{"id":235,"date":"2012-07-10T10:43:51","date_gmt":"2012-07-10T14:43:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/example.org\/using-curvature-combs-to-inspect-curvature"},"modified":"2013-07-22T16:09:21","modified_gmt":"2013-07-22T16:09:21","slug":"using-curvature-combs-to-inspect-curvature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/2012\/07\/using-curvature-combs-to-inspect-curvature.html","title":{"rendered":"Using Curvature Combs to Inspect Curvature"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>One of my favorite ways to inspect curvature is to use curvature combs. These are graphical elements that display the amount of curvature at a given point on a sketch element. They\u2019re fantastic for predicting problem areas in sketches, especially splines, that will be used to generate complex surfaces.<\/p>\n<p>To display curvature combs for a sketch entity, simply right-click on the entity and choose Show Curvature Combs from the pop-up menu. When you do, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solidworks.com\/sw\/3d-cad-design-software.htm?scid=sm_bl_GSXIcombs\" target=\"_self\">SolidWorks<\/a> will create a set of lines normal to the sketch entity at points along that entity; the longer the line of the comb, the more curvature there is at that point.<\/p>\n<p>While the combs are very useful as is, they become even better more useful when you turn on the bounding curve. The bounding curve of a curvature comb makes it very easy to see even subtle changes or inflections in the curvature of an entity.<\/p>\n<p>&#0160;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.gxsc.com\/.a\/6a00d8349cbbac69e2016767e4298c970b-pi\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"image\" border=\"0\" height=\"175\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.gxsc.com\/.a\/6a00d8349cbbac69e2016767e429a2970b-pi\" title=\"image\" width=\"244\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 8pt;\">Curvature Combs with Bounding Curve off<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&#0160;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.gxsc.com\/.a\/6a00d8349cbbac69e2016767e429b3970b-pi\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"image\" border=\"0\" height=\"149\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.gxsc.com\/.a\/6a00d8349cbbac69e2017742bf0d17970d-pi\" title=\"image\" width=\"244\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 8pt;\">Curvature Comb with Bounding Curve on<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&#0160;<\/p>\n<p>To turn on these helpful bounding curves, go to Tools, Options, System Options, and pick the Sketch page. On that page you\u2019ll find a checkbox: Show curvature comb bounding curve.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.gxsc.com\/.a\/6a00d8349cbbac69e2017742bf0d26970d-pi\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"image\" border=\"0\" height=\"171\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.gxsc.com\/.a\/6a00d8349cbbac69e2017742bf0d3d970d-pi\" title=\"image\" width=\"244\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#0160;<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s an option I knew I had, but I had forgotten about it until recently when I was trying to explain using Curvature Combs in an Advanced Part class. I could mentally trace the flow of the curve because I knew what I was looking at; my students had a harder time until I increased the density of the curvature combs. I then thought to myself, \u201cWasn\u2019t there a way to show the flow of these curvature comb ends?\u201d A little digging into the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solidworks.com\/sw\/3d-cad-design-software.htm?scid=sm_bl_GSXIcombs\" target=\"_self\">SolidWorks<\/a> option pages and there it was! Use it and you\u2019ll find it even easier to predict surface behaviors when created from your sketches.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">&#8212;<\/p>\n<p>John Setzer is Training Coordinator at&#0160;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.gxsc.com\/\" target=\"_self\">Graphics Systems<\/a>, a SolidWorks Value Added Reseller with locations across Wisconsin and Illinois. He is a regular contributor to the Graphics Systems\u2019 blog:&#0160;<a href=\"https:\/\/blog.gxsc.com\/graphics_systems_solidnot\/\" target=\"_self\">SolidNotes.com<\/a>, your source for SolidWorks, Simulation, Data Management, &amp; Product Communication Tips &amp; Tricks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of my favorite ways to inspect curvature is to use curvature combs. These are graphical elements that display the amount of curvature at a given point on a sketch element. They\u2019re fantastic for predicting problem areas in sketches, especially<\/p>\n... <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/2012\/07\/using-curvature-combs-to-inspect-curvature.html\">Continued<\/a>","protected":false},"author":65,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[350,352,19],"class_list":["post-235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-solidworks","tag-curvature","tag-sketch","tag-solidworks-2"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/65"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.solidworks.com\/solidworksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}