The current implementation of Thicken is primarily used to generate thickness in the normal direction from a surface.
Sometimes, however, I would like to be able to thicken complex curvature in a given plane (2D) while holding the third dimension along a given vector. The behavior would be similar to a pattern feature, except that a pattern feature only works in one dimension. The planar thicken would bridge the gap between a full normal (XYZ) vector offset and a single dimension pattern.
The current rough workaround would be to create many cross-sectional sketches along a complex contour shape and then LOFT between those offset sketches. However, this workaround is very time consuming and cannot accurately capture all variations along a surface. The Planar Thicken would essentially reduce the delta between the cross section planes to 0.
Attached images:
2D contour offset: shows expected behavior with normal vector offset
2D contour pattern: shows expected behavior with 1D pattern. Note that with a 2D contour example, the Planar Thicken would have an identical affect on this geometry as that of a pattern feature.
3D contour offset: shows expected behavior with normal vector offset. Note how at the bottom of the geometry the 1" offset is now raised above the XZ plane.
3D contour pattern: shows the expected behavior with 1D pattern. Note how the curvature in the XZ plane cannot be offset accurately but is instead just duplicated with the offset .
3D contour proposed idea 1: shows new desired functionality. Curvature in the XZ plane is offset the desired amount while holding the offset plane fixed to the X axis.
3D contour proposed idea 2: shows no offset occurring in the Z direction since the X axis was chosen as the guide vector.
