Drawing and Editing Splines

Splines are the equivalent of a French curve in traditional drafting, used for making curves of constantly changing radii. Splines have been part of AutoCAD for many releases, but the SPLINE command was completely overhauled in AutoCAD 2011. AutoCAD's new splines are NURBS-based curves (the same type used in Alias, Maya, 3ds Max, and many other high-end 3D programs). There are two types of NURBS curves:

  • Those defined by control vertices (CVs), which don't lie on the curve except at its start and end points and endpoint
  • Those defined by fit points, which lie on the curve itself

You have more control over shaping curves with CVs, but if you want the curve to pass through specific points, or want the curve to have sharp ...

Get AutoCAD® 2012 and AutoCAD LT® 2012 Essentials: Autodesk® Official Training Guide now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.