Solid To Wires

[duckmug]

I was wondering if there is a straightforward way to convert a solid to a bunch of wires that can be edited rather than doing that manually.

I am aware of Shape 2D View but that is sort of limited to flat views as far as I can tell.

I am also aware of the mesh remodel workbench, which has a nice approach so perhaps there's another addon that works similarly for solids?

Or the only way that makes sense is to convert the solid to a mesh and use the mesh remodel workbench?

[drmacro]

What is the use case for the wires?

[duckmug]

Well, just one that way that I commonly use to create/edit parts.

I also use constructive geometry but there are cases when I prefer the source being in wires.

[heda]

assume a cube, 2 ways (the first simpler than the other):

using (menu) part/create a copy/create shape element copy
select edges and or faces (single or multiple) and invoke the menu command

the same command (extracting shapes) is in curves wb as well


using draft/downgrade
once on cube gives faces
a downgraded face gives edges
then one can try upgrade on edges, in this case it will become a line

it is tedious though, so rolling your own macro for it is the way to go if you plan to do it this way often