EAP, Multiple Planes, Radiused Corners

[Ed Wachter]

I use extrude along path to make fireplace flue pipes, hand rails, etc. If the path turns out of a single plane, I start with a 3D poly as the path. I often want to radius the corners. Sometimes I can; sometimes I can't. This image shows an extrude (to the left) that worked fine. Now, on the right, I've got my 3D polygon, but the radius ("Fillet Tool") does not seem to work. How do you model shapes like these? Is the Fillet Tool the best tool for this?

 

Thanks,

Ed

[Jeff Prince]

The easiest way to do things is usually the 2D way...

...with some helper geometry to snap to automatic 3d working planes.

 

You just have to draw on different planes and then turn your 2D work into 3D Polys.

Here's a video, easy peasy.

 

 

 

[Ed Wachter]

Fun video! Not to mention informative!

 

Thanks,

Ed

[Tom W.]

7 hours ago, Ed Wachter said:

Sometimes I can; sometimes I can't. This image shows an extrude (to the left) that worked fine. Now, on the right, I've got my 3D polygon, but the radius ("Fillet Tool") does not seem to work.

 

What happens when it doesn't work? Do you get an error message? I can't get it to fail. Unless it's two 3D Polys instead of one.

 

I'd probably draw the path as a NURBS Curve (Curve Degree 1) rather than a 3D Poly. 

[VIRTUALENVIRONS]

13 hours ago, Ed Wachter said:

Sometimes I can; sometimes I can't.

If you could post an example that "can't, it would be helpful.

[LavenderGardens]

On 4/25/2024 at 4:38 PM, Jeff Prince said:

The easiest way to do things is usually the 2D way...

...with some helper geometry to snap to automatic 3d working planes.

 

You just have to draw on different planes and then turn your 2D work into 3D Polys.

Here's a video, easy peasy.

 

 

 

 

how are you snapping to the face of the rectangular geometry?  When I try that I just get a 2d line even when I using the 3d polygon tool.

[Jeff Prince]

On 4/27/2024 at 7:46 AM, LavenderGardens said:

how are you snapping to the face of the rectangular geometry?  When I try that I just get a 2d line even when I using the 3d polygon tool.

 

Vectorworks has a feature called "automatic working plane", which is what you are seeing in the video when a face highlights in that periwinkle color.

When you have a drawing tool active and you hover over a surface, Vectorworks will orientate a temporary working plane and highlight it for drawing on the fly.  It's an easy feature to turn on and off with the default hotkey of " \ " aka Backslash, which is why people sometimes deactivate it by accident.