Inset extrude

Hello,

I’m trying to do inset extrude, this is how it looks (in Houdini):

So far I’ve only managed to get this thing by using “Thickness Translate” parameter in Extrude SOP:

How to make extrusion like in the first image? I’m attaching my composition.
extrude_inset.toe (5.06 KB)

I don’t think I totally know what you’re after, but here’s a quick example that’s similar to your first image. It’s a pass at how you might use groups and a transform SOP to create the effect.
base_simple_extrude_with_groups.tox (974 Bytes)

Thanks for the reply @raganmd, the shape you attached looks similar, but I’m trying to perform this kind of extrude on all rectangles in my object.

This is a simple example that works correctly, but it handles only a single object that’s centered on 0,0,0 coords (I’m scaling down the top-most extruded plane):

In my composition, I’ve created a Thick Line, which I’m trying to extrude in similar fashion:

Screen Shot 2017-06-25 at 21.18.49.png

I’m looking towards generating this kind of shape:

It could also be possible to achieve the shape by selecting one group of points (back of second extrude) and replacing each point by corresponding point in another group (front of first extrude).

I have the group of points, but I don’t know how to perform the replacement.

Hmmmmm.

Well, the polystitch SOP is also an option, though again you’re looking at using polygons to get there.
base_polystitch.tox (1.04 KB)

Are you aiming to do this all procedurally, or can you do modeling in another application?

Intresting!
A bit off topic, that shine in a cross shape in final example is amazing. Any ideas how I could get specular to react in that way? or get a particle to do that and bind it to a shape? thx

I’ve managed to create the shape I wanted by doing Extrude and then converting my shape to DATs to adjust points positions using Python. The script takes two groups of vertices and repositions points of each vertex to corresponding positions of vertex from second group. Here’s the result:

I’m attaching my .toe, however it’s more like a proof of concept tan a real solution.

There are also two topics about similar “bevelling” cases:

In general, I agree that this falls under modelling work which should be done in Blender, unless some specific cases requiring those transforms to be done in real time.

Cheers
inset_extrude_script.toe (6.96 KB)

i was trying to figure out how to do bevels in td, and thought the extrude should do it, as in houdini. there is a frustrating lack of clear info in the docs, so i thought i would post my experiments. in the extrude sop there is a second input for a cross section curve. i still have no clue how the position and scale of the cross section relate to the actual bevel, but i’ve attached a sample file here to hopefully help others who want to add a simple bevel to an arbitrary shaped extrusion.
i attempted a lens flare, but ran out of time. perhaps someone else can tackle that one with more glsl skills than i.
bevelUsingExtrude.toe (8.1 KB)