Req: Extruding pipe from elipse to circle X-section

Hi!

Posted this one a few months ago, but didn't get any clear answers:

I'm trying to draw a pipe which tapers along a user defined path, but
which starts with eliptical cross section, and finishes with circular
cross section, morphing smoothly between the two.

I noticed a previous posting requesting info on a related problem of
how to do tapered extrusion of elipses into conoids, but it didn't
produce any answers.
:-(

Is there any way to do the above using existing AutoCAD2002 tools ?
Any LISP routines or affordable 3rd party tools out there that will do
the job?

Many thanks in anticipation


Dave

 

HiHO;
The least expensive program that will do a taper-morph is rhino
from www.mcneel.com, the other is catia and it's expensive and
hard to learn. Check out the examples on the rhino site.

 

Turbocad Pro will do it with ease and is about $200.00 less than Rhino.
Others that can do this (on the expensive side) besides Catia are Pro
Engineer, Inventor, Solid Works, Solid edge, Alebre Design. I'm sure there
are more.

 

Many Thanks both !
Will check out the packages you suggest.
Are there any add-ons to do it directly from AutoCAD without having to
buy & learn new software packages ?

Dave

 

Does it need to be a solid? You can do it as a surface mode using ruled
surface.