Curve Point Editing Methods
Video
Watch a video that shows editing the position of curvature and acceleration control points within their degree of freedom.
Curve point editing methods
Use the following commands to edit curve points:
Edit Operation
Command
Location
Create a soft point
Hold down SHIFT while you select and drag a free point to snap to the nearest geometric entity. When Show Original is selected, you can snap to the original curve
Click Style > Operations > Snap and select and drag a free point to snap to the nearest geometric entity
Graphics window
Move a soft point along a curve, edge, datum plane, or surface
Move a free point according to the movement constraint you set
Select and drag the point
Change a soft point reference
Select the soft point, right-click, choose Pick Soft Point, and select a new reference
Flip a soft point parameter to the opposite end of its reference
Select the soft point, right-click, choose Flip Soft Point. Also flips the direction of the soft point tangent when the first constraint is G1, G2, or G3.
Override the selected drag constraint to move a point in a straight line that is normal to the active datum plane
Hold down ALT while you select and drag a point
Override the selected drag constraint to move a point horizontally or vertically along the plane of the screen
Hold down CTRL + ALT while you select and drag a point
Delete points
Select points, and press DELETE
Select points, right-click, and choose Delete
Select multiple points along a curve between two selected points
Select a point, and press and hold down SHIFT while you select a second point along the same curve
Clear all point selections
Right-click and choose Deselect All Points when one or more points is selected
Nudge a point
Select a point and press UP ARROW, DOWN ARROW, RIGHT ARROW, or LEFT ARROW
Make a curve smoother
Select points and click Smooth
Right-click points and select Smooth
Reduce the number of points in a curve
Click Simplify
Right-click points and click Simplify.
Move a soft point to an exact location
Modify the Type and Value
Point tab of the Curve Edit tab
Move a free point to an exact location
Specify X-, Y-, and Z-coordinate values
Select the Relative check box to treat the x-, y-, and z-coordinate values as offsets from the original position
Place a soft point on a specific reference
Select a soft point, and do one of the following:
Click the References collector
Right-click the graphics window, and select Point Reference Collector
Then select a vertex, point, curve, edge, axis, datum plane, facet, or surface for the soft point to lie on
Point tab of the Curve Edit tab, under Soft Point
Offset a soft point from a plane to specify a distance along a reference
Select a soft point, and do one of the following:
Click the Plane Reference collector
Right-click the graphics window, and select Point Plane Collector
Then select a plane from which to offset the soft point
Point tab of the Curve Edit tab, under Soft Point
Nudge a point
Select a point and click , , , or
Select a point and enter a value in the Adjust box
Point tab of the Curve Edit tab, under Point Movement
Apply a dragging constraint to the selected point
Select a constraint from the Drag box
Apply an extend constraint to the nearest endpoint
Select a constraint from the Extend box
* 
When you snap a free point of a planar curve or a curve on surface (COS) to a datum plane or to any another intersecting surface, an offset from plane soft point is created.
To nudge a point using the arrow keys, you must first activate the graphics window. You cannot nudge a soft point.
Planar curve points can only be dragged using the Free and Horizontal/Vertical methods. The Free drag method is the only one available for curve on surface (COS) curves.
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