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Old 20th May 2004, 09:17 AM   #1
flygirl
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Default Extrude??

When using the "extrude" command, how can you assign a length to the extrusion?

Can you increase or decrease the extrusion length later in your model?

Thanks! :wink:
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Old 20th May 2004, 09:48 AM   #2
foxa
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When you select the Extrude button the middle of the tool panel adds a few options, but none for length of extrusion (this is 3D not CAD). Fortunately, altering the length of an extrusion is somewhat painless.
  • Resize the object.

    Select all of the verticees at one end of the extrusion and move them.

Dont forget the View menu lets you place a bitmap on the backround for reference.

Art
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Old 20th May 2004, 10:12 AM   #3
flygirl
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What do you mean by the comment "This 3D not CAD?" I ask because my experience with 3D is in CATIA and assigning lengths for modeling is a required step.

I see that when I choose the extrude button there a some added options but none for assigning a length. I wanted to see what others would suggest but I have made the assumption that to solve this issue: I will assign my grid measurements according to my length needs and then choose the gridsnap option for getting accuracy.

Does this seem reasonable? What do you do for accuracy?

Thanks for the info on changing extrusions! :wink:
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Old 20th May 2004, 11:49 AM   #4
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I believe that AC3D works in "units" (Andy or Jeff - help me out here) and it does default to some basic Metric unit. There are several threads on measurements on the forum (I'm slammed at work right now or I would supply links). So read back on the forum threads and see what you can find. The engineers here don't understand how I can do some of this so fast and I explain -"nothing has to fit and nothing has to work, it just has to look right".

Have Fun

Art
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Old 20th May 2004, 08:35 PM   #5
Razer
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you can't extrude to a set size since you have to drag something to extrude it.
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Old 21st May 2004, 09:29 AM   #6
Thaellin
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I think I remember + and - moving a surface along the direction of its facing normal... So a convoluted way to extrude by a certain distance might be to select the original surface, get its position (> button in left-hand pane), extrude once, select extruded surface, use 'moveto' to put it right on top of the original surface, then use +/- to move the surface along its normal by fixed increments.

Like I said... convoluted. Would be nicer to have a way to do it directly and with a precise distance. There may be one, but I do not know it. I've never missed it, though...

-- Jeff
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Old 22nd May 2004, 02:46 PM   #7
Andy
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Here's a quick hack that allows you to specify the distance for an extrude.

in tcl/ac3d.tcl, find:

Code:
    } elseif {$draw_mode == "extrude"} {
        setting_title $object_detail_frame "Extrude parameters:"
        set s1 [setting_spin $object_detail_frame prefs_extrude_num "Sections" "number sections in extrude" 1 999 3]
        set s2 [setting_bool $object_detail_frame prefs_extrude_cap_end "Cap end" "Cap the end of the extrusion?"]
		set s4 [setting_bool $object_detail_frame prefs_extrude_flip_cap "Flip new surfaces" "Flip the direction of the new surfaces?"]
		set s3 [setting_bool $object_detail_frame prefs_extrude_delete_original "Remove original" "Remove the original surfaces?"]
after that, add:


Code:
        set s5 [setting_edit  $object_detail_frame extrudex "x" "X distance" 3]
        set s6 [setting_edit  $object_detail_frame extrudey "y" "Y distance" 3]
        set s7 [setting_edit  $object_detail_frame extrudez "z" "Z distance" 3]

		set eb [cbutton $object_detail_frame.extrudenow "Extrude now"  {ac3d extrude_dist $extrudex $extrudey $extrudez } "extrude now with the above distance"]
		pack $eb
This adds three fields after the extrude params, along with a button that does the extrude.

(could do with formatting the xyz fields in a row but you get the idea.)

Andy
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Old 22nd May 2004, 04:06 PM   #8
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Boy - you don't get service like this from Microsoft.

Thanks Andy

Art
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