Negative Extrusion Help (wall thickness going crazy)

[Anonymous]

Hi,

(I am a relative newbie. I'm using Maya 2019. I know how to use Maya for basic modeling, and most of my experience has been in UV mapping, texture painting, and modeling low-poly assets.)

I am having issues arise when I apply extrude to all the faces of my model, giving a negative thickness (see screenshot 2). I am trying to give the model some type of wall thickness so it can be 3d printed, and this is the best way I've found, but or some reason, some of the faces are being extruded all crazy (see screenshot 4 and 5).

I have checked that 'keep faces together' is on (screenshot 2), and that all the normals are facing the right way (screenshot 6).

Do you know any way I could correct this issue? Or know of a better way to create wall thickness on an already complete model?  I've tried lots of things and don't know what else is left. thank you in advance. (I have tried using Autodesk Mesh Mixer to "hollow" the model, but I can't get it to work for me)

--*In the screenshots, I show a full model, and I also use a model I cut half off of- that is just to show the inside of the model, I don't plan on working with an open model like that*--

I've included images showing:

1. The results of a Mesh>Cleanup run, showing everything is cleaned up

2. The settings I'm using when I extrude.

3. The wall thickness before and after an extrusion

4. The results of the extrusion on a full model

5. The results of the extrusion on a model I cut in half

6. The results of Display>Polygons>Face Normals, showing that, before the extrusion, everything is facing out

7. And also the results of an extrusion with 'Keep Faces Together' unchecked.2) The settings I'm using when I extrude.

   3) The wall thickness before and after an extrusion

   1) The results of a Mesh>Cleanup run, showing everything is cleaned up

   4) The results of the extrusion on a full model

   5) The results of the extrusion on a model I cut in half

   6) The results of Display>Polygons>Face Normals, showing that, before the extrusion, everything is facing out

   7) And also the results of an extrusion with 'Keep Faces Together' unchecked.

   Any help on solving this extrusion problem- or on a better way to get wall thickness after already building a model- would be great.

[mspeer]

Hi!

Try local translate instead.

For further help, please provide a scene-file.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the reply!

by local translate, do you just mean using the Move tool? I'm not sure I understand what that is- as there is no option I can find in the extrude options to choose between local and global space.

I will try to include a source file, and if it doesn't work here, I will try again in a minute.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tTC3-Eg-RFj4GjBCYhUnJZB7Q6ul7L9p/view?usp=sharing

That should link to the file you can take a look at. Any advice would be tremendous and I can't tell you how much your help means. I've been struggling with this silly thing for days.

[Anonymous]

I found what you meant by local translate (z), I'll give it a shot.

[mspeer · Accepted solution]

Hi!

Yes i mean using the move tool.

Just watch your own screenshot "Local Translate Z".

[Anonymous]

Yes! That worked. Seriously I can't tell you how much I appreciate that, and how hard it was to find an answer to such a simple thing. Thank you.

And for anyone else having this question, someone directed me here:

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/maya/troubleshooting/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/Extrusion...

and here: https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/maya/troubleshooting/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/Extrusion...

and they helped as well.