Intersecting two sketches to create a 3D curve

The Intersect tool can be applied to surfaces or sketches. The sketches must be on perpendicular planes. For best results, the sketches should also begin and end coplanar to each other. A 3D curve can be useful as a boundary for a Boundary Blend or as the trajectory of a Sweep.

The blue curves are the 2D sketches and the green curve is the result of Intersecting them. By default, the sketches will become hidden after completing the Intersect and they can be unhidden as needed from the model tree.

Process

1. Create the first sketch.
2. On a perpendicular plane, create the second sketch. Create references of the first sketches endpoints and place parallel centerlines on each endpoint. Use the centerlines to constrain the endpoints of your second sketch.

3. Complete the sketch and select both sketches in the model tree or on screen. Go to Model>Editing>Intersect.
4. Edit the definition of either 2D sketch to change the shape of your 3D curve.

A final surface Sweep applied to the 3D curve.

Let the Merging Begin

Once upon a time I created a 3D model of a baseball helmet using creo elements/pro 5.0, the hybrid version of Pro/E Wildfire 5.0® and what would eventually become Creo®. It was fun and took my skills to a new level. It’s worth it to add that getting to the point of building that helmet was the result of 3-4 years of trial and error with other parts.

Afterwards, I shared images of the helmet on PlanetPTC and created a screencast that I uploaded to YouTube. The quality was shameful and since then I have gotten better screen recording software and published a nicer video, although I still need practice. My reason for posting the first video was as a means of record keeping for myself, but gradually the number of views grew greater than I expected and I received two requests to share the .prt file of the helmet.

At first, I could not accommodate the requests because I could not find the file, it was on a lost flash drive. Now, rest assured, I would not be talking this much about it if I hadn’t recovered the file.

You are welcome to download  the helmet.