Been trying to model a chair that has a fairly simple design. What is the easiest way to get the shape that is highlighted into a solid shape with thickness? Any hints/help would be very appreciated.

Try using "Shell" (you will find that tool:- Construct-> offset-> Shell).

The result will depend on the surface, if there are kinks it can cause problems.



- Steve

Yeah - that is what I was trying to do, but it would not work. I am sure you realize the shape I am trying for - how would you approach creating it? My curves are creating a surface that is the correct shape, but broken into more than one separate piece - I think that is why shell won't work.

How about making an offset copy of the seat, offset by the thickness you want, and then sweep along the edges of the two surfaces and turn into a solid?

Your original surface is probably not fully smooth or has broken edges. Can you post the 3dm of the surface and I will take a look.


The easiest way to produce that shape (IMHO) would be to start with a single curve for the cross section,



then extrude,



then shell




then add corner fillets.

Thanks, Steve! Just the outlook I needed!

Yeah Shell for thickening surfaces can get pretty easily confused if you have multiple surfaces joined together unless they are all very smooth to each other where they touch.

The easiest way to guarantee that you've got a smooth piece is to have just 1 single surface.

When there is a sharp corner the offsetting engine does not know how to extend the surfaces so that things meet up properly, but this is an area that is being worked on in the geometry library though.

- Michael

Yep - I read in the documentation about it. I really LOVE everything about MoI, except that it won't work in Linux. This is not bad at all for a 30 min model - granted, the design is fairly simple:

Hi Phr0stByte, it turned out well!

Yeah one of the focus areas for MoI is to make it possible to produce simple designs really quickly.

- Michael