Req: Extruding pipe from elipse to circle X-section

[dave]

Hi!

Posted this one a few months ago, but didn't get any clear answers:

I'm trying to draw a pipe which tapers along a user defined path, but
which starts with eliptical cross section, and finishes with circular
cross section, morphing smoothly between the two.

I noticed a previous posting requesting info on a related problem of
how to do tapered extrusion of elipses into conoids, but it didn't
produce any answers.
:-(

Is there any way to do the above using existing AutoCAD2002 tools ?
Any LISP routines or affordable 3rd party tools out there that will do
the job?

Many thanks in anticipation


Dave

 

[bestafor]

HiHO;
The least expensive program that will do a taper-morph is rhino
from www.mcneel.com, the other is catia and it's expensive and
hard to learn. Check out the examples on the rhino site.

 

[CW]

Turbocad Pro will do it with ease and is about $200.00 less than Rhino.
Others that can do this (on the expensive side) besides Catia are Pro
Engineer, Inventor, Solid Works, Solid edge, Alebre Design. I'm sure there
are more.

 

[dave]

Many Thanks both !
Will check out the packages you suggest.
Are there any add-ons to do it directly from AutoCAD without having to
buy & learn new software packages ?

Dave

 

[JR]

Does it need to be a solid? You can do it as a surface mode using ruled
surface.