Modeling with Polygon Primitives
The components of a Polygon
Vertex – the points
Edges – the lines
Face – the planes (surface between edges)
Right Click to Choose the component you want to work with
Be careful when you select to make sure you are not selecting points you don’t need.
Choose to return to Object Mode
Vertex Tips
Select adjacent Vertices
Shift + “>” or “<“ to increase or decrease the selection
Move Selection
Use the Arrow keys to move the selection up/down/left/right
Select vertices between vertices
Select one vertices, hold Shift and click on a vertices farther away and all vertices between will be selected (in a row)
Edges Tips
Double click on an edge and it will select all edges in the ‘Edge Loop’
Edge loops are a non-broken path
Soft Selection
Use Soft Selection (double click the select tool) to get a ‘organic’ ‘softer’ selection
*With Vertices you would want to choose ‘Surface’ to keep it from moving other objects you may have created
Combine and Separate
Edit>Select All
Mesh> Combine will make them one mesh
In the Outliner you will now see one Object and the groups of the separate
parts
If you want to delete these separate parts, to simplify your work go to
Edit>Delete by Type > History
Now you will only see one object in your Outliner
*you may also use Hierarchies to do this
Mesh>Seperate to un-combine
Boolean
Union — Combines while erasing overlaps
Difference – Finds the Different Parts (select the cutter 2nd) and cuts
Intersection – will keep the overlapping geometry
*Boolean adjustments create ‘not-regular’ geometry which can be problematic with animations
In Class Practice:
Box and Cylinder with Boolean and Combine – and use wireframe to see the difference
Make a tree
Start with a Cylinder, Subdivision Axis =8, Subdivision Height = 12
Select top Vertex, use Move tool to make a pointy top
Select the Edges, Double click to select the loop and use Scale to scale along two axis to make the branches