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Tapered Extrude Fails


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I'm not sure that the Taper Extrude command is modern enough to do what you want (some tools/commands haven't been updated for a long time). I would suggest making an extrude and using the Deform Tool to taper it. Use the Taper Solid Mode and make sure Symmetric Mode is turned on. Here's an example (first one is an extrude, the second is an extrude tapered with the Deform Tool, the third shows what the Taper Solid Mode does on a simpler shape and the fourth one is both tapered and twisted) -

 

285966745_ScreenShot2020-02-20at2_52_01PM.thumb.png.ac971c359195280c5474590d437ff8b5.png

 

Kevin

Taper Tree Trunk.vwx

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Extruding from an irregular shape such as what you have to a circle are beyond the limitations of Vectorworks and most CAD applications.

As a workaround:

1. In plan view; place a circle that will be the top in the desired position

0.thumb.jpg.1d42a53096696e0be84dd5c8be4be976.jpg

 

2. Switch to a side or isometric view and elevate the circle to the desired height (vertically)

2.thumb.jpg.bf9ee74fd4bfc916e5a8b636a1b52a11.jpg

 

3. Convert both to NURBS ( Modify > Convert > Convert to NURBS )

    Note: If you have selected both and then converted you will need to ungroup.

 

4. Select your tree (bottom shape) and look in the OIP

    Check how many "Vertices" your shape has... 65

4.thumb.jpg.abe83fba98534358a2bf7272c09d16b9.jpg

 

5. Now select the circle and... ( Modify > 3D Power Pack > Rebuild NURBS )

    In the "Number of Points" enter the number of vertices that the lower shape has (65 from step 4 above)

5.thumb.jpg.0837a560c30e2279bff54412f4aa2ebf.jpg

select OK.

 

6. Select one of the shapes and in the OIP tick "Show Direction"

6.thumb.jpg.7c3de9eb711b59bb176f726e919435ca.jpg

Check that both shapes are in the same direction; if they are different this wont work or you may end up with some twisted shape.

If they are in different directions select one of them and in the OIP select "Reverse Direction"

 

7. Switch to plan view as easier to select

    Select the "Loft Surface Tool" from the 3D Modelling toolset.

    7.thumb.jpg.e6a7cdafce1acfeeb137a8300b46a5d7.jpg

You want to select the 1st option "No Rails Mode"

8.thumb.jpg.32a98850c99dda94a74ede16b0de6d67.jpg

 

Now select the lower shape first then the circle (as we converted this to NURBS with 65 vertices it is no longer a true circle which is what makes this work)

Try and pick the two shapes in line as shown in the image below (from a vertices to vertices )

9.thumb.jpg.78c3b5d9856b8b3442a8ed4061b89a61.jpg

 

Select the "Green tick" to accept.

The "Loft Creation" panel is displayed, select "Create Solid" then OK

10.thumb.jpg.6ed43fc0e3c9608751962fc0c81ee335.jpg

 

Switch to 3D view and you should have as close a possible to what you are trying to achieve.

11.thumb.jpg.881b09c4806ad2326cdffdb8547df5c0.jpg

Hope this helps

Alan

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  • 1 month later...

Although this discussion is more than a month old, I recently encountered the same error message as in the first post, when I attempted to do a tapered extrude: "Tapered Extrude creation failed due to invalid parameter(s) for at least one profile object."

 

Reading through this discussion, I decided that lofting would not be suitable for my situation, because the start and end shapes needed to be the same—just different sizes. The shapes I was extruding were characters of text that had been converted to polylines using the conversion command from the Text menu. About 90% of the characters would extrude properly, and the rest would fail with the above error message. So, I decided to do a bit of detective work. Double clicking on the problem characters, and looking at the vertices, I saw that there were places where vertices were clustered very close together. In some cases the vertices appeared to be superimposed, and occasionally one or two that were in reverse order. I was able to remove some of these vertices and move a few others without having any significant effect on the shape. After I finished this editing, the tapered extrude was successful. So, this is one possible solution to the problem.

 

FYI: This is a type-wheel design for a printer. See attached image. The taper is 10° on the characters.

PrintWheel_Partial.png

Edited by BobWeaver
Added image
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