extruding any dimension except orig shape doesnt work any ideas P & G designer 9

[Peterws]

Hi all I have been blocked trying to create 3D extrusions that the Graphic Designer 9 seems intended to be able to do. EG, If I want a simple box graphic in 3D extrusion then alter the envelope. This problem seems to arise as the extruded planes cant be selected to drag individually, that is any plane other than drag the boundaries of the the original 2D which had been made 3D.

I want a way to drag planes including extruded planes in 3D by grabbing any boundary of the 3D envelope; EG so I can make boxes and stretch and join them big & small then drag a boundary plane to alter the enclosed 3D shape creating a plane extruded at an angle by selecting a boundary line then moving a boundary line - eg outside the 3D envelope. If I grab a boundary now all it does is rotate the envelope - good for demos but not for design.

All I can do is alter certain original 2D planes extruded into 3D inside the envelope of the shape; I cant select any boundary of the 3D shape extrusion; but I need to drag any 3D boundary lines any way either parallel to first position or at right-angles or at an angle to the normal, or by pulling the end points / junctions of 3D boundaries to distort the 3D shape angled from the junctions.

Its strange that I cant select a boundary of an extruded envelope, but I can turn the envelope into a wireframe, see the line/curve construction points, even add to them, but I cant drag them individually in 3D as one needs to do. The construction points are there even if wireframe is turned off, but the selector tool cant grab them or manipulate them nor the ends of boundaries to distort the 3D envelope.

Can Acorn or some other Xara Guiru get me a way access to those construction bits of wireframe pls.

As is now, Photo & Graphic Designer is kneecapped by a serious defect in software design, of either configuration settings, or features of the pointer tool that currently blocks the designer grabbing and stretching those 3D wireframe marker points.

[PhilM]

The 3D extrusion tool in Designer is intended to make simple 3D objects for use within the 2D design program. Full 3D manipulation is outside the remit of the program.

Sketchup is free and will do what you want.

Phil

[Gamerprinter]

While I think if you really want to do 3D graphics, you're better off with a full blown 3D application, as PhilM mentions Sketchup is free - I use a subdivisional surface modeler called Nendo, then import 3DS files to Raydream and render in there (all old unavailable software.)

That said, as long as your extrusion is only in one direction (Xara won't let you create complex 3D), I would create your shape first, then give it an adjustment using envelopes before you do a 3D extrusion. Once its in 3D mode, making alterations is difficult. So make all your shape alterations first, and do the 3D extrude as a final step.

[jclements]

Phil's suggestion is a good one and gives you the flexibility of modifying your original design; however, that would mean re-importing the output from SketchUp into Xara (as a vector for example as a PDF or as a bitmap format ... jpg or png).




Here is an example of a SketchUp model:
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/phot...OjQ?feat=email

Here is the SketchUp model imported into Xara, then shadowing and fills modified.
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/phot...OjQ?feat=email

Other examples can be found in the parent Google Web Album here. Most of the 2D illustrations were created using Xara and few with CorelDraw 7:
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sred...0ew&feat=email