Way to rebuild polycurve into one curve and maintain same control points?

I have a situation where I need to join several curves together in order to extrude them as a single (not poly-) surface. This requires rebuilding with a high number of points (degree 3 curve). Is there a way to rebuild as a single curve and maintain the same control point locations for greater editability, or is that impossible?

It depends on how the curve ends meet. If the ends meet with G2 curvature continuty, then you can use the MatchCrv command and choose the Merge option. If the sub curve ends meet with G1 Tangency or G0 position continuity, then merging isn’t possible and you will need a polysurface with joined edges.

Just to elaborate on what JB said…

You can use merge through the Match dialog and preserve the shape if you have G2 continuity but the number of points will not necessarily be maintained. In most cases I think you’ll find added points across curved junctures in the polycrv. You might find the command RebuildCrvNonUniform useful as there are max point count and tolerance controls.

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Maybe you can toggle the CreaseSplitting command to off. Even though that is generally not a good idea because it can lead to problems later on, you may be able to get a single surface, albeit with kinks.
And crank up the render mesh vertex count to get a good display in Shaded, Rendered mode.

And if it is OK with a small deviation from the original shape, you can join the curves, place control points right next to the place where they joined (both sides), and then delete the point in the middle.

Where do I find “MatchCrv”? Or did John mean “Match”?

It’s just Match but it only works on curves.
My bad

Thank you, all!