CadTools and xTurn (Vehicle Turning Software) Forum

CadTools General Category => CadTools General => Topic started by: payre on March 14, 2012, 02:49:44 AM

Title: Extrude along invert level instead of centreline
Post by: payre on March 14, 2012, 02:49:44 AM
Up until recently I've been happily using the "create 3D solids from 3D polylines" tool to convert a bunch of invert level strings to 3D representations of pipes. What I do is simply "lift" the resultant 3d pipes up by half the internal diameter so that it's in approximately correct position (see attached).

Now I need to do the same sort of conversion with exact precision. I can do this on a one by one basis easy, but have hundreds of strings to convert and I like the way Cadtools has simplyfied the process.

I'm looking at some other more specialised packages, but Lars, is there a simple way to get Cadtools to extrude along the invert level instead of centreline?

Regards

Peter
Title: Re: Extrude along invert level instead of centreline
Post by: Lars on March 14, 2012, 07:28:39 AM
I'm out of office for a couple of days so I can't check the code in CadTools.
The most effective way is if I make an option for centerline/invert
I'll look into this a s p

/Lars
Title: Re: Extrude along invert level instead of centreline
Post by: cr_raul on March 14, 2012, 12:17:52 PM
why don't you try to use the 3d offset command on the centerline instead of just moving the centerline? you could get better results this way.
Title: Re: Extrude along invert level instead of centreline
Post by: payre on March 15, 2012, 05:17:43 AM
Lars, thank you, this would be very much appreciated if it is possible.

cr_raul, yes, I thought of that but as far as I can tell I would need to input both horizontal and vertical distances to get the desired result, which means I would need to calculate each according to the slope and diameter of each individual pipe.
Title: Re: Extrude along invert level instead of centreline
Post by: Lars on March 18, 2012, 08:26:27 PM
This one was a bit tricky, hope it works like expected. It's in current update (665)
Title: Re: Extrude along invert level instead of centreline
Post by: payre on March 20, 2012, 12:16:49 AM
Thank you so much Lars, this works perfectly on first try!

I had started using Civil3D but the resulting files really slow down AutoCad and are a pain to do anything with in Navisworks.

Expect another donation soon, this time I'll try to get the company to pay!

Regards

Peter