Tech Tip: How to Show Curvature in Onshape

When modeling complex surface geometry, it’s important to evaluate the quality of the surfaces you create. One way of evaluating this is through looking at curvature combs of the geometry created.

The “Show Curvature” Option

You can view the curvature on a surface, edge, or sketch by simply right-clicking on the geometry and selecting “Show Curvature”.

You can also activate the feature using the keyboard shortcut Shift + C.

From the dialog, you can show curvature combs, inflection points, and the minimum radius value. You can adjust the number of U and V curves (if selecting a surface), and adjust the comb size from the slider at the bottom.

In the example above, we can clearly see that even though the spline looks smooth, the curvature changes abruptly, likely leading to a less-desirable surface result if used.

For a full demonstration, take a look at the video below:

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