Swept Blends

A Swept Blend is a blend between two or more edges without local guide influence. The entire blend is swept along the guide curve, as shown below.

If you check the Local guide option, the guide curve has a local effect on the blend.

Swept blends are different from sweeps. Swept blends need at least two profiles, while sweeps use a single profile. Sweeps give you limited control over the orientation and angle of the section along the trajectory, or at the end cap, because it is always determined by sweeping the profile along the trajectory.

With swept blends, you specify the section shape and orientation explicitly at the ends and at specific points along the trajectory (guide curve).

When you select more than one guide curve, the additional guide curves give you more control over the final shape of the blend. Each guide curve affects entities in the profile that are closest to the curve. Vertices between guide curves are controlled by curves blended between the neighboring guide curves.