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<title>Extrusion along a path</title>
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<h1>Extrusion along a path</h1>
<p>In principle, Extrusion along a path works in the same way as Extrusion,
the main difference is that we define not a vector, but a path of extrusion
which must be a meshed edge or wire. To get an idea of how this algorithm
works, let's see the left image, where we have a 1D circle edge and a
2D hexagon to be extruded along this path (in the picture they are angular
because we show the wireframe of the mesh). And now let's see the right
image, showing the result of the operation. </p>
<p> </p>
<table x-use-null-cells cellspacing="0" width="100%" class="whs1">
<col class="whs2">
<col class="whs2">
<tr valign="top" class="whs3">
<td width="50%" class="whs4">
<p><img src="image102.gif" width="335px" height="323px" border="0" class="img_whs5"></td>
<td width="50%" class="whs6">
<p><img src="image104.gif" width="350px" height="323px" border="0" class="img_whs7"></td></tr>
</table>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p class=TODO>To use Extrusion along a path:</p>
<p class="whs8">1. From the <span style="font-weight: bold;"><B>Modification
</B></span>menu choose the <span style="font-weight: bold;"><B>Extrusion along
a path </B></span>item or click <img src="image101.gif" width="27px" height="24px" border="0" class="img_whs9"> button in the toolbar. The
following dialog box will appear:</p>
<p class="whs8"> </p>
<p class=TODO
style="margin-left: 80px;"><img src="pics/a-extusionalongapath2.png" x-maintain-ratio="TRUE" width="434px" height="541px" border="0" class="img_whs10"></p>
<p class="whs8"> </p>
<p class="whs8">2. In the dialog box you should </p>
<ul type="disc" class="whs11">
<li class=kadov-p><p class="whs12">select the type of
elements which will be extruded (1D or 2D),</p></li>
<li class=kadov-p><p class="whs12">specify the IDs of
the elements which will be extruded by selecting them in the 3D viewer
or <span style="font-weight: bold;"><B>Select the whole mesh, submesh or
grou</B></span>p,</p></li>
<li class=kadov-p><p class="whs12">specify the path along
which the elements will be extruded, for this you should specify the <span
style="font-weight: bold;"><B>Mesh</B></span>, the <span style="font-weight: bold;"><B>Shape</B></span>,
and the <span style="font-weight: bold;"><B>Start point</B></span> for the extrusion.
</p></li>
</ul>
<p class="whs8"> </p>
<p class="whs8">3. There are two optional parameters, which
can be very useful.</p>
<ul type="disc" class="whs11">
<li class=kadov-p><p class="whs12">If the path of extrusion
is curvilinear, at each iteration the extruded shape is rotated to keep
its initial angularity to the curve. By default, the <span style="font-weight: bold;"><B>Base
point</B></span> around which the shape is rotated is the mass center of the
shape, however, you can specify any point as the <span style="font-weight: bold;"><B>Base
Point</B></span> and the shape will be rotated with respect to this point.</p></li>
<li class=kadov-p><p class="whs12">The shape can also
be rotated around the path to get the resulting mesh in a helical fashion.
At the picture above we see both "oblique-angled" and "right-angled"
mesh elements because <span style="font-weight: bold;"><B>Rotation Angles</B></span>
have not been set for all iterations. You set the values of the angles
at the right and add them to the list of angles at the left by pressing
the <img src="image105.gif" width="26px" height="25px" border="0" class="img_whs13"> button and remove the values from the list by pressing
the <img src="image106.gif" width="29px" height="28px" border="0" class="img_whs14"> button. </p></li>
</ul>
<p class="whs8">4. Click the <span style="font-weight: bold;"><B>Apply
</B></span>or <span style="font-weight: bold;"><B>OK </B></span>button.</p>
<p class="whs8"> </p>
<p> <span style="font-weight: bold;"><B>See
Also</B></span> a sample TUI Script of an <a href="modifying_meshes.htm#bookmark10">Extrusion
along a Path</a> operation. </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
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