Sweeping an oval

[wfdesigns]

I don't know if I am missing something, but I can't seem to create a sweep in an oval form. I tried to create a new family oval window, wanted to use sweep for most of construction but doesn't give the option. Any ideas?

[aaronrumple]

Correct. You also cannot use a spline for a sweep.... Have to make the segments from a series of arcs. I think it is just a matter of time before we see sweeps along more complex geometric shapes. The solid modeling engine will need to mature a bit more.

[David Conant]

The limitations are that you cannot use ellipse or spline to generate a path, or sweep spline or elliptical profiles on an arced path. You can sweep profiles containing only straight or arc segments on any path.

[David Conant]

It turns out that you can sweep a profile containing elliptical or spline segments along a path containing an arc, but it may fail if the arc approaches 360 degrees.

[PeterJ]

That's bad news for those working for Dunkin Donuts

[Richard McCarthy]

Hmmm I think I can do those circular sweep just fine, I don't quite get what you guys meant....

[David Conant]

After investigating the problem with devlopers, it appears that failures only occur when you draw the profile at some distance toward the arc center from the profile attachment point. When you are drawing the profile, the attachment point is visible as a red dot at the intersection of 2 ref planes. If you shift the profile toward the center of the path arc, it is possible to get conditions where the sweep passes through itself as it goes around the arc. This causes the math to fail and you will get a message that the sweep cannot be completed. Otherwise, ellipses and splines around arcs and circles should work fine.