Is this a bug? I am trying to protrude a 3D Poly and it don't work

[MattG]

I have a odd shaped box where each corner is at a different height. I am trying to put a lid on this. I had another one and I drew a 3D poly over the top 4 corners and their different heights and such. Then I took the protrusion tool and tried to pull it up a 1/2" It worked on a different piece, but no luck on this one. Can someone else confirm this for me?

Matt

[GWS]

Try selecting the polygon and then going to the "Tapered Extrude" option under the Model menu. Enter 0.5" for the height and 0? for the angle.

[islandmon]

Try setting a working plane to the Box top then pulling off of that .

[MattG]

I did that as a try and when I rendered open GL I got extruded lines, not a extruded face.

[MattG]

I set the working plane using 3 point mode and still no luck. It doesn't seem to let me select the polygon.

Here is a screen shot.

Matt

[Pat Stanford]

The protrusion tool requires a NURBS curve, not a 3D polygon.

Select the Polygon and do a Convert to Nurbs. Then select the Protrusion tool and select the curve and the sides of the display. you should get the red handle to drag to create the thickness. When it is right click the green check box.

You should end up with a solid addtion of the top and the box. If you ungroup it you will see that the top is really a Tapered extrude.

So why fight with the protrusion tool, just use the tapered extrude on the original 3D polygon. ;-)

[starling75]

I have a odd shaped box where each corner is at a different height. I am trying to put a lid on this. I had another one and I drew a 3D poly over the top 4 corners and their different heights and such. Then I took the protrusion tool and tried to pull it up a 1/2" It worked on a different piece, but no luck on this one. Can someone else confirm this for me?

Matt

You can't simply extrude such shape - the plane is distorded - in fact defined by two triangles (but the valley is hidden).

Try this:

a) Rebuild your shape using 2 triangular 3D polygons, extrude them and then run solid addition

b) Rebuild your shape using 2 triangular 3D polygons, copy them along desired vector, draw 4 3Dpolygons creating sides of your lid and then run solid addition.

c) Use your original 3D poly. Decompose. Delete one edge and the rest convert into NURBS curves. Run loft surface - birail sweep mode. You will get smooth NURBS surface. Run shell command...

d) Convert your 3D POLYinto NURBS surface like in© and then build your lid like in b) but using NURBS surfaces. Build solid lid runnig stitch and trim surfaces.

[Pat Stanford]

Also, are you fooling us? Your signature says VW2010, but the sample file you sent of the display is in VW2009 format.

Which are you really using?

[MattG]

I have tried converting to a nurbs and I can preselect the curve, but not actually select it and get the ability to protrude. I also have tried just doing a tapered extrude and no luck because it extrudes it like it is a line.

This is incredibly frustrating.

Matt

[MattG]

2010, I just did that so more forum users could access it as 2009 is probably still more common.

But yes I am fooling you.....;0)

[MattG]

I must really be misunderstanding. I do not believe you can extrude a 3d poly.

[MattG]

Here is a 2010 file, maybe you can correct me and prove me wrong. I hope it is a operator error.

Matt

[Pat Stanford]

I have tried converting to a nurbs and I can preselect the curve, but not actually select it and get the ability to protrude. I also have tried just doing a tapered extrude and no luck because it extrudes it like it is a line.

That explains part of it. If it is extruding like a line, then it is an "Open" polygon instead of a closed one. Check the OIP. it will probably say (in the bottom box) that you have 5 verticies not 4. Click to Closed checkbox to add the final segment. Better yet also go through and delete the extra vertex.

Once you have a closed polygon you should be able to use the Tapered Extrude command.

[Pat Stanford]

I must really be misunderstanding. I do not believe you can extrude a 3d poly.

You can't Extrude it, but you can Tapered Extrude it with a taper angle of zero.

[MattG]

In the post that I showed I only have 4 verticies and have the closed check box checked. Even when I set the angle to 0 I still get it extruding as lines.

[Pat Stanford]

After playing with it more I have to agree with Starling.

If you TaperedcExtrude a non-planar 3D polygon, you get the sides but not the top or bottom. If the 3D poly is truly planar, you will get all the surfaces.

If you think it is planar "enough", then set the working plane to the surface, draw a 2D polygon and then extrude that.

Otherwise, redo your "slice" to make the top of the display really planar.