Loft command in AutoCAD

The following prompts are displayed.

Cross Sections in Lofting Order

Specifies open or closed curves in the order in which the surface or solid will pass through them.

Point:

Specifies first or last point of the lofting operation. If you start with the Point option, you must next select a closed curve.

Join Multiple Edges:

Handles multiple, end-to-end edges as one cross section.

Mode:

Controls whether the lofted object is a solid or a surface.

Continuity:

This option only displays if the LOFTNORMALS system variable is set to 1 (smooth fit). Specifies whether the continuity is G0, G1, or G2 where the surfaces meet.

Bulge Magnitude:

This option appears only when the LOFTNORMALS system variable is set to 1. (smooth fit). Specifies the amount of a bulge for objects with a continuity of G1 or G2.

Guides:

Guide curves are specified to govern the contour of the lofted solid or surface. Guide curves can be used to govern how points are matched up on matching cross sections in order to avoid undesirable effects such as wrinkles in the final solid or surface.

• Intersects each cross section
• Starts on the first cross section
• Ends on the last cross section

Select any number of guide curves for the lofted surface or solid and press Enter.

Path:

Specifies a single path for the lofted solid or surface.

The path curve must intersect all planes of the cross sections.

Cross Sections Only

Creates lofted objects without using guides or paths.

Settings:

Displays the Loft Settings dialog box.

Let's clear it detail with two examples.

Example 1:

Consider the below image shown below:

The above drawing is created in SE Isometric.

We can also change the View control accordingly.

The steps are listed below:

1. Make the three circles, as shown .

2. Move the circles indivisually in the direction of Z-axis using the MOVE command, as shown in figure:

Another view is:

3. Choose the LOFT icon from the ribbon panel, as shown in image:

Or

Type Loft on the command line < press Enter.

4. Choose the cross-section (circles) to apply loft, as shown in image:

The order is shown above.

5. Press Enter.

The loft will be created, as shown below:

Another view is:

Let's change the order of the lofting, as shown below:

The object will now look like:

Another view is:

Example 2:

Here, we are showcasing some figures before and after the loft  command.

How to Use Loft in AutoCAD?

Step 1: At the top of the working screen, there is a ribbon of different tabs with different types of commands for making our work easier such as Home, Insert, Annotate, and many others, below this, we have a working window area in which you can see your current drawing or work, this working window also has a navigation cube through which you can see your drawing from different view options such as Top view, Front view, and side view, and below this window we have some navigation to the right.

Step 2: Go to the bottom right corner of this software and select the '3D Basics' option from the workspace options list.

Step 3: Now, go to the top left corner of the working window, click on the Top option in the bracket, and select the SE Isometric option from the list.

Step 4: Now, select the Rectangle command from the Home tab's Draw menu and draw two rectangles of varying sizes as shown.

Step 5: Alternatively, you may type REC from the keyboard and hit the 'Enter' button to activate the rectangle command, then draw these two rectangles.

Step 6: Let us now use the circle command. For the circle, go to the Home tab's Draw menu and click on the circle command icon with the mouse button, then draw a circle of any radius in the centre of these two rectangles like thus.

Step 7: Alternatively, you may press the C key on the keyboard, then enter for the circle command, and then create this circle.

Step 8: Select the Move command from the Home tab's Modify menu by clicking on it.

Step 9: Now, this command will ask you to select the object you want to move to select this circle by clicking on it and pressing the enter button on the keyboard.

Step 10: Now identify the place around which you want this circle to travel. To move it like this, I'll click on the centre point of this circle and drag it in an upward manner at some height.

Step 11: Press the 'Enter' key again to repeat the Move command, and then pick the inner rectangle by clicking on it and then pressing the enter key. Drag it upward at the height above to make a circle like this.

Step 12: Go to the Home tab's 'Create' menu and choose the Loft command icon.

Step 13: Now, one by one, choose these forms.

Step 14: I'll start with the lower rectangle, then the circle, and finally the upper rectangle.

Step 15: When you pick them in this order, the Loft command will create a 3D geometry that looks like this. This is a wireframe representation of the thing.

Step 16: Now, on the keyboard, press the 'Enter' key. When you press the 'Enter' key, a list of loft commands will appear. Select 'Cross Only' from the drop-down menu. It signifies you wish to use the loft command on this object's cross-section.

Step 17: Now, pick the Shaded option from the list and click on the 2d Wireframe option to see the Shaded view of this item, as shown below.

Step 18: Now that I've taken this style of design, we'll apply the Loft command to it.

Step 19: Using the Loft command, choose the bottom rectangle first, then the upper rectangle. Now, on the keyboard, press the 'Enter' key. Now, in the opened list of available commands, click on the Path option, then press the enter key on your keyboard.

Step 20: After pressing the 'Enter' key on the keyboard, it will prompt you to choose the path around which you want to apply the loft command, therefore I'll click on this arc since I want loft around this arc.

Step 21: When you click on this, arc loft will create this 3D form.

Step 22: This object's wireframe view is visible.

Step 23: Once again, use the loft command to pick the bottom rectangle, then the higher rectangle, and then press the enter key on the computer. Now, in the opened list, select the Guides option.

Step 24: Now, with a mouse pointer, pick these lines one by one because I want to lead the loft command to operate around these lines.

Step 25: When you click on these lines, the loft command will create a form similar to this.

Step 26: Let us now examine at the loft command's settings option. Take a Loft command and choose the form as we did previously, then hit the 'Enter' key on the keyboard, then click on the Settings option in the presented list.

Step 27: A Loft settings box will now appear. We have various sub-options in the 'Normal to' option; if I pick the 'Start cross-sections' option, our loft form will look like this.

Step 28: To show the variation, pick these choices one at a time.

Step 29: From the Draft Angle option, you can alter the Draft angles and check the results.

Step 30: You may also modify the Magnitude value of Draft to watch how the form changes.

You may then utilise the Loft command in this programme to acquire the appropriate form in your Auto Cad drawing job.