Flat shapes on a cylindrical surface

[t_smith5]

Hi

This might be a tricky one. I'm not sure if any of the methods/workflows I've been shown so far would work, but I can't think of how I could do this. I'm hoping there's some neat trickery that can be done in Fusion I'm unaware of. 😬

Essentially, I'm after the best of both worlds. For these jet packs, I much prefer them to be cylindrical, but some secondary shapes don't look great once they're extruded and joined to the surface. Offset kinda works, but they still don't look great to me.

However, if I make them more rectangular/box-like, the surface is flatter to work with and the shapes extrude and join better.

...but I'm not a fan of how the jet packs look being rectangular. 😕 So my question is: is there any way of getting the secondary shapes extruded and joined to a cylindrical surface as though they were on a flat one?

I've attached my file. One is enabled (the cylindrical one I think), but the parts for the other version are there, too.

Thanks

[etfrench]

No one can answer that.  Looks are subjective.

[Warmingup1953 · Accepted solution]

Perhaps use an Emboss to create the link?

[t_smith5]

Thanks for the suggestion. I didn't think of that. I guess that works though it acts similar as if I were extruding it from the face. But it does produce a somewhat better result. The shape's better anyway.

Emboss does only allow me to add it on the other side from where I want. I had to create the shape from scratch and just have the side I wanted before I could extrude it in the right direction. However, if I try to mirror the other side, it'll add it there as well. 😕

EDIT: Never mind. I can sort it out with a mirror and join the other side. 🙂

[t_smith5]

That does seem to work pretty well, I think. 🙂 Of course, I'm happy if others have any other (better) methods to suggest. :3

[bartparker]

Another option would be to extrude like you did previously, then draw two circles on either the top or bottom plane of the pack - on to set your diameter of the outer face of your feature, one that covers everything - and extrude cut all the bits hanging off the side down to size

[t_smith5]

Sorry, I'm not quite sure what you mean with this one. I may need a visual representation. 😅

[Bunga777 · Accepted solution]

What about using the Replace Face command?

[t_smith5]

Cool. Thanks for pointing this one out. I've not used the Replace Face tool before, so this should come in handy as well. 🙂

[bartparker · Accepted solution]

https://autode.sk/3mlYZXl

@t_smith5  Link is a screencast demonstrating what I was trying to explain

[t_smith5]

Ah-haa. I see what you mean. Useful to know. It's a bit similar to the Emboss suggestion, but you're trimming them down after extruding. Thanks. 🙂