Extrude Along Path - missing info from documentation

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The documentation for the Extrude Along Path command misses out lots of info, as far as I can see.

 

http://app-help.vectorworks.net/2018/eng/VW2018_Guide/Objects_edit2/Extrude_Along_Path.htm

 

I'm always wary of this tool, because I never quite understand what it's doing. Sometimes I'll use it and it'll do what I want, sometimes it won't. Here are some basic questions that don't seem to answered in the VW help guides.

 

1. In what plane can I draw the profile object? Does it matter? Sometimes it only seems to work if I draw it in a top-plan view, sometimes I can draw it in some 3d plane and it works, sometimes it doesn't.

 

2. Does it matter where I draw the profile object, relative to where I draw the path? (Through trial and error, the answer seems to be 'no')

 

3. Which point on the profile object follows the path object? (Through trial and error, it seems to be the centre of it. And the only way to change this is to edit the profile after creating the EAP object)

 

 

[EAlexander]

My take on it. For beginners, but covers a bunch of what you ask :

 

 

 

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Thanks @EAlexander

 

That gets me some of the way but some things remain unexplained.

 

So, if I draw the profile in top-plan view, with 'fix profile' unticked, then it'll just follow the path with VW taking its centre as the reference point, which I can adjust retrospectively. That's clear.

 

But if I draw the profile on a 3d plane, again with 'fix profile' unticked, then sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. (Trial and error: it seems happy with a polygon path but not a polyline path. Why?)

 

Now with 'fix profile' ticked:

 

If I draw the profile with one of its corners exactly on the start of the path, it goes as expected.

 

If I then move the profile away, so that the start of the path is on the plane of the profile, it still goes as expected.

 

What if I move the profile somewhere else in 3d space, where the start of the path is not on the plane of the profile? Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. What are the criteria for it working? Must the path intersect the plane of the profile? Is it that intersection point that now determines where the extrusion appears relative to the path?

 

I can seem to get it to work at all with 'fix profile' ticked and a polyline (or nurbs curve) as the path. Is that expected behaviour?

 

 

 

 

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Is anyone from VW reading this?

 

My questions above highlight information that is not provided in the vectorworks help documentation.

 

I think the documentation needs to properly explain how to use the software. There are relatively basic aspects of the "extrude along path" command that are simply not explained.