with the Three Tangent Circle mostly working, the challenge finally is surface modeling techniques and tools to fix/finish something that's getting closer to usable. the descriptive geometry isn't hard, just tedious having to mirror all the tangent points! after playing with a number of lofting combinations I've been able to eliminate all but one of the Lofting artifacts by utilizing a patchwork quilt approach. like all of the other surface tools, the Lofting tool does not appreciate concave joined/closed curves necessitating leaving ALL of the curves in pieces (ie: leading edge; fore body; aft body; & trailing edge). the extreme(anal)focus on tangent points during construction paid dividends in the end; integration of the leading edge was actually orders of magnitude easier than expected and flawless!

what's the best approach for removing the last of the Lofting artifacts? I've tried smaller curve spacing to NO avail. does Shark FX have the needed functionality; or is the Power Pack/third party add-in required? Zebra plots are included to characterize the problem in the hope someone has encountered something similar.

the patchwork quilt approach necessitates a number of artificial interfaces that continue to show/be reported after joining. how are the quilting lines eliminated (I haven't been able to find the switch)?

Art
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Tim-

thanks for the offer. after playing/experimenting with the Lofting and Guided Lofting tool most of the day, it seems like the choice comes down to magnitude and location for the ripple in combination with angular mismatch at the leading edge. the ripple is present without regard to how many or how few curves are used....

spent the evening looking for a way to change the color of the "joining" lines/seams without success. nothing done with "Inspector" would change the color of the lines... am I looking the the wrong places or isn't there a switch for joining lines??

Art
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>>am I looking the the wrong places or isn't there a switch for joining lines??

No switch for removing those lines. I'm guessing the joining lines you are seeing are face boundaries driven by the referenced surfaces. A Loft surface can have multiple faces. And I'm guessing that the number of faces from the referenced surface are not the same as the last reference surface resulting in adding or removing removing faces to the loft surface. If the face counts are the same, then it could be it does not know how to loft from one face to the next perhaps due to twisting or orientation. Just guesstimating though...

You might try another surface type such as a Net or Skin if the design inputs allow. A Net or Skin surface will create one face per curve network that is everywhere G2.

Tim