Offsetting Curves: Issues with alignment

Hi all!
I’ve been having some issues with the Offset command. You can look at the images I’ve attached. I have an original curve (in black) that I want to offset by a certain distance. The points on the bottom show the exact distance I’d like the new offset curve (cyan) to be. The first image shows both curves.

When I run the Offset command, I click distance, then click the point on one side of the original curve, and the point away from it, and then hit enter, and it looks like the new curve (cyan) has been offset properly. However, when I turn to the right view (second pic) you’ll notice the new curve is not hitting the second point. My instinct would be to draw a new curve on the bottom, run the extend command, and just trim the excess curve.

But when I zoom in (third pic) you’ll see that the offset curve (cyan) is still not aligned with the point I want it to touch/be aligned with. Is there a different way to achieve what I’m wanting to do, a different set of commands? Within Offset I’ve used the Distance and ThroughPoint functions yet I still can’t get the new curve to reach the distance. Essentially I want the offset curve to still be “in line” with the horizontal x-axis of the original curve, I hope this makes sense. Thanks!

(P.S. I apologize if the points are too small to see!)



Hello- please post a file with the curve and offset distance. Note Offset is a planar operation, if the input is not planar, then you may not get the result you expect.

-Pascal

Hi @user1593
Note that offset operates perpendicular to the org. curve, so if your point (and the desired distance) is not perpendicular to the curve, the offset will overshoot, so to speak - unless you extend the curve with a straight line. The solution is to extend your org. curve (eg. using natural) and use ThroughPoint and then trim both the org. and the new curve.

HTH Jakob