In trying to draw an entablature of the classical Ionic order, I worked out the dimensions of the base box then worked out the dimensions of the various mouldings, dentils, etc. that are applied. I drew the rectangular box to dimensions and then drew an outline of the mouldings, dentils, etc. and placed that drawing on a corner of the box planning to use the Follow Me tool to extrude the mouldings around the box. Example:
You can see that I was successful with mouldings at the architrave level and on part of the cornice. Some parts behave strangely for reasons unknown to me. With some of the geometry, when I select the 3 lines to be followed, beginning at the face of the geometry to be extended then along the face of the cornice and at the opposite side, then click the follow me tool and select the geometry face, the extrusion exceeds the ‘boundaries’ of the area the extrusion should cover. Example:
Here you see that the fillet has extended backwards from the face selected and inward beyond the boundary line at the wall of the cornice. It wraps around the cornice and extends in a similar manner at the other side of the entablature box.
There are other equally puzzling results not pictured. If you look at the second graphic you will see a wide fillet at the top of the cornice and just beneath it an extension with bed mould on its extruded end. I drew a vertical line to isolate the bed mould profile because I experimented with the geometry because I was having unexpected results. After selecting the ‘path’ lines then the Follow Me tool then the face of the rectangular geometry, what extrudes is the entire rectangle including the bed mould profile; however it does not recognize the curved profile but it does extend as if the profile were not there and the fillet at the top were drawn vertically to intersect the line at the bottom of the bed mould.
I have searched for hidden line fragments and found none. I have examined all the lines to be certain there are no gaps and found none. The borders all form faces that can be selected.
Can anyone explain this? Am I using the tools incorrectly? Is it a bug in SU?
My suspicion is that you selected more edges than you thought for the follow-me path, causing a mitered return around the end. But as Dave said, we could provide a more definite diagnosis if you can share the file.
There’s something odd about the way you placed the rectangle for the fillet. The extrusion extends through the sides of the box.
If I were going to do this, I would keep the molding parts and the box separate by making components or groups. Trying to extrude all these faces in separate Follow Me operations while they are all connected is just asking for problems.
I think you just need to practice a bit more with selecting the path and profile for followme. In the case of the fillet that runs inside the core, it is as if you selected the entire top of the face instead of just three edges, so SketchUp ran the profile all the way around, including protruding at the back and running inside the core.
I’m not sure I follow your second part, but you should know that followme extrudes only a single face at a time. The line across the face divides it in two, forcing each section to have to be extruded separately.
Is this what you were after (with the exception of the fillet that I didn’t fix)?
If I were to keep the molding parts and the box separate, how would I make the molding wrap around 3 faces of the box with mitered corners?
I found a vestige of a line that was creating the problem with the fillet. I have not yet found anything I can blame the bed mould extrusion problem for.
I would trace around the box to create a path. If you are more comfortable doing it, you can then temporarily hide the box while you run Follow Me. If you don’t want to construct the moldings out of separate pieces, you’ll have two Follow Me operations. One for the crown and another for the molding at the belt line. Trace around the bottom of the box so the path is separated from the moldings and you can use the same path for each molding. Even if you were dividing the moldings into smaller portions, you could do something similar.
Consider also that this method would make it easy to put a molding around the perimeter of a kitchen, for example, including around the upper cabinets. The walls and cabinets can be individual groups or components. With them all in place, you can create a path by tracing their edges. Or, in the modeling I tend to do, I might have drawn a cabinet with face frame parts and the case sides. The molding needs to go around the outsides of all the parts.
I have another question about the Follow Me and Push/Pull tools. Sometimes when I use them to extrude a solid face, after the operation the point of origin for the face is not longer a face but a ‘hollow’. It doesn’t always happen, and I’ve been unable to discern any difference when it does and doesn’t leave the ‘hollow’ space.
Is there something I’m not doing correctly or something I should do that I’m not doing?
If the face that is getting extruded is connected to another coplanar face, you’ll end up with a missing face on the end. It’s really the same thing that happens when you use Push/Pull to push in a hole. Make sure there are no additional coplanar faces attached to the profile.
