Duplicate Curve

Duplicates any curves that are picked when you click the tool, and any curves you click while the tool is active. You can use box select to pick and duplicate multiple curves at the same time.

Access this tool from the Curve Edit tool palette:

Create a free curve from existing geometry

How to create free curve copies of free curves, curves-on-surface, trim edges, or isoparametric curves.

Tip: The Duplicate curve tool duplicates any curves that are picked when you click the tool, and any curves you click while the tool is active.

Duplicate Curve Options

Duplicate Type

  • No Rebuild – Do not rebuild the curve after duplicating it.

  • Curvature, Reduce Spans, Del Multi Knots, Uniform Knots, Match Knots – Rebuild the curve after duplicating it.

See the discussion of the Rebuild Type option of the Rebuild curve tool for information on the rebuild types and their options.

Control Options

Auto Update

Automatically update the new curve when the values in the Duplicate Curve window change.

MixMax Display

Automatically create a Min-Max deviation comb between the original and duplicated/rebuilt curves.

Interactive

Allows you to specify an arbitrary surface isoparametric curve to duplicate, rather than a visible one.

Smoothing

After duplicating, automatically switch to the Smooth tool to allow you to smooth the resulting curve.

Chain Select

Selecting a curve also selects all other curves that are tangent continuous with it.

Buttons

Update

When Auto Update is turned off, use this button to update the duplicated curve with the current values.

Undo

Undo all the changes made by the Duplicate Curve tool and return to the original curve.

Next

Finish duplicating the current curve and prompt for a new curve to duplicate.

Duplicate curve workflows

Create a free curve from existing geometry

  1. Select the Duplicate Curve tool.
  2. Click a free curve, curve on surface, trim edge or isoparametric curve.

Create a curve from an arbitrary isoparametric curve

  1. Double-click the Duplicate Curve tool icon: .
  2. In the Duplicate Curve window, turn on Interactive, then click Go.
  3. Click an existing isoparametric curve on a surface.
  4. Drag to the point where you want to duplicate the isoparametric curve, or type a parameter.
  5. Click Go.

What if...?

Nothing seems to happen/I can’t see the new free curve?

The new curve occupies the same space as the original, so in many cases you will not actually see the separate curves until you move one of them.

The free curve I create from a curve-on-surface or trim edge is not identical to the original?

Because they use different mathematical representations, free curves duplicated from curves-on-surface and trim edges are only close approximations of the originals.

The free curve I create from a curve-on-surface or trim edge is very complex?

Curves duplicated from curves-on-surface or trim edges can be very complex (many spans).

To reduce the number of spans in the duplicated curve, do one of the following:

  • Reduce the number in the Spans box in the control panel.
  • Use the Rebuild Curve tool from the Curve Edit tool palette to recreate a simpler version of the curve.
Parent page: Curve Edit palette