Recommended test
Draw and extrude a small rectangular region on one unambiguous box face.
- Create a simple box, start Custom Solid in Face mode, and click its largest visible face.
- Draw a rectangle fully inside the face and confirm the preview lies on the selected surface.
- Use Push/Pull with a small positive distance and commit the result.
- Rotate behind the face and confirm the extrusion direction and connection are what you intended.
Select a clear face
Face mode establishes a local sketch plane from existing model geometry. Begin on a large planar surface whose orientation is obvious. Orbit the camera so the face is not edge-on and temporarily hide obstructing objects.
Draw in local coordinates
Rectangle, line, arc, spline, guide and offset tools operate in the selected plane. Snaps help close endpoints, but zoom in to confirm the final point actually meets the first. A shape that only looks closed from the current camera may not produce a region.
Check the normal direction
Positive and negative push/pull distance follow the face orientation. Preview a short extrusion first and orbit behind the surface. If it grows in the wrong direction, reverse the distance rather than continuing with hidden geometry.
Preserve a clean edit path
Use guides and construction edges to establish the profile, then clean redundant display or construction lines only after the geometry is confirmed. Face-based custom solids retain edit metadata, but editing a source after other work has been snapped to it can change those relationships visually; remeasure dependent placements.