+1
Who says extrusions can't be blended? in the attached example I used a soft eraser tool to blend 3 extrusions to create a more complex object however there are limitations to this workaround. A soft eraser creates an opacity mask which while maintaining the extrusions as extrusions it can't rotate in 3d space with the extrusions which creates a mess. you can adjust the lights simultaneously if all extrusions are selected at once.
I think Sheff's suggestions would be helpful for this kind of thing though the OM would always be a problem.
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