Is there a way to inset/offset faces of a closed polysurface?
The faces highlighted I would like to offset them inward- like Move Face in Solidworks

Inset faces is obviously able to calculate this

I would like to get the highlighted surfaces- just not the adjoining shells.
Am I missing a simple command? This is actually one of the most powerful capabilities in Solidworks for consumer products. It would be awesome to see how to do this in moi3d

Seems Construct/ Offset/ Inset makes that...just make a Boolean Union at the end

Hi parel, could you please post a .3dm model file with an example object and the result of what you get with the SolidWorks tool ?

- Michael

Ouch- I hope I am missing something simple.

Hi parel, please post the .3dm model file that goes along with your screenshots.

- Michael

Same as above!
Draw 2 lines
Boolean Diff
Kill Curves and in between Box
Inset Outward
Boolean Union All

Thanks for responding so quickly guys!
@Michael Attached is a CAD file from Solidworks converted to 3dm. Let me know if this works for you.

@FrenchyPilou :) Yes that is the solution I was seeing as well- It involves calculating extra faces- and If I didnt have to think about overbuilding this could be very intuitive. Its not bad- but I imagine explaining this to my interns and they might get super confused with the extra steps.
The ability to move faces/surfaces like this is SUPER powerful.

;)

Hi parel, that's usually done more often by sweeping a cutting object and booleaning it out, like this:

Project curve onto body:




Sweep (often with a circle profile):



Boolean difference:





- Michael

Hi parel, or here with a circle as the profile for the sweep. The advantage to this method is you can have different "router bits" with different profiles for the sweep.



- Michael

@Michael- Yes- that is a way of doing it for sure. It is definitely a fast way of doing it when you design for a single material. Many times with these kind of products the inset portion is shot/injection molded with a different softer material. This technique of sweeping a profile has the disadvantage when creating real world products- we need to create separate bodies- both for manufacturing and for outputting separate bodies for 3d printing with crisp color separations.

Its funny in a way I was thinking this would be what offset would do when you joined surfaces to create a solid. Inset is doing something very close and usable for my needs- but if there was a way to script this that would be awesome!
Once you do a few offsets here and there- the designer can create some very sophisticated shapes extremely quickly - that are all derived from the main volume with all of its surface relationships.

@FrenchyPilou- Thanks for sharing that video- it creates something veery close- but you loose the surface relationships with the outer surfaces. The groove is no longer offset from the main volume.
But excellent resource because I didnt think of using the inset surface command like Chipp does it here.

Hi parel, in general the solids offsetting capability in Moi is not as robust as it is in SolidWorks. If the sweep method doesn't do what you need I would recommend importing into SolidWorks and using the method you are already familiar with in there.

The sweep method can provide for crisp color separation just fine though, see the above example with the groove in a different color.

- Michael

@Michael - Actually I think the inset can do what I need it to do. You are probably already doing all the math needed under the hood for what i need- its just being used toward a different goal in the inset commands.
Set the thickness to 0 and then carve the edge out with a groove.
The groove is usually in the Hard plastic so boolean it out from the soft inset in blue and add it to the hard plastic in grey.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts guys! Very helpful. I think I have the start of something repeatable.

Wow- very counterintuitive that you can inset by zero and then offset surfaces in- but thats exactly what I was looking for!

Can you put an image or a little gif of that ?

Heres what I got

Select the faces you want to inset- set Thickness to 0 and your offset is managed with the height outward or inward

I believe i understand that you have made!

I project curves Offseted
Trim the Volume
Kill curves
Select external faces of the "moved piece"
Inset 0 - Use separate height as you want (little measure of course)
Move in place
Boolean Union
It's a solid! :)

(it's a pity that we can't select directly only "Front faces" of the gap's face or i miss something :)



In fact we are obliged to move the piece even separated there is creation of vertical pieces at the angles!
That is not the case in the empty space! :) See animation above!