You can do reasonable 3d shapes in FH. The Extrude's "Bevel" mode can be
used to approximate the effect of what most 3d apps refer to as a Lathe
function.

Check out Ron Rockwall's "Blimp.fh11" illustration that is included in the
Samples folder in your FHMX installation. If you disect the document (a
Cut-Contents and an Ungoup or two) you will find that the Extrude tool was
used to create the main body of the Blimps, the headlights on the Jeep and
the Jeep's tires. They were all done with the Extrude's "Bevel" profile
function.

Basic steps for a simple egg would be:

Create the core object; this is the analog to the spine of a Lathe object.
1. Draw a small Ellipse about 3pts x 3pts
2. Apply a light grey Basic Fill and remove all Strokes.
3. Change the display magnification so that the Ellipse is a reasonable size
on the screen.
4. With the Ellipse selected, select the Extrude tool and click (DO NOT
mouse-down and drag) on the center of the Ellipse as accurately as possible.
this creates an Extrude that extends straight back.
5. Now, with the Extrude tool still active, double-click on the extruded
Ellipse and rotate it so that the face is up at about the 11 o'clock
position or simply select the Extrude and rotate it numerically using the
Object Panel. Try values like:
Length=250
Vanishing Point x=250 y=500
Position = whatever
Rotation x=-60 y=15 z=0
You should now have a long thin cylinder.

Create the Profile for the Bevel:
6. Draw an Ellipse about 250pts wide and 200 pts tall.
7. Release the Ellipse into a simple path by Ungrouping.
8. Sub-select the top-most and bottom-most points (hold SHIFT to make the
second selection) on the Ellipse and use the arrow keys to move them to the
right until you get a decent egg shape.
9. Now sub-select the left-most and right most points on the Ellipse and
Split (Modify>Split).
10. Now that the egg is two paths, select the bottom path and delete to
leave only the top half.

Apply the Bevel:
11. Select the top half of the egg and Copy.
12. Select the Extrude and click on the lower of the three icons on the
Object Panel's Extrude inspector; this is the Profile button.
13. Select "Bevel" as the mode; it is "None" by default.
14. Click the now-active "Paste in" button.

You can now adjust the number of Steps on both the Profile panel and the
Lighting panel (middle icon button) to increase the smoothness of the
rendering but go slowly, making only small changes, as the object is complex
and may be very slow to draw if values larger than 15-20 are entered. You
can also make any other lighting changes needed and alter the rotation as
desired (the original rotation was only to make the effect visible in this
demonstration).

I've created a reasonably good chess pawn this way although excessivly high
Steps values on such complex Bevel profiles can make FH painfully slow. If
you need to create such things, keep the steps low until you are ready for
the final output.

"kramerwade" <webforumsuser@macromedia.com> wrote in message
news:bfugs4$es8$1@forums.macromedia.com...
> I just downloaded Freehand MX primarily for the 3-d extrude feature. I
need to perform 3-d to oval shapes, say like an egg. And I haven't been
able to see a way to do this.
>
> if it's not possible could you direct me to an inexpensive, fairly easy
program than can??
>
> Thanks in advance!
> Wade
>
>