Edge filleting fails

[MHBrown]

I'm using VW 2020 SP3.1 on MacBook Pro 16", Catalina OS

The 3D fillet tools seems to be failing far more often than it used to. Attached is a typical example, in this case an extruded polyline. Even a fillet as small as 1/8" will not work. It is a very efficient polyline with very few vertices. I've even converted it to a generic solid with no luck. These are objects that used to fillet (if that's a verb) just fine; suddenly, with this version, they have only worked about a third of the time. Any ideas?

Thanks,

MHBrown

[bjoerka]

Correct. I´ve seen this too with several "easy" objects.

And it is more strange that the same object behaves different in 2020 vs 2019

the first screenshot shows an extruded object which max fillet radius is 3mm, on both edges.

the second screenshot show the object exported to 2019

the maximum fillet radius on the left edge is also 3mm, but when you apply the same radius to the right edge with 3 mm, you can higher the fillet value up to 5mm.

whereas if you try entering 4 or 5mm straight as first value the fillet can´t be applied...

 

 

 

 

Edited July 8, 2020 by bjoerka

[Jeremy Best]

Hi @MHBrown, I'm curious to hear if the method outlined above by @bjoerka works on your object in 2020. Namely: 

1. Try applying successively smaller fillets until Vectorworks is happy to apply it to the object, then 
2. Increase the radius of the fillet in the Object Info Palette and see if you can exceed the previously rejected radii. 

It would be great if you could upload that exact profile for others to evaluate. One thing I'd like to know is whether you've used that exact profile/object in 2019 (where it performed well) or if you were speaking generically, i.e. that 'objects of this type' were fine in 2019. 

[MHBrown]

Hi, Jeremy,

The 3D fillet tool fails all the time on all sorts of curved shapes, so it is not specific to this shape. I've tried applying smaller and smaller fillets until one works, but that is not a solution since it is not the fillet I want. It seems to be a problem with how the tool is coded.

Thanks,

Mike

[Kevin McAllister]

3d Fillet is definitely less robust than it was in earlier versions. I would guess changes were made to allow it to become part of an object's history. @JuanP is there someone from engineering who worked on this change and could speak to changes with the 3d Fillet tool?

 

@MHBrown are you able to post an example extrude and what radius you're trying to achieve on it?

 

I was fighting with it myself earlier in the week and applying smaller fillets to get the fillet to take, editing it's radius afterwards in the OIP.

 

Kevin

 

[bjoerka]

i attached the profiles which i described above

vw2019 and vw2020

the profile was drawn in 2020 and saved as 2019

 

Fillet Tool V2020.vwx Fillet Tool v2019.vwx

[Kevin McAllister]

4 hours ago, bjoerka said:

i attached the profiles which i described above

 

Thanks. I can identify where the issue is in the geometry and provide two workarounds. I've attached the file. I still can't answer why this area is a problem.

 

The first workaround is to reduce the number of points at the top of the back. It gets you a little bigger radius.

The second workaround changes the top of the back to have corners and then fillets off the corners first before applying the other fillets.

 

Kevin

 

Fillet Tool V2020 KM.vwx

[bjoerka]

yes kevin, you are right.

but nevertheless the tool has become strange since 2020...

the profile was just a quick test, nothing serious 😉

 

[TKA]

all fillets are different, but one thing I noticed in my case that changing order of filleting allowed to complete (overcome locked fillets) conditions.  I my case it was doing the simplest filleting at the very end.

[Mark Aceto]

On 7/15/2020 at 8:34 AM, MHBrown said:

Hi, Jeremy,

The 3D fillet tool fails all the time on all sorts of curved shapes, so it is not specific to this shape. I've tried applying smaller and smaller fillets until one works, but that is not a solution since it is not the fillet I want. It seems to be a problem with how the tool is coded.

Thanks,

Mike

 

I just discovered that trying a smaller fillet (1/4" in this case) works to back into a successful operation, and then I can increase the size of the fillet in the OIP to get what I want (1" in this case).