Sweep

Sweep a profile along a path to create a solid or surface. Create a new part or combine, subtract, or intersect the swept shape with existing parts.

  1. On the Geometry ribbon, select the Sweep tool.
    Note: The tool may be hidden in the dropdown menu. To access the dropdown menu, you can do one of the following:
    • Select at the lower right corner of the currently displayed tool.
    • Click and hold the currently displayed tool.
    Tip: To find and open a tool, press Ctrl+F. For more information, see Find and Search for Tools.
    The guide panel appears.


  2. Choose the entity type that you'd like to create:
    • Solid: Sweep as a solid.
    • Surface: Sweep as a surface.
  3. Select a Profile. By default, Select is automatically turned on. Do one of the following:
    • If you selected Solid in the last step, select a closed sketch or a planar surface.
    • If you selected Surface in the last step, select a planar edge, closed/open sketch, or a planar surface.
    Note: To deselect, hold down Ctrl while clicking. To clear all selected features, in the microdialog click Clear Selection.
  4. Choose a Path:
    1. Click the Select button.
    2. Select a sketch or an edge. The plane in which the profile lies must intersect the path. If the path extends beyond the profile, the sweep can occur in both directions.
      Note: To deselect, hold down Ctrl while clicking.
    3. (Optional): Select Tangent Propagation so that clicking an edge will also select all of its tangent edges.
  5. Choose the Type of sweep:
    • No Guide Curves: Don't use guide curves. You can add a twist to the swept shape.
    • Guide Curves: Add one to two guide curves. This allows you to refine the swept shape, but you can’t add a twist.
      • Next to Guide Curves, click the Select button, then select one or two guide curves, which must coincide with the profile. To deselect, hold down Ctrl while clicking.
  6. Choose a Profile orientation:
    • Perpendicular (default): Orient the swept shape perpendicular to the path.
    • Parallel: Orient the swept shape parallel to the path.
  7. (No Guide Curves only) Choose a Twist Type:
    • None: Don’t add a twist to the swept shape.
    • Angle: Add a twist the swept shape by defining the twist angle. After selecting this option, you can enter the Twist Angle and select Reverse Twist Direction.
    • No. of turns: Add a twist to the swept shape by defining the number of turns. After selecting this option, you can enter the No. of Turns and select Reverse Twist Direction.
  8. (Guide Curves only) Choose a Scale:
    • Uniform: Scale the profile along both the X and Y directions.
    • Lateral: Scale the profile only along the X direction, stretching it along the path and guide curves while maintaining the Y direction.
  9. Choose a Result type:
    • Combine/Merge: Combine or merge the extruded shape with the existing parts.
    • Subtract (only available for Solids): Carve out the extruded shape from the existing parts.
    • Intersect (only available for Solids): Retain only the intersecting portions of the extruded shape and the existing parts.
    • New Part: Create a new part from the extruded shape.
  10. Choose a Merge method:
    • All Parts (default): Merge the extruded shape with all parts that touch the extruded shape.
    • Parts: Select the radio button to merge the extruded shape with selected parts. Then select the parts that you’d like to merge the extruded shape with.
  11. Edit a profile. (only available for Surfaces)
    1. Select the profile.
    2. You can then do the following:
    To Do this Note
    If surface edges were used for profiles or guide curves, modify the constraint to fine-tune the shape of the sweep In the microdialog, select a Constraint type:
    • None: Don't constrain the sweep.
    • Surface: The swept shape is made tangent to the surface edge.
    • Magnitude: Change the magnitude of the constraint for the selected profile.

    To invert the direction of the profile's tangent, select Invert Tangent .
    Change the tangent magnitude for the profile In the microdialog, enter the Magnitude.
    Invert the orientation of the profile Invert Orientation The direction of the arrow on the profile indicates its orientation. In most cases, the optimal orientation of each profile is internally calculated so that the resulting surface is not twisted. In some cases, inverting a profile's orientation will cause the sweep to fail.
  12. Click Apply.
  13. Right-click and mouse through the check mark to exit, or double-right-click.