The Thicken/Offset command adds or removes thickness from parts and creates offset surfaces from part faces or other surfaces . When you select Output, you determine if the feature is a solid, a surface, or a new solid body. If you select Surface, the result is an offset surface. If you select Solid, the result is a thicken feature. If you select New solid, the result is a new body in a multi-body part. Each feature type is shown in the browser with a unique icon.
The following images show various thicken or offset solutions.
Thicken adds or removes material from the model and therefore changes its mass properties. When you add thickness to a surface, the model is converted from a surface to a part.
By default, Autodesk Inventor provides a precise offset feature. When a precise solution does not exist, an approximation is attempted.
Can faces and surfaces be selected together?
No.
Thickened faces and offset surfaces cannot be created in one feature. Thickness features and offset features have individual icons in the browser.
Can I edit an offset feature and convert it to a thicken feature?
No. You cannot use Edit Feature to change an Offset Surface feature to a Thicken feature or vice versa. The feature type is determined by your selection of the output type. Offsets are surface features while thicken is a part feature. Each feature type creates an individual icon in the browser.
You can, however, thicken an offset surface. This operation places a thicken icon below the offset surface icon in the browser.
What surfaces can be offset?
Surfaces created in Autodesk Inventor or imported surfaces can be used for an offset. Imported surfaces must be promoted to the part environment. they cannot be thickened or offset in the construction environment .
Surfaces must be adjoining to be offset at the same time. The offset result is a copy of the selected geometry (such as face, fillet, adjacent face, and so on).
Vertical surfaces can only be created from the internal boundaries of a quilt face.
When importing complex surfaces, you can experiment with the file format. IGES and SAT files are commonly used formats when converting models you receive from a vendor, for example.
How do precise and approximate solutions differ?
In a precise solution, each point of the original surface has a corresponding point on the offset surface. The distance between the two points is equal to the specified distance. An approximate solution enables Autodesk Inventor to deviate from the specified distance to find an acceptable solution.
You can control where the deviation is allowed to occur, as well as the accuracy of the approximation. Keep in mind that the more accurate the approximation, the longer it takes to compute. Approximate solutions are provided only when a precise solution does not exist and when an approximate solution can be found. If approximate solutions are not acceptable, you can turn this option off.
Each time approximation is used, the tolerance of the deviation is reported.
Procedures
Add thickness to a face and create an offset surface
On the ribbon, click 
to:
- Add or remove thickness to faces of a part or quilt .
- Create an offset surface from one or more faces or a quilt.
By default, Autodesk Inventor provides a precise solution. When a precise solution does not exist, Autodesk Inventor attempts an approximation.
Use the Automatic Face Chain option to select tangent continuous part faces. Use the Create Vertical Surfaces option to add sides between the original surface and the offset surface.
Thicken and Offset features are indicated by separate icons in the browser.
Thicken a part face or surface
| | A thicken operation adds or removes volume from parts or adds thickness to surfaces to create parts or new solid bodies. - On the ribbon, click .
- In Select mode, the default is Face. It specifies that only individual faces can be selected with each click. Use Quilt to select a group of connected faces with one click.
- In Output, click Solid.
- Use Select to choose the participating faces or surfaces. To select tangent continuous faces, click the More tab, and then select Automatic Face Chain.
- Use Solids if there is more than one solid body in the file to select the participating body.
- Optionally, change how approximate thicken solutions are computed.
- To prevent approximate offsets, clear the Allow approximation check box.
- To determine where the deviation is distributed, click the arrow to select from the list.
- To specify the accuracy of the computation, click the appropriate option. If Specify tolerance is selected, enter a tolerance in the box.
- On the Thicken/Offset tab, choose Select, and then click the faces to thicken.
- Specify the thickness.
If needed, click the down arrow to use the Measure command, Show dimensions, or select a recently used value. - Specify Join, Cut, or Intersect operation for a thicken feature. Optionally, select New solid to create a new solid body with the specified thickness.
- Set the direction of the thickness, and then click OK.
- If an approximation is used, click OK in the message box to accept the results or Edit to return to the Thicken/Offset More tab.
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NoteTo select individual faces to thicken, clear the Automatic Face Chain check box on the More tab.
Create an offset surface
You can offset one or more faces from a part face or a quilt . Offset surfaces do not add or remove mass.
If desired, you can create copies of surfaces with a zero distance offset, but not surfaces with vertical sides. This can be useful when you want to make a copy of an entire surface body or a set of individual faces from any solid model or surface.
| | - On the ribbon, click .
