Profile Offset

Profile offset shifts the entire cross-section drawing away from the rotation axis before the revolve is computed. The profile’s position in the Drawing Editor stays the same — the offset moves it outward at the point of calculation.

What Profile Offset Does

Without offset, the profile sits as drawn relative to the axis. A profile touching the axis produces a solid center. A profile drawn away from the axis already creates a gap — but that gap is fixed by the drawing.

Profile offset adds a second, independent way to create that gap. It moves the profile outward uniformly, regardless of how it was drawn. The result is a hollow center with a radius equal to the offset value.

This is useful when you want to reuse a profile for different shapes. The same cross-section can produce a solid rod at zero offset, a thin-walled tube at a small offset, or a wide ring at a large offset — without changing the drawing.

When to Use Profile Offset

Rings and ring-shaped solids — a profile that describes a ring’s cross-section becomes a ring of any diameter by adjusting the offset.

Hollow cylinders and tubes — draw the wall profile once, then use offset to place it at different radii.

Avoiding the axis — if your profile accidentally intersects the axis, offset pulls it clear without editing the drawing.

Setting Profile Offset

Select the revolve. In the Value References panel, type a value into the Profile Offset field. The shape updates immediately.

Parameters

Parameter	What it controls
Profile Offset	Distance the cross-section is shifted outward from the rotation axis

A value of zero means no offset — the profile is used exactly as drawn. Increasing the value pushes the profile further from the axis, enlarging the central gap.