are empty. Is that correct, or am I missing something on my end?

I did use some of your ideas in the project, and was able to get it this far, but I can't get that second loft to work for the life of me. For some reason when I split the body using the spline I created, it is seeing it as two different rails that don't connect even though they clearly do. I spent a few hours on it, but I'm stumped at this point. Would appreciate it if you can tell me what I'm doing wrong.

[davebYYPCU]

A combo of my file and your new one, 

There are 3 sketches in the top of my file, they were not in the new file.

Your new surface body was used as the cutter for Body 19, but you had that body removed, restore that body so you can split body 19 with the surface, it adds a new body (24), and now you can remove body 19 and 21.

Sketch 13 was not in the original file.  Sketch 15 is causing trouble the curve is not tangent to the surface body edge, and needs to be. 

My sketch 16 is on an offset plane, has the surface body edge and the tail point, projected to it, those two articles are joined with a tangent spline.  The tail body is cut with this new curve.

Then there is a new sketch same as you did with the top outside triangle,  Make it a 3d sketch, and use Project > Include 3d Geometry, select the point of the tail for the loft.

Start a Loft Cut, take the top outside triangle, to the point as profiles, and then select each (3) Rails (body edge) of the triangle.

Hide / Remove what you don't need, and Combine Join what you do need.

Might help....

[reynolds087RH7ST]

Really appreciate you taking the time. That got it working! I didn't realize how important tangency is. Now I know all too well!