Extruding an object using the distance between two points as extrusion height?

[Anonymous]

I mainly use cad for furniture.  I used vs 2005 for years.  When the front and side views were done I would start working on the 3D, using the front and side views as reference.   In 2005 there was the option (in extrude) that once the object is selected, you can click two points to tell it what distance to extrude it.  It was very simple because working with the front view, the extrusion depth was easily determined by the side view depths.  

With 2014, this option seems to have been removed.  Extruding along a path is still there, so is pointing to 1 point (using the face as a starting point), but there doesn't seem to be a way to point from one point to another where that distance is the distance that you want to extrude.  

Anyone know if there's any way to reenable it? 

Thanks

[Kent1Cooper]

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@Anonymous wrote:

....   In 2005 there was the option (in extrude) that once the object is selected, you can click two points to tell it what distance to extrude it.  ....  

With 2014, this option seems to have been removed.  ....

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Welcome to these Forums!

A shot in the dark here [I'm at my older-version location at the moment], as at least a workaround -- 

Try, when it asks for a Height for the extrusion, typing in (getdist) and then picking your two points.  I hope the returned value from (getdist) will be used in the same way as if you had typed in a number at the Height prompt.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for the welcome!  

Unfortunately the lisp doesn't allow to click the distance between two points.   

It'll be an extra step on modeling from 2D drawings.  Not really the end of the world. Thanks anyways. 

[Anonymous]

Found it! 

- extrude,

select object, 

d (for direction)

choose your two points  

only difference between old and new is that the two points have to be on the same UCS plane.  

[GrantsPirate]

Kent1Cooper - (getdist) works great, sometimes the direction of extrude is not the direction you expect but then you can undo and pick points in the opposite order.