Vectorcam, bobcad, rhino3D, which one??

Elliot Burke wrote:

> John H. was inquiring if profiled blades could be drawn with a given CAD
> program.
> This would probably be done by "lofting". In the CAD sense, this means that
> a series of closed curves (on parallel planes, or not) are separated on a
> path, with possibly a few guide lines between them to help out the software.
> When the curves are lofted, a surface is made along the path which connects
> all of the curves.
>
> This should make a very nice prop blade.
>
> Check out your software to see if it supports this feature, probably
> something as powerful as Rhino3D would.

Bobcad/CAM does have this feature, too. They call it "Winskin", and it is
draping a 'rubber sheet' over a surface defined by guide curves.
One of the limitations is that all guide curves need to have the same
number of points. You then draw lines that connect to the all the first
guide curve points, and all the last guide curve points, and it builds an
interpolated surface based on the guide curves. You can then define the
step over distance and the maximum cusp height permitted, and it will
generate a toolpath based on the shape of the selected tool's nose.

Jon