How to reduce curve data

1. Bring up the Smooth/Reduce Curve dialog box from either the curve wizard or construct menu.

2. Find the name of the curve in the drop down list or select the curve graphically.

3. If you want to replace the old curve with a new one, click Modify existing curve.

4. If you want to create a new curve, click Create new curve and enter a name of your new curve.

5. Select the curve reduction method by either

• Clicking Smooth spline approximation, OR

• Clicking Arc/line approximation and checking Chain arcs/lines

• See Reducing curve data for an explanation of these techniques.

6. Enter a tolerance. This number indicates how close the new curve will approximate the original curve.

7. Click the Preview button.

8. The data reduction % will be displayed which shows you how much less data the new curves occupies versus the original curve.

9. If the tolerance you chose caused the new curve to actually be larger, you will get a warning dialog box. If you can increase your tolerance, you will probably get less data. In order to get the curve smooth, the data had to be increased. This frequently occurs with piecewise linear input curves where your tolerance is smaller than the linear pieces that comprise the curves. This operation performs a combination of both smoothing and data reduction.

10. If you would like to see this curve extruded as a sample use of the new curve, click the Show preview surface button and hit preview again. A surface will be displayed. This surface can be shaded to check the quality of the curve.

11. Repeat steps 6 - 10 until satisfied with the resulting curve.

12. Click OK.