Meet Loft: Blend Profiles into One Smooth Solid
Loft just landed in PixyCAD. Pick a set of profiles, and Loft builds a smooth solid that flows through every one of them. Round to square, big to small, simple to organic: the transitions that used to take a pile of workarounds are now a single operation. And like a lot of what we ship, it exists because you asked for it.
Why we built it
Extrude pushes a shape straight out. Swept runs a shape along a path. But neither one helps when the ends of your part are different shapes, or when the cross section changes along the way. A duct that starts round and ends rectangular. A bottle that swells from a narrow neck to a wide base and back in. A speaker adapter that steps from one bore to another. Faking those with stacked extrudes never gave you the smooth blend you actually wanted, and the seams always showed.
What Loft actually does
The idea is simple. You give Loft a series of profiles:
- A starting profile. The cross section at one end of the shape, drawn as a sketch. A circle, a square, a rounded outline, whatever your part starts as.
- As many profiles as you need in between. Each one drawn on its own plane or at its own height, shaping how the solid evolves as it moves along.
- An ending profile. The cross section where the shape finishes.
Loft connects the profiles in order and fills the space between them with a single clean solid that transitions smoothly from one to the next. Two profiles or ten, it is the same operation. No stacking, no unions, no visible steps. One operation, one result.
Where it earns its keep
A few things Loft makes genuinely easy that used to be a fight:
- Transitions and adapters. Blend a round profile into a square one and you have a duct transition or a hose adapter in seconds.
- Funnels and nozzles. Loft a wide opening down to a narrow one for funnels, spouts, and hoppers with clean, flowing walls.
- Organic and tapered shapes. Bottles, vases, handles, and grips that swell and shrink along their length come together in a single step. Add extra profiles to control exactly where the curve pinches or bulges.
- Custom fittings. Match one bore on one end and a different one on the other, and Loft bridges them exactly.
Because Loft blends smoothly through every profile, the surface stays continuous from end to end. No facets, no guesswork, just the shape you were after.
Keep the requests coming
Loft is here because enough of you took a minute to say “I need to blend one shape into another.” That is exactly how PixyCAD gets better. If there is a tool or a tweak you are missing, tell us on feedback.pixycad.com, vote for the ideas you care about, and watch them ship.
We are already reading the next batch. Keep it coming.
