I think, the problem comes from the chamfer.

If you separate the faces after chamfer and click showpoints for surfaces, you will see the cutting points and surfaces.

To do what you want :
- do your cube
- Chamfer
- delete the top face
- redo the top face
- delete the inclined face
- redo the inclined face

All faces are independant and could be "inseted" as you want.

Hi RD, which version of MoI are you using? In your first file above it looks like the problem is the object isn't all joined together into a single solid, it's got some pieces separated out as separate surfaces. If you use Edit > Join on it to glue it into a solid then Inset should work on it.

Then the way that Inset works is related to the Offset/Shell commands, where the geometry is formed by offsets of the surrounding faces. The sides will be of "constant wall thickness", so for example a shell on an object like this:



Will produce a result like this:



And an Inset will produce a similar result with a limited depth like this:



So it's normal for the results to have an angled side wall. The side walls come from offsets of the surrounding faces, and if the surrounding faces are angled then their offsets will also be angled.

I think you're looking for a different kind of result with something like an extrusion of the base face instead of a constant wall thickness. Currently there isn't an option to generate that kind of result with the Inset command, you would instead need to do something like offset the edges then extrude that and use a boolean, or you could also offset the edges and then use Edit > Trim with the "Keep all joined" option turned on to cut out a face and then extrude that inner face fragment.

- Michael


- Michael

Yes, that seems to be the issue. It's clearly related to the Chamfer command. Like I've said, I hope that this bug gets fixed, it would make the workflow much more streamlined.

To avoid the angle error, separate the faces and do a join without using the vertical face wich create the false angle.

The source of your angle error ?

Hi Michael,

I am using the latest Beta version. If you want to replicate my results, just create a new Cube solid, then Chamfer one of the face, and then try to Inset some of the angled faces.



if I create that object without saving it, I get a calculation failed result. If I reopen the same file (.3dm), I get the following result.

I think that probably the chamfer result is not generating the specialized analytic plane surface type for its result, but when you save and reload the file it does get an analytic plane there. That's what makes for a different result when you save and reload the file.

I'll see about tuning up the chamfer result to make an analytic plane when possible.

- Michael

RD,
For the angles, look on my propositions.

Thanks for your reply Michael.

Btw, I think that MoI has the potential to become the Zbrush standard for hard surface modeling. The word is spreading fast around. I'm personally extremely impressed by how fast I can create and model using it. It's amazing. The minimalist approach and UI simplicity is brilliant. As a side note, your Quads and Triangles (and N-gons) export function is almost perfect. I know it's not an easy problem to crack, but if you manage to do it, it will be a game changer for the industry. Thank you for creating this software! ;)

Another suggestion, maybe add an angle option for the inset? Similar to the options we have when we extrude faces (Tapered). This way we would be able to control the result of the inset and the direction.

Thank you.

Hi
You can

OFFSET edge of your surface

EXTRUDE negative

BOOLEAN diff

Thanks RD I'm really glad you are liking it!

- Michael

Hi RD,

> Another suggestion, maybe add an angle option for the inset? Similar to the options we have when we
> extrude faces (Tapered). This way we would be able to control the result of the inset and the direction.

One thing that's difficult for that is handling it on curved surfaces. But it could be a possible option in the future for planar surfaces.

- Michael

Many thanks to everyone that replied to this thread. Much appreciated!

Hi RD, I've got a fix for the v4 final version so Chamfer will make an analytic plane when possible and that will then give the same result for Inset on it as saving to a file and reloading did.

Thanks for reporting the bug,

- Michael

Great! Thanks!