Extrude Faces as thickness

[mykillk 1]

Just purchased ProBuilder, and right off the bat I have noticed the lack of thickness or backface on the extrude tool. As an example, I am trying to make an airplane fuselage, so I create a cylinder. But it needs to have faces on both the inside and the outside, and proper thickness to it. Using the extrusion tool, you can only push in or out the faces and the backfaces are not maintained, so it really isn't accomplishing anything useful for that situation.

A workaround is to create a second cylinder, slightly larger and flip the normals. But it takes more time than I would like, compared to having a "thickness" or "maintain backfaces" check mark in the Extrude Faces dialog. Would also be helpful for turning planes into walls or floors with actual thickness.

[GabrielW 60]

Hi mykillk, welcome to the forums!

I remember 3DS Max had a "Shell" modifier that worked this way- you applied it at the top of the "stack", and it would keep the mesh at a constant thickness, plus some options for welding/smoothing/etc. Definitely something we should add for PB3, when we make the move to configurable modifiers and mesh scripts. The "Shadow Object" experimental feature is a good (early) example (video below)

More immediately helpful, perhaps using the "Pipe" shape would be easier for the start of your shape? That way you get an exterior and interior right away.

Hope this helps!

 

 

[mykillk 1]

Of course, a pipe shape would have worked better. I don't know why I didn't think of that! Looking forward to PB3.