Michael, really, thank you so much for this!

I'm not sure though, is this considered to be a "regular" bevel / extrude function?

I like how you can inset a surface, and it appears to let you also extrude in the opposite direction - I just want to be sure if you don't actually consider this an extrude or bevel function.


Either way, having this will make a snap of my panel work in a lot of cases! ;-)


-Will

PS - Okay, looking again at the GIFs, this is basically an inset/extrude since beveling lets you also change the width of the new face(s) - which is not what's happening here.

This is an awesome function though, can't wait to have this!

Hi Will,

> I'm not sure though, is this considered to be a
> "regular" bevel / extrude function?

Well, I'm not sure - what exactly would you expect for a "regular" bevel/extrude function to do?

If you would expect it to do this, then I guess this qualifies! :)

There will eventually be a different kind of extrude function called a "tapered extrude" which would make more like a conical type inward sloped extrusion from a flat outline. That one when starting from a circle curve would produce a cone shape. Is that the kind of thing that you're referring to?


Wait, I guess you're probably talking about something like this:



This new function will generate this:



But you're probably thinking of a polygon modeler type bevel which would be like this:




Maybe in the future that could become an option, like a "Tapered" checkbox to this same command - the pieces are kind of in place there you just need to have some Lofts put in between the correct edges. I don't think it will be very easy to incorporate that right now though.

- Michael

Hi Will,

> Okay, looking again at the GIFs, this is basically an inset/extrude
> since beveling lets you also change the width of the new face(s) -
> which is not what's happening here.

Well, this will let you control the "border thickness" for how much the face shrinks inwards from its trim boundaries.

Then I think there will be an option to set the "Height" separately from the thickness if you want.

Then there is an additional option for Direction: Inwards or Direction: Outwards.

- Michael

Hi Will, just as a note - normally in CAD a bevel like this:



Is produced by doing a chamfer that cuts it away from a larger piece, like so:



Here's showing the original box in wireframe to help illustrate:




Rather than starting with the small piece and having it pop outwards from it like you would do in a polygon modeling program.


But probably in the future the Inset command could allow for that kind of "outwards growing" bevel as an alternate way.


- Michael

I wish there was the ability to record your thoughts as you iterate through these things! Perhaps you should record yourself talking through it for your little guy and posterity!!!

Yes, Michael, that's what I consider a bevel, you can extrude out PLUS also vary the size of the new face (typically smaller but at times, you can make it larger or bevel out as well.)

But sans bevel, this new functionality is exactly what I was wishing for the other day and again, I appreciate the development time you've put into it!

I called it "regular" because these are the typical (should say required) functions that polygon modelers provide.


Nice to see it within MoI now also!


-Will

Hi Will,

> (typically smaller but at times, you can make it larger or
> bevel out as well.)

Actually the way I have it set up I should be able to make it go larger as well, as an option when Direction: Outwards is active.

I just tried it, and with the current non-beveling way it kind of puts "hats" on things:



Kind of crazy... kind of like "Add cladding" when it covers a wider area.

- Michael

The "hat mode" will probably be a bit less dependable even yet on wavy surfaces, but it's pretty interesting in several cases as well:





- Michael

This is great Michael :)

This new feature looking very nice and fast.
But any body have an example of pictures when this feature will be very good in real design work ?

How about this?

http://moi3d.com/gallery/viewitem.php?id=23

Hi Anis,

> But any body have an example of pictures when this feature
> will be very good in real design work ?

Just use your imagination! Design does not always have to be about reproducing exact copies of what already exists...

If you want to incorporate some inset or raised panels into your design this is one way you can do it really quickly.

But here's one simple example - a table:



Here's a table for holding sand:




Certainly there are other ways you can create such things, draw in a new curve, extrude it and boolean it, but with this new command it only took me literally a couple of seconds to do it. So for example with it only taking seconds you could be free to say - hmm, I wonder what this design would look like if this piece kind of punched out a bit, let's just give that a quick shot here (if it works... ;) and see what it looks like...

- Michael

Hi Michael,

Another great feature you've cooked up there!

There is a feature that I use which is similar, it's called Emboss the only difference is that you can draw any shape closed curve and it will emboss that shape in the body to what depth you want still following the contour of the target body, is this something that could extend this new 'inset' feature?



-

Hi Danny,

Is the feature you referring similar to cut from surface then we can input the depth ?

I'm not sure Anis, is that a Solidworks feature?
It sounds like that it does the same thing. I'm not that familiar with all the commands used in other 3d software.

Cheers

Hi Danny - this new command is related to Shell or Offset, meaning that it derives a shape directly from existing surfaces and not by introducing any completely new drawn profile curves into the mix.

In the future I definitely do want to be able to do what you are showing there, but I don't think it will be part of this particular command.

Instead my current line of thought is that it would be added as an option to the Booleans.

You can already use a rectangle like that as a cutting object in the Booleans right now, but it produces a hole that goes all the way through the base object. What I'm thinking is that there could be a "Limit depth" checkbox added to the "Select objects to subtract" stage of Boolean difference, and if you checked it and had selected any closed curves as the cutting objects, then that's when you could have an additional stage to the Boolean where you could set a depth and the result would be like you are showing.

Boolean union could be used in a similar way with closed curves to make raised areas instead of indentations.

- Michael

So in Danny's Image there, if he trims that surface with his curve, then joins it together, would the new tool perform on the trimmed shape? he could then draw the curve at a larger size of the top surface offset amount.

Hi Burr, currently this new tool won't work in that situation because of the trimmed piece being flush with the surrounding surfaces.

Currently the borders of the piece are built by the intersections with neighboring surfaces - when pieces are smooth to one another they don't produce the right kind of intersections.

But you don't necessarily need this new command for that kind of a thing - you can use the current Shell command or extrusion on a trimmed out piece like that to thicken it into a solid, and then delete the front part of it.

See this for an example:
http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=3024.4

That's not really too many steps for one part, but it would be nice to have it wrapped up to be more automatic, then you could do something like stick 50 circles all around an object and have them all make depressions with one command.

- Michael

Hi Michael

Inset command looks great. Not sure if this has been discussed already, could there be an option to keep the part cut away by the insetting? hope thats clear, it could save some steps.

regards

Jamie

Danny, that emboss is a wonderful function as well!


This whole thread has me excited thinking of the possibilities for my buildings and spaceship models with these kinds of functions in MoI!

-Will