Sweep, loft and draft

All three are in the Features group's More menu and need the exact kernel (see The exact kernel and the mesh kernel). Each can join material, cut it, keep only the overlap (Intersect) or make a New body (sweep and loft: Operation in the panel).

Sweep

A sweep moves a closed profile along a path: pipes, handles, springs of wire, rails.

1. Draw the path in one sketch: lines and arcs joined end to end (or use model edges, below).
2. Draw the profile in another sketch whose plane passes through one end of the path, for example a circle on the top plane at the start of a path drawn on the front plane.
3. Select the profile sketch and choose More, then Sweep. The most recent other sketch becomes the path.

In the panel:

Sharp corners in the path are mitred. A circle of radius 5 swept along a 100 mm line is a cylinder of exactly 2500π mm³; along a quarter arc of radius 50, a quarter torus of 625π² mm³.

Loft

A loft blends through two or more sections on different planes.

1. Draw each section in its own sketch (one closed loop each), on base planes, reference planes (see Reference planes, axes and points) or faces.
2. Choose More, then Loft. Every unused one-loop sketch becomes a section, in history order.

The panel lists the sections in order (Up reorders, Remove drops one); Add a sketch adds another, Pick a face adds a flat face of the part. Ruled makes flat faces between sections instead of a smooth blend. Between two squares, both are the same frustum (a 40 mm square to a 20 mm square over 30 mm: exactly 28000 mm³).

Sections with different numbers of sides (a square to a triangle) are matched by OpenCascade, which may twist the side faces; the feature warns you. Draw sections with the same number of sides, starting from matching corners, for the cleanest result.

Draft

Draft tilts faces so a part comes out of a mold.

1. Choose More, then Draft (or ⇧Shift+click faces first). With nothing picked you are in pick mode: click each face to tilt, then Done.
2. Set Angle (°), the Neutral plane (where the faces keep their size) and the Pull direction (the neutral plane's normal by default).

A positive angle removes material on the pull side; a negative one adds it. Only flat, cylindrical and conical faces can be drafted. The four sides of a 100 × 100 × 50 block drafted 5° about its bottom become a frustum of exactly h/3·(a² + b² + ab), with b = a − 2h·tan 5°.

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