- In Select mode, choose Quilt or Face to specify the geometry to select. The default is Face.
- In Output, click surface.
- Click the More tab to select options:
- Select Create Vertical Surfaces to create offset surfaces with vertical sides joined to the original surface.
- Select Automatic Face Chain to select tangent continuous faces.
- Optionally, change how approximate offset solutions are computed.
- To prevent approximate offsets, clear the Allow approximation check box.
- To determine where the deviation is distributed, click the arrow to select from the list.
- To specify the accuracy of the computation, click the appropriate option. If Specify tolerance is selected, enter a tolerance in the box.
- On the Thicken/Offset tab, choose Select, and then click faces or a quilt to offset.
- Specify the offset distance. If the surface does not have vertical sides, you can enter zero as the distance.
If desired, click the down arrow to use the Measure command, Show dimensions, or select a recently used value. - Set the direction of the offset, then click OK.
- If an approximation is used, click OK in the message box to accept the results or Edit to return to the Thicken/Offset More tab.
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NoteYou cannot create vertical surfaces to join an offset surface to a solid part.
References
Thicken faces and offset surfaces
Adds or removes thickness to faces of a part or a quilt creates an offset surface from a part face or surface , or creates a new solid.
Thicken/Offset tab
Sets requirements for a Thicken or Offset feature. |
Select | Specifies faces to thicken or faces from which to create an offset surface. |
| Solids | Selects the participating body if there is more than solid body present. |
Select mode | Filters geometry so that selections are restricted to individual faces or a quilt. You can select multiple connected faces or a quilt, but not mixed faces and quilts. |
Distance | Specifies thickness of the Thicken feature or specifies distance for the Offset feature. When the output is a surface, the offset distance can be zero (to create a copy of a surface or individual faces from a solid model or surface). |
Output | Specifies if the feature is a solid or a surface. The default selection is a solid. |
Operation | Specifies whether the Thicken feature joins, cuts, or intersects the solid part. |
| | Join Adds the volume created by the Thicken feature to the solid part. |
| | Cut Removes the volume created by the Thicken feature from the solid part. |
| | Intersect Creates a new feature from the shared volume of the Thicken feature and the solid part. Material not included in the shared volume is deleted. |
| | | New solid Creates a new solid body. This is the default selection if the thicken operation is the first solid feature in a part file. Select to create a new body in a part file with existing solid bodies. Each body is an independent collection of features separate from other bodies. A body can share features with other bodies. |
Direction | Extends the Thickness or Offset feature either direction or equally in both directions. |
Automatic Blending | Automatic blending is a re-blending technology that automatically moves adjacent tangential faces and also creates new blends if required. It is active by default in the part modeling environment. The illustrations below show a model with a Thicken operation performed with and without automatic blending. |
| | No Automatic Blending |
| | Automatic Blending Enabled |
| | The Automatic Blending check box is only active when solid faces are selected for a Thickness operation. It is also active when the Thickness feature is extended in the positive or negative direction, but not when the feature is extended equally in both directions. When automatic blending is enabled, the following Thicken functions are automatically deactivated: - Join, Cut, or Intersect operations
- New Solid
- Equal distance in both directions
- Surface
- Quilt
|
More tab
Provides method for selecting chained part faces or creation of surfaces with sides. Also enables and sets characteristics of approximate offset solutions. |
Automatic Face Chain | Use to select multiple tangent continuous faces to thicken. All selected faces thicken with the same Boolean operation and direction. Default setting is Off. |
Create Vertical Surfaces | For offset features, creates vertical or "side" faces connecting the offset faces to the original quilt. Vertical surfaces are created only at internal surface edges, not at boundary edges of surfaces. Default setting is Off. Vertical surfaces cannot join an offset surface to the solid part. |
Allow approximation | When no precise solution exists, allows a deviation from the specified thickness while computing the offset feature. A precise solution creates an offset surface where each point on the original surface has a corresponding point on the offset surface. The distance between these two points is the specified distance. Select whether to allow an approximate solution, and then click the arrow to select the deviation type from the list. Mean deviation is divided to fall both above and below the specified distance. Never too thin preserves minimum distance. The deviation must fall above the specified distance. Never too thick preserves maximum distance. The deviation must fall below the specified distance. |
Optimized | Computes using a reasonable tolerance and minimal compute time. |
Specify tolerance | Computes using the specified tolerance. Considerable computation time may be required. Click the option and then specify a tolerance. |
