Guide curve or more profiles for lofting.

brad_phelan

I am lofting a changing profile P(t) where t is a parameter tmin < t < tmax. I can generate the profile at any t so any number of intermediate profiles are possible. I could also generate the guide curves for the profiles. However is there any benefit to using guide curves if I can just generate more intermediate profiles directly? 

Arunabha_Nag

It depends on the shape you want to create. It is not possible to give the right answer without seeing what you want to generate. Note that a guide curve influences only one side face or one side edge of the loft.

If you are using intermediate profiles to provide location of loft sections (as opposed to changing the shape of the cross-section), you may want to try using 'path' (in FS, set "addSections" to true, set path-query as "spine" and number of intermediate profiles as "sectionCount"). Path will generate intermediate profiles for you.

brad_phelan

I am changing the shape of the profile. Not radically but lengths and angles change.

mahir

Either method (profiles vs guide curves) will work given enough curves or profiles. If you have the same number of vertices, at every profile, then you can use one guide curve for each vertex. If the shape changes drastically, profiles might be a better option. It will also depend on how complex your path is. Which method you use depends on which will be easier for you to edit/adjust if necessary and which gives the look you're after. Without knowing any specifics about your geometry, I would suggest you try both options and see what works best for you.