Roll up

Menu access: Curve | Other curves | Roll up

Description:

Allows you to roll up or wrap a curve around a "virtual" cylinder.

General philosophy:

If the cylinder has been created along the X axis of the coordinate system and if the curve to roll up is on the XY plane, you just need to select the cylinder (or cone) and then the curve.

In all the other cases, click on the button  >>  to access to the advanced mode of the function:

1. Click on  >>  .

2. Select the cylinder or cone definition coordinate system.

3. Select the cylinder or cone model, or enter the radius/diameter for a cylinder.

4. Select the coordinate system of the curve to wrap around the cylinder or cone.

5. Select the curve to wrap around.

Available Option(s) :

The  CURRENT COORDINATE SYSTEM  button allows you to quickly define the current coordinate system as the definition coordinate system.

You can choose to drive the cylinder  Diameter  or  Radius .

Example(s):

Definition of the coordinate system of the virtual cylinder and of the curve:

Then, TopSolid position the coordinate system of the curve according to the one of the cylinder as illustrated below.

Then, the curve is rolled up around the cylinder.

Specific point(s):

The curve must be planar and must belong to its xOy definition coordinate system.

If the curve is a line parallel to the X-axis of its definition coordinate system, its length needs to be smaller than the cylinder circumference.

If you want your wrapped curve to be closed, the cylinder radius must be computed function of the X curve length in its definition coordinate system (Reminder: Radius = Perimeter / (2 x PI) ).

The created curves are either lines (in case of a vertical line), either a circle (in case of an horizontal line) either an helix (in case of a diagonal line) or a 3D curve in the other cases.

Available modification(s):

You can modify the cylinder diameter by using the icon .