Extrude Op Property Editor (Components along Curve)

 
 
 

| Extrude | Transform

Extrudes selected polygons, edges, or points of a polygon mesh along a curve.

To apply: See Copying Components Along a Curve {Polygon Modeling].

To redisplay: Select the polygon mesh object then choose Edit Properties Modeling Properties and click the Extrude Op tab.

Extrude

Start

Offset of the extrusion from the beginning (U = 0) of the curve, as a percentage of the curve length.

End

Offset of the extrusion from the end of the curve, as a percentage of the curve length.

Duplicate Polygons

Controls how polygons are copied.

  • If this option is off, polygons are extruded, that is, the copied polygons are connected to the original geometry.

  • If this option is on, polygons are duplicated, that is, the copied polygons are disconnected from the original geometry.

This option applies only to polygons, not to edges or points.

Inset Amount

Shrinks the boundary of the new polygons by the specified amount in Softimage units.

Negative values expand the boundary instead of shrinking it. If the extrusion length is 0, the resulting polygons will overlap. If you do not want overlapping polygons, you should offset the polygons (see Offsetting Polygon Contours) before insetting them.

You can achieve similar effects by scaling using the options on the Transform tab, but with insetting the new edges are always parallel to the originals. In addition, scaling does not always work well with concave polygons whose edges might self-intersect. Another difference is that the inset always applies to the entire extrusion, rather than being repeated per subdivision.

This option applies only to polygons, not to edges or points.

Autorotate

Rotates the curve of extrusion so that its endpoint is aligned with the selected components.

The effect of Autorotate on (A) versus off (B)

Perpendicular

Rotates the extruded components so that they are perpendicular to the curve of extrusion at each subdivision. This option is most useful when extruding polygons and edges; when extruding points, you'll probably want this off.

The effect of Perpendicular on (A) versus off (B)

Merge

Controls whether components are extruded separately or as a group:

  • None (per polygon) treats each polygon individually.

  • Adjacent Polygons treats each group of connected polygons in the selection together, and treats disconnected groups separately.

  • All treats all polygons together, whether or not they are connected. This is useful when you want to duplicate an entire object that is composed of disconnected islands of polygons. For example, you can duplicate text along a curve and keep the whole text aligned at each subdivision, rather than have each separate letter oriented differently.

Skirting Ratio

When extruding edges and points, controls the width at the base. Lower values produce sharper spikes and creases.

With multiple Subdivs, this parameter controls the curvature of the extrusion profile.

Subdivs

Number of subdivisions generated along the curve of extrusion. This parameter is affected by the Per Knot option.

Per Knot

When on, the specified number of Subdivs are generated for every knot segment in the curve of extrusion. When off, the specified number of Subdivs are generated for the entire curve.

Transform

The options on the Transform page apply Scaling, Rotation, and Translation to the extruded components in their local X, Y, and Z axes.

Transform Per Subdivision

Repeats the transformations iteratively at each subdivision. This option has an effect only when Subdivs on the Extrude page is greater than 1. When off, the transformation is applied to the extrusion as a whole.