Wish - OffsetSurface - ThroughPoint option?

Could this be possible? Some kind of thing to trace a ray from a point to a surface?

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A ThroughPoint would be a useful addition to OffsetSrf. It could/should work similarly to the ThroughPoint option in Offset for offsetting curves. I would use it.

Until it is added:
Line with Normal option from the surface to the point.
Length for the length of the line.
OffsetSrf and use the length of the line as the offset distance.
Delete the normal line if not needed.

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I get there would be complications when there isn’t a point that can be traced from a theoretical throughpoint and a surface normal direction. Perhaps in those sort of cases it wuld interpolate before and after the point, so that the surface eventually has that point on it.

Have you tried using Line with Normal option? If there is not a line normal from the surface which passes through the point then there is not an offset surface which will pass through the point.

A .3dm file with an example of what you need would be helpful.

the workarround:
draw the point - as point
_point
_pull the point to the surface (delete =no)
_distance between original point and pulled Point = offset-Distance
copy the distance from commandline
_offsetSrf
paste the distance …

tipp:
in preferences / document-Properties set display precision one or two digits higher then the document tolerance.
example:
document tolerance: 0.001 mm
distance display 0.00001
this will avoid rounding - imprecision

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Note you can use the Distance (Also Length, Angle, Radius, Diameter) inside a command any time Rhino is looking for a number.

-Pascal

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Thanks for the reminder.

Accomplishes the same thing as the workaround I posted, but uses a second point rather than a line.

yes - you 're right - sorry i did not understand that the normal option will constraint the point to the surface even if you click a point that is away from the surface.
so you click the desired point twice - first time it is pulled to the surface, second time it will define the length.

combined with pascals _length - this is the nicest workarround in my option:

_line _normal
→ select target surface
→ klick “through point” once, that is pulled to the surface
→ klick "through point a second time
_offsetSrf
→ selectSurface
_length
→ select the line
optional delete the line.

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Sounds like a one click command line option would be nice.