I’m trying to make a cool lamp to 3D print - this shade has to fit over some metal sheets which is why it’s shaped this way. When I loft it, there’s some wonkiness, but when I offset the surface is when the problems arise, including some gaps (in pictures). I’m curious, am I approaching this design entirely wrong? What might be a better way to construct this shape? Thanks in advance for your help!
Could you please share this 3dm file?
rhino has many difficulties offsetting polysurfaces.
one way to do it is to explode the polysurface, offset each surface individually, then manually reconstruct the inner polysurface by trimming, extending and filling the gaps. this can be tedious for complex geometries, but in your case it should take less than replying to my reply
a better way is to have a strong control of the shape at the curve level - it does require a different approach to modelling and - it’s a bit overkill in your case - i wouldn’t approach it this way unless the product is final and i need as clean of a geometry as possible
p.s. you can take advantage of the symmetry and only model one quadrant then simply mirror twice
Without your .3dm file, it’s hard for forum members to give you practical advice.
LAMP_SHADE_JAN 24.3dm (4.0 MB)
Here is the 3dm file, I appreciate all the help and support 
I have attached the file in the reply. I appreciate your feedback! thank you
okay this is so helpful! THANK YOU! this community is amazing. I am not exactly sure how to approach the construction of the model quadrant by quadrant. I am relatively new to rhino, if you have any advice, I would greatly appreciate it. in case it’s helpful I’ve also included the .3dm file in one of my responses.
Hello! of course. here it is thank you so much for any and all feedback and help.
LAMP_SHADE_JAN 24.3dm (4.0 MB)
Jessesn! THANK YOU SO MUCH! You’re a hero. I cannot get over how kind everyone is on this forum. You rule!