Style Feature
Style tool in Creo Help Center
On this page:
Curve Editing and End Conditions
The Style tool is PTC’s version of a freeform modeller which sits in Creo. Skeleton curves, surfaces and surface deformation features exist within a single Style feature. Although the Style feature has its own feature tree and parent child relationships are formed, the chronology of the features in the tree is not significant.
The interface can be viewed in single or four pane mode (below). Four pane mode (icon in top toolbar) is most useful when manipulating 3D curves which are tricky to visualise in from a single view point.
The ease with which you can setup curve attachments and end conditions, and the dynamic updating of all geometry as you interact with curves on screen makes this module very powerful. Unlike generic freeform modellers these relationships once set are fixed and will update as related geometry is developed.
Feature management
In order to fully exploit the dynamic updating and feature management inherent in the Style tool you would generally create all the curves, surfaces and related processing for one form or area of a model under one style feature – say a grip or a scoop form. It is unlikely you would create an entire model under one Style feature, it would not have the scope of functionality and the feature would very quickly become unwieldy and difficult to manage.
Most functionality can be found under RMB menus. Select or hover over an entity to give appropriate RMB menus. Alt, Shift and Ctrl are useful modifier keys with most functionality.
Curves 
Free – points placed arbitrarily in 3D space
Planar – points placed on the active plane/planar surface
COS – Curve on Surface – points stay within one surface patch indicated by the first pick
Use Shift when placing a curve point to ‘snap’ to an existing entity, also use shift to detach the point. RMB > pick soft point to toggle through underlying entities. You can snap to a datum plane but you will have to snap to its graphical boundary and then drag the point to the required position. It can take a bit of experimentation to choose the right reference which is appropriate for the required end/boundary conditions.
- MMB to complete curve creation and create further curves
- MMB again to return to select tool
- MMB is generally a quick option to complete or repeat operations in Style
COS across patches – as a COS is restricted to a single patch you will have to think carefully about how you create a curve across multiple patches, particularly if you want end conditions to adjacent features. You could either; project a planar curve onto multiple patches, or; create separate COS curves and connect the end points across the patch boundaries.
Point Definition
Filled circle – Free Point
Empty circle – point attached to a curve/edge
Empty Square – point attached to surface
Cross – point attached to vertex or intersection point
Yellow line – tangent bar
Point Attachment
In the above image, the curve in the right image needs to be G1 to the two adjacent edges. Two issues to watch out for;
- Don’t attach to the vertex at the end of the edge (X point marker) – you cannot create a geometric (tangent in this case) relationship to a point
- Make sure you attach to the edge and not the underlying construction curve – you won’t form a loop for the surface
Shift > attach to the edge > RMB > Pick Softpoint to ensure it is the edge and not the curve
Edit > drag the point (should be an open circle) to the end of the edge to form a loop with the trimmed edges
Curve Editing and End Conditions 
Dbl click a curve or use the Curve Edit icon to enter the edit environment, simply drag the points to adjust the curve – all connections will be maintained.
Point tab > Point Movement and used the nudge tool to move a point by controlled increments. RMB menus to add or delete points.
Setting up tangency conditions on curve ends and surfaces is fundamental to success in Style. Select the end point of a curve to display the green tangent marker, hover over the marker and RMB to select a tangency condition – remember it has to have an appropriate relation to establish an end condition. Dragging the length of the end marker changes the influences into the curve.
- Hold Shift whilst dragging a connected point to disconnect it and reconnect elsewhere
- Also use Alt and Alt+Ctrl to constrain movement
- Trimming – COS cannot lie across patches – planar curve – project then trim
- Shift+Alt to extend curve – add new point from end
Curve Tangent Marker dragging issue
In some situation you will try to drag a curve end point tangent marker and it will not drag, if you look in the text area at the bottom of the screen you will see an error.
You need to chooses a different reference plane in the Tangent tab
Surfaces
Primary (outer) curves box > Ctrl select all boundary curves in any order
Internal curves box > Ctrl select curves
Follow the same principles for creating surfaces in Style as in the core Creo functionality – curve skeleton structure, blended 4 sided surfaces, 3 sided surfaces etc. Boundary selection is different:
Boundary Blend Surface
- Ctrl pick the 3/4 boundaries (3 sided surface issues still apply) – selection order is irrelevant unless you need to control the convergence corner for a 3 sided
- if one boundary is a chain then Ctrl pick the first element, switch to Shift to pick the chain, return to Ctrl to select further boundaries
- internal curves are then collected after moving focus to the Internal Chains window or RMB > Internal Collector
Blended Surface
- Single primary curve in one direction, single or multiple curves in second direction
- Select primary curve
- RMB > Cross collector > select cross curve(s)
Lofted Surface
- Ctrl pick multiple, unattached section curves in one direction
3 Sided surface – positioning convergence corner
- select the unpaired single edge first which will be opposite the convergence corner
- then select the 2nd and 3rd paired edges
Surface Tangency
By default the system will establish boundary conditions according to the underlying curve conditions:
position – common boundary – G0
tangent/normal – G1
curvature continuous – G2
To edit the surface, double click the surface or RMB > edit definition in the Style model tree. Either RMB or pick the middle of the boundary marker to toggle between position (G0), tangent (G1) and curvature continuous (G2) connection – only if the controlling curve conditions allow.
The arrow points from the leader to the follower surface, the follower surface changes shape to satisfy tangency conditions. RMB > Flip Leader on the arrow end allows you to (if relations allow) reverse the leader/follower order – this can have a significant effect on the form.
Surface Trim 
Use of MMB makes the surface trim operation very quick and easy
- start the trim tool
- pick the surface to trim > MMB
- pick the trimming reference – curve[s], surface, plane > MMB
- pick the portion of the surface to delete > MMB
Direct surface edit
This tool can be used to edit surfaces for purposes of general modelling as well as make subtle tweaks to smooth out problem areas. The history of surface edits is maintained during future regeneration, so if the parent surface is modified, the surface edit is reapplied to the surface during regeneration.
- Adjust the number of rows and columns for coarse or fine adjustment
- Define how you want the points to move relative to the surface – normal to the surface, normal to a plane, free, etc.
- Select individual points, Ctrl pick multiple points, select whole rows or columns.
- Avoid distortion of surface edges – RMB menu on edge control lines and lock the edge.
- Use the dashboard Nudge controls to incrementally move the control points
- Experiment with the Filter to change the characteristics of the distortion away from the dragged point
Hiding Style Elements
You can RMB > Hide any Style feature whilst creating/editing, to maintain this state when exiting the feature use the config option keep_style_items_hidden_on_exit
Layers – to hide Style surfaces – outside of the Style feature > Layers > RMB > new layer > change the Selection Filter (top right of graphics area) from Smart to Quilt > select Style surfaces to add to the layer > hide the layer
CADCAM Resources 