Lofted Pillow

1 outline guide curves locked., Control point curve over 1 half.

2 mirror and join the red curve, then removeKnot one knot from the ends where they were joined (green points) This will make the curve remain smooth at these points later when the copies are edited to make them more circular. With the extra Knot there tey would develop kinks and make a mess of the lofts.

Make a planarSrf from the joined curve and use Analyze>Mass properties>Area centroid to find the 'middle'

3 copy the curve vertically twice, then move the point to the same Z value as the top curve. SetPt with the Z box checked and the Near osnap works well for this.

4 Scale 2d the top curve on the center point with the Copy option.

5 Use Smooth on the last two (magenta) curves repeatedly until they are rounder. I smoothed the smaller one a couple more seps than the outer one so that there would be a transition from the cyan curves to the rounder middle curve.

6 Loft the curves to the point (p option in Loft) Use the Loose option in the dropdown menu in Loft.

7,8 you can edit the resulting surface by:

-moving any of the rows of surface points up and down, but f you move the middle point move the next row of points at the same time and keep them in plane or you'll lose the smooth pillowy effect and get a sharp point or a divot.

- Scale2d-ing rows of points, on the middle point would work best.
-PGRhino Newsgroup