[entry has been edited with refined ideas since initial post]
The Extrude Modifier is useful, but there is one annoying aspect of it that needs updating.
Currently the modifier will only extrude according to the original Z axis of the object. This means rotating the pivot only will not work to change direction, instead the user is forced to perform a Reset Xform on a rotated object when the intended extrusion direction is facing along the world Z axis, and after the reset rotate the object back to how it should be rotated.
Completely annoying and unnecessary procedure.
- The modifier needs at least an option to pick which axis to extrude along, and if these axes are based on a modifier gizmo they become independent of the object transform.
- Lock gizmo to external object to achieve "world space" type behavior (similar to how Slice modifier can lock gizmo to another scene object).
- A second modifier gizmo can act as a target, where extrusion direction and length can be obtained from.
- Automatically set extrusion length to the distance between gizmo/target could speed up modelling process quite a lot since eyeballing extrusion distance will no longer be necessary. This could also be utilized by custom scripts to produce modelling workflows.
- It could also be potentially useful to use two independent objects to obtain direction and extrusion length.
Left: Extrusion Axis facing the wrong way. Right: Extrusion axis facing the right way.
