It would be better to make an additional Command line option called “InheritProperties” whose purpose is to make offset surfaces inherit the properties of the input geometry, such like object’s name, colour, material and layer. Currently, Rhino creates the offset surfaces with the default material and deletes the object name.
is there a scenario where you would not want that?
if not, maybe the defaults should simply be to inherit the properties from the parent object.
By default the offset surfaces will not inherit the object name. I find that decision quire strange, because often times the input geometry has applied name and other properties.
ok, so there is a scenario where you would not want it to inherit, but you want an option to do so, yes?
just making sure I’m not confused…it’s close to lunch time here. 
I actually never had a case where I want to lose the properties of the output geometry. 
1 Like
ok, so if inheriting properties was the default behavior would you want an option to have it not do so?
Absolutely no. 
For example, when I make an offset surface and then delete the original one, after some time I figure out that the name is no longer existing. Since I work with named objects, preserving the object name is important for my job.
1 Like
I would want the option of the properties being inhereted from the input surface, or being inhereted from the layer as with any new object. I need to able to readily differentiate between the original and the newly created surface.
If the OffsetSrf command is to be modified/enhanced I’d like the option to create the offset surface on the current layer instead of the layer of the input surface.
3 Likes
This is the general idea behind the option. In my opinion, it must be an option so that different users could set it according to their needs. But inheriting the name should always be mandatory, because it’s too important to be lost in the process, no matter the layer.
It’s super strange that some properties are inherited by the offset surface, but the object name gets erased.
Another issue with the offset tool (and several others) is the lack of remembering the last several used values. The same goes for tools like fillet, circle, rotate, etc. Rhino should remember these for the current session and offer a list of the last 10 used values for a given tool. Currently, Rhino only remembers the last used value, forcing the user to often write new values manually.
I requested that a while ago in another topic in the first post:
2x Yes
Properties / Object Attributes
if an document is organised also by Object-names and Layers - it is super important to have a workflow where new Objects do not inherit Attributes from the parent.
current layer and consistency
it is also _mesh and other commands that don t create on current layer - wich is super un-intuitive. so please have a look at this aspect for not only offsetSrf. - Thanks…
1 Like