In Max I can select an edge and extrude and extrude it, and it extrudes the edge on the normal direction and also automatically creates a “gap” (sort of as if you were beveling inwards). This is pretty neet for subdiv modelling. How do I do this in Blender without using “hacks”.
That is a pretty clever feature. It looks like it’s a combination of bevel and offset edge. If one were to merely combine these 2 features together, you would get what you want.