Thicken doesn't seem robust

marcosinetheta

I'm trying to make a thin-extrude feature in featurescript.  I want to be able to pick a face (or faces) and have it extrude a surface using the edge of that face, thicken that surface, and then delete the body.  I thought I had it right but I noticed that when I use it, if I select multiple faces, some thicken in different directions than I want them to.  Also, when it regenerates, the parts will sometimes switch which direction they thickened.  It doesn't seem very robust. Any suggestions on how to fix this?  I currently want to use the feature to make square rectangular tubing slightly easier.  Here's the code:

annotation { "Feature Type Name" : "Thin Extrude" }<br>export const thinExtrude = defineFeature(function(context is Context, id is Id, definition is map)<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; precondition<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; {<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; // Define the parameters of the feature type<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; annotation { "Name" : "Select Faces", "Filter" : EntityType.FACE}<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; definition.faces is Query;<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; annotation { "Name" : "Thickness" }<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; isLength(definition.myThickness, LENGTH_BOUNDS);<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; annotation { "Name" : "Length" }<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; isLength(definition.myLength, LENGTH_BOUNDS);<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; }<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; {<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; // Define the function's action<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; opExtrude(context, id + "extrude1", {<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; "entities" : qEdgeAdjacent(definition.faces, EntityType.EDGE),<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; "direction" : evOwnerSketchPlane(context, {"entity" : definition.faces}).normal,<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; "endBound" : BoundingType.BLIND,<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; "endDepth" : definition.myLength<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; });<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; opThicken(context, id + "thicken1", {<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; "entities" : qCreatedBy(id + "extrude1", EntityType.BODY),<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; "thickness1" : 0,<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; "thickness2" : definition.myThickness<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; });<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; opDeleteBodies(context, id + "deleteBodies1", {<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; "entities" : qCreatedBy(id + "extrude1", EntityType.BODY)<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; });<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; });

kevin_o_toole_1

Thicken chooses which side is "thickness1" or "thickness2" based on the direction of the surface normal (I believe thickness1 extends in the normal direction, thickness2 in anti-normal direction). The issue is that an edge (potentially bordering multiple faces) isn't going to naturally be oriented with respect to any single face (even if you found that edge via qEdgeAdjacent).

The good news is that when you extrude a solid, we do guarantee that all faces on that solid will have their normals pointing to the outside of that solid.

So the easiest fix I see is to opExtrude the face into a solid, query for all the non-cap faces of the solid (via qSubtraction and qCapEntity), thicken those faces, and delete the solid.

marcosinetheta

Finally got around to using this.  It worked!  I might mess with the UI a bit more but here is what I currently have that works.

annotation { "Feature Type Name" : "Thin Extrude" }<br>export const thinExtrude = defineFeature(function(context is Context, id is Id, definition is map)<br>    precondition<br>    {<br>        // Define the parameters of the feature type<br>        annotation { "Name" : "Select Faces", "Filter" : EntityType.FACE }<br>        definition.faces is Query;<br><br>        annotation { "Name" : "Thickness 1" }<br>        isLength(definition.myThickness_1, NONNEGATIVE_ZERO_INCLUSIVE_LENGTH_BOUNDS);<br><br>        annotation { "Name" : "Thickness 2" }<br>        isLength(definition.myThickness_2, NONNEGATIVE_ZERO_INCLUSIVE_LENGTH_BOUNDS);<br><br>        annotation { "Name" : "Length" }<br>        isLength(definition.myLength, LENGTH_BOUNDS);<br><br><br><br>    }<br>    {<br>        // Define the function's action<br>        opExtrude(context, id + "extrude1", {<br>                    "entities" : definition.faces,<br>                    "direction" : evOwnerSketchPlane(context, { "entity" : definition.faces }).normal,<br>                    "endBound" : BoundingType.BLIND,<br>                    "endDepth" : definition.myLength<br>                });<br>        thicken(context, id+"thickness1", {<br>            "entities":qSubtraction(qCreatedBy(id + "extrude1", EntityType.FACE),<br>             qUnion([qCapEntity(id+"extrude1",true),qCapEntity(id+"extrude1", false)])),<br>            "operationType":NewBodyOperationType.NEW,<br>            "thickness1":definition.myThickness_1,<br>            "thickness2":definition.myThickness_2<br>            });<br>        opDeleteBodies(context, id + "deleteBodies1", {<br>                "entities" : qCreatedBy(id + "extrude1", EntityType.BODY)<br>        });<br><br><br>    });<br><br>