Adam,
I don’t know why this happens at times, but I’ve got another case in which I can’t thicken a complex surface I’ve created because SW encounters an error when trying to offset it. But while the program won’t allow me to offset the entire composite surface, it will allow me to offset the individual surfaces it’s derived from. I can then thicken each one individually, but I don’t know if there’s a way to easily join the resulting solid bodies into one. Any advice?
I’ll answer the second question first: use the Insert > Features > Combine tool to add bodies together.
When surfaces are joined in SW, a ‘boundary condition’ is created between them. Usually this is a good thing, but in your case it sounds as if it may be causing aberrations in your offset. You might try offsetting the surfaces separately using the Surface > Offset tool, Knitting the offsets back together, and then using a solid Loft to create a solid between the original knit and its new offset.
Adam
Hmm. I had assumed that joining the bodies together wouldn’t work because there’s a tiny gap between them. But maybe I’m misinterpreting what happens when you stitch surfaces together. The solution of using the solid loft is one that occurred to me as well, but using the Boolean join feature will be much quicker if it works.