Patch

 History enabled

The Patch command fits a surface through selected curves, meshes, point objects, and point clouds.

Patch Surface Options

General

Sample point spacing

The physical distance along the input curve between sample points. The minimum is eight points per curve.

Surface U spans

The u direction span count for the automatically generated surface. This value is also used if the starting surface is a 1x1 span plane.

Surface V spans

The v direction span count for the automatically generated surface. This value is also used if the starting surface is a 1x1 span plane.

Stiffness

Rhino builds the patch surface by first finding the best fit plane (PlaneThroughPt) through the selected and sampled points along curves. Then the surface deforms to match the points and sampled points. The Stiffness setting tells how much you allow the best fit plane to deform. The bigger the number, the "stiffer" and more rectangular and planar the resulting surface will be. You can test this setting with small or even very big values (>1000).

Click the Preview button to check the result.

Adjust tangency

Match to the tangent direction of surfaces if the input curves are edges of existing surfaces.

Wikipedia: Tangent

Automatic trim

Tries to find an outside curve and trims the surface to it.

Starting surface options

Select starting surface

The Select starting surface button lets you select a surface that is similar in shape to the surface you are trying to create.

Starting surface pull

Similar to the Stiffness option, but applies to the starting surface. The greater the pull value, the closer the resulting surface shape will be to the starting surface.

Preserve edges

Clamps the edges of the starting surface in place. This is useful if you are using a curve or points for deforming an existing surface, and you do not want the edges of the starting surface to move.

Delete input

The starting surface is deleted after the new surface is made.

Preview

Displays a preview of the output.

If you change the settings, click the Preview button again to refresh the display.

Note

• Try using the Sweep2 command if the Patch command does not give good results.
• For a trimmed patch, select curves that form a closed shape. Select them in order, so each additional curve touches one you have already selected.
• Select additional curves to influence the shape of the patch (such as dips or peaks in the middle of the patch). These do not have to be connected.
• The patch may not pass exactly through all of the input curves.
• If a starting surface is selected and Delete input is checked, History is not saved.

See also

Create surfaces