Spline Help

[Anonymous]

Hello,

I'm trying to create a uniform spline between two parallel lines. I'm modeling a bottle cap that has a wave design over the ridges (see attached image). Whenever I create the interpolated spline between the two lines I'm unable to constrain the bottom curve of the spline so that it doesn't go past the bottom of the cap.

Can someone point me in the right direction? This seems like an extremely easy feature to create, but it's giving me a very hard time.

Thanks,

[Frank-Oosterwaal]

Hi,

Look at the picture below. If you select the spline you will see handles at each spline point (blue/ grey faded lines in picture). Right click the handles and select "Activate handle" to activate it. You can then dimension, pull or rotate the handles to control the curve. 

Hope it's clear, good luck!

[SBix26 · Accepted solution]

As @Frank-Oosterwaal mentioned, the handles are the key to controlling the spline.  Once the handles are activated, you can constrain them and dimension them.  The length of the handle controls the tightness of the spline curve at that point.  Below is my fully constrained spline curve using your dimensions and adding a few of my own.  All the intermediate handles are the same length, but the two end ones had to be multiplied by about 1.3 in order to achieve a similar curvature-- not sure why that is, but I know almost nothing about the mathematics of splines.

Sam B

Inventor Professional 2018.1
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[Anonymous]

@SBix26

@Frank-Oosterwaal

Thank you! The information provided was very helpful. I was able to make the spline and wrap it around the cap.

Much appreciated,