Mike,

I found a strange failure in the inset tool you may want to look at. In the attached file there is a part with a chamfer on the bottom edge. When I try to do an inset on the bottom of the part it will not allow any inset value larger than about the depth of the chamfer. I was trying to inset by 2" and it would not work.

Hi Drakonsden - that Inset failure is just part of how Inset actually functions.

The surrounding "side wall" surfaces around the inset piece are used as part of the process that creates the inset, so you can't perform the inset to a distance that would move the face being inset all the way past the surrounding side surfaces.

Here's a bit more of a description - if you want to inset this face here:



The first step that actually happens is that a fragment is formed by taking that face and the faces surrounding it, and calculating this thing here:



So what happens there is the bottom face is offset upwards, and the surrounding pieces stay in place, with the bottom offset face getting extended sideways so that it hits the side walls.

But this process also means that it is not possible to calculate an inset that will cause the bottom face to travel upwards far enough to where it can no longer be intersected with those side wall surfaces because it is totally above them.

I suppose in the future I could try some other ways of calculating things, like offsetting the side walls inwards first rather than bringing the inset face inwards first, that would probably allow it to go further inwards in this kind of situation. But unfortunately it's not a particularly easy thing to mess around with.

- Michael

OK, I get it. I suppose I can just do a Boolean operation and get the results I want. Just thought the inset tool would be quicker.

Now that I think about it, I could have used the Inset first then chamfered the edge afterward.

Thanks for the reply.