27th February 2005, 07:53 PM | #1 |
Junior Member
Junior member
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Whitefish, Montana
Posts: 6
|
Hollow shape with thick walls??
I am new to ACD3 and have used it to design several furniture pieces, however, I can't seem to do one simple task. How would I make a random shape with thick walls. For example, on page 25 of the manual, it shows a random shape made by extruding a line. Lets say I wanted the same shape, but I wanted the wall thickness to be 3/4 inch thick,how would I go about doing this?
Phil |
28th February 2005, 12:02 AM | #2 |
Senior Member
Professional user
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Eugene OR, USA
Posts: 212
|
im not on my comp right now, so i dont have ac3d/ac3d-manual at hand.
but i think your looking for the 'extrude' tool. located in the tool bar next to 'move/size' and 'rotate'. |
28th February 2005, 12:46 AM | #3 |
Junior Member
Junior member
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Whitefish, Montana
Posts: 6
|
I have found some other posts about a similar question and it seems like this may be complicated after all. Some options were to make a hole, but this is not an exact measurement. I need to simulate 3/4 inch wood that has been bent. Shapes will be random, so circles and ellipses don't work. I need to freehand a shape and then extrude it. After that, it is still one thickness. If I extrude the inner surface of this shape, it will be in one direction only. What I would like to do is extrude the inner or outer surfaces equally in all directions.
Phil |
28th February 2005, 01:08 AM | #4 |
Senior Member
Professional user
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Eugene OR, USA
Posts: 212
|
awww i c.
just a tip(incase you didnt know) if you hold 'ctrl' down while scaling a selection it preforms a uniform scale. not sure that helps you, but it might be useful. |
28th February 2005, 03:30 AM | #5 |
Junior Member
Advanced member
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Cheshire England
Posts: 25
|
Hi
This may not help but... As a firm beleiver in 'box' construction, here is how I might go about a random shape with a defined thickness... 1. Create a box. 2. 'Thin' it to the defined thinness. 3. Working with Surfaces, and Vertex's, create, divide, extrude then combine, smooth and presto, any kind of random shape. 4. If the shape is simpler, I might use a boolean to create a 'void' three quarters of an inch away from the outer wall??, that would work too. (Maya can define a tool such as a 'thickness', so can Autocad I think, but they are both BIG solutions.) I must not forget, that what I see on the screen is only pixels, and definitions are given to it when I present it to another person. My screen cannot tell if it is 1 inch, 1 millionth of an inch, or one mile thick. AC3D may not be a solution for detailed engineering drawing to be used to drive a CNC machine, but it might be I guess, but it is very good at completing, creating and giving opportunities and ideas life, a life that otherwise might never exist. Sorry for the rambling, its too early in the day for intelligent thought. (pre 09:00 hours) |
|
|