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Inventor Adv Loft Feature

The document discusses the loft feature in Autodesk Inventor Advanced. It describes how the loft feature blends multiple profiles or sections to create complex shapes. Sections can be planar or nonplanar faces and multiple sections can be added to control the shape. Loft rails, which are 2D or 3D curves intersecting the sections, and work points mapped between sections further define the shape. Transitions between sections, weights, and rails are used to control the smoothness and tangency of the lofted surface.

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Bob Loblaw
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287 views

Inventor Adv Loft Feature

The document discusses the loft feature in Autodesk Inventor Advanced. It describes how the loft feature blends multiple profiles or sections to create complex shapes. Sections can be planar or nonplanar faces and multiple sections can be added to control the shape. Loft rails, which are 2D or 3D curves intersecting the sections, and work points mapped between sections further define the shape. Transitions between sections, weights, and rails are used to control the smoothness and tangency of the lofted surface.

Uploaded by

Bob Loblaw
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Course in

AutoDesk Inventor - Advanced


Loft feature

AutoDesk Inventor - Advanced


Computational Mechanics, AAU, Esbjerg
Course Outline
Lesson 1. Part modeling – basic concepts reviewed
Lesson 2. Advanced part modeling - sweep
Lesson 3. Advanced part modeling - lofting
Lesson 4. Assembly – basic concepts
Lesson 5. Assembly – relations, parameters
Lesson 6. Assembly – advanced topics, skeleton modeling, adaptive models
Lesson 7. Drawing – view creation, sectioning, detailing
Lesson 8. Drawing – types of drawings, bill of material (BOM), plot
Lesson 9. Drawing – dimension tolerances, geometrical tolerances
Lesson 10. Drawing – surface finish tolerances, welding annotation

AutoDesk Inventor - Advanced Loft feature 2


Computational Mechanics, AAU, Esbjerg
The Loft Feature
• A loft blends multiple profiles with varying
shapes on separate planar or nonplanar
faces or work planes. These profiles are
referred to as Sections within the Loft
feature. To create complex shapes such
as those used in plastic parts or molds,
you can create a lofted surface. The
surface can then be used as a termination
plane for other features or used as a split
tool for a split part.
AutoDesk Inventor - Advanced Loft feature 3
Computational Mechanics, AAU, Esbjerg
Sections
• You can create as many sections as
you want. To control the shape and to
avoid twisting the loft shape, you add
loft rails: 2D or 3D curves that
intersect each section. You can
further control the shape by mapping
points on each section that aligns
along a straight vector.
AutoDesk Inventor - Advanced Loft feature 4
Computational Mechanics, AAU, Esbjerg
Transitions
• Nonplanar or planar faces may be
selected as beginning and ending
sections. Loft surfaces can be made
tangent to adjacent part faces for a
smooth transition.
• To use an existing face as the
beginning or end section of a loft, you
can select the face directly without
creating a sketch.
AutoDesk Inventor - Advanced Loft feature 5
Computational Mechanics, AAU, Esbjerg
Transitions
• You can set a boundary condition to the transition of the loft surface
to the normal of the starting and ending section. You can specify the
transition angle (the default is 90 degrees) and the weight to control
tangency of the loft surface.
• The relationship between the weight setting and how abruptly the
loft surface transitions depends on factors such as the section shape
and the distance between sections.

• Note: Extremely high weight values could result in twisting of the


lofted surface and may cause a self-intersecting surface. Set work
points on each section section and construct rails, 2D or 3D curves
through the work points, to minimize shape distortion.

AutoDesk Inventor - Advanced Loft feature 6


Computational Mechanics, AAU, Esbjerg
Weights

AutoDesk Inventor - Advanced Loft feature 7


Computational Mechanics, AAU, Esbjerg
Rails
• Rails specify the loft shape between sections. They may
be 2D or 3D lines, arcs, or splines that terminate on or
beyond a section. The portion of a rail that extends
beyond a section is ignored when the loft is created. A
rail affects the entire loft body, not just the faces or
sections it intersects.
• Section vertices without defined rails are influenced by
neighboring rails. When no rails are specified, aligned
sections and lofts with only two sections are joined by
straight lines.
• For additional shape control, create rails at appropriate
vertices. The shape of the loft transitions from one rail to
the next.
AutoDesk Inventor - Advanced Loft feature 8
Computational Mechanics, AAU, Esbjerg

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