Polygon Modeling Tutorial

Create Polygon Tool

Creating a Polygon from scratch

Polygon Context... Mesh... Create Polygon Tool

You can also start with a primitive, using the "Create" menu or the Polygon shelf. Make sure NOT to use NURBS surface ("surfaces" shelf)

Entering Sub-Object Mode

Right-Click on Surface (holding and releasing on desired sub-object mode)

From Status Line... Select by Component Type (blue 4-square button)

F8...

Entering sub object mode via right click

Extruding a face OR vertex

With a face or vertex or set of faces/vertexes (or entire object) selected...

Polygon Context... Edit Mesh... Extrude
• You can use the manipulator to change the character of the extrusion, but also open the Channel Editor to get more information
  
• A key attribute is the "Local Translate Z", which is altered when you manipulate the handle, pulling the surface outward
  
• Also of interest is "Keep Faces Together"
• Also "Divisions" are useful

Use "g" to repeat, for multiple extrusions (or any command)

Component Mode, via button

Polygon Selection Methods

To convert selection to vertexes:
• press CTRL-F9 or
• Polygon Context... Select... Convert Selection... To Vertexes...

To convert selection to edges:
• Press CTRL-F10 or
• Polygon Context... Select... Convert Selection... To Edges...

To convert selection to faces:
• Press CTRL-F11 or
• Polygon Context... Select... Convert Selection... To Faces...

Manipulating selections via Ctrl + Right click

To select a boundary (or inverse):
• Polygon Context... Select... Convert Selection... To Shell Border
• Alternately, you can hold CTRL and Right Click on your polygon to get a shortcut menu to Shell Border
• To invert, Edit... Invert Selection
• Alternatively, you can invert the selection by holding shift and drag-selecting all of the vertexes

To shrink the selection outwards:
• press "<" or
• Polygon Context... Select... Shrink Selected Region...

To grow the selection outwards:
• Press ">" or
• Polygon Context... Select... Grow Selected Region...

Subdiving: Division Options

Subdiving the faces of a mesh

Edit Mesh... Add Divisions
• If you select the option box, you can choose to subdivide in triangles (3) or quads (4)

Combining & Extracting Meshes

To extract a series of faces:
• Select the faces you want in sub-object mode
• Polygon Context... Mesh... Extract

To combine a set of meshes into a single polygon:
• Select all polygons
• Polygon Context... Mesh... Combine

To merge vertexes of the resulting mesh:
• Select all vertexes in sub-object mode
• Polygon Context... Edit Mesh... Merge...

Repair/Clean-Up

To fill a hole:
• Select the edges around the hole in sub-object mode
• Polygon Context... Mesh... Fill Hole...

Sometimes, we need to fill in a gap, or during a combine operation our vertexes will not merge properly. This is usually a function of reversed "normals"

To display normals:
• Select your object
• Any Context... Display... Polygons... Face Normals...

To repair a polygon (make all normals face the same direction)
• Select your object
• Polygon Context... Mesh... Cleanup...
• Make sure "Non-Manifold Geometry" is toggled, Press "Cleanup".
• Any fixed area of your polygon should be highlighted.
• You need to re-merge your vertexes now.

Channel Box Editor

Filling, Cutting, Adding and Smoothing

To cut a section through the Polygon
• Select your polygon
• Polygon Context... Edit Mesh... Cut Faces Tool
• Drag click in the window to define a cut plane through your object
• Open the Channel Box editor or Attribute Editor. Find the polyCut node (ex: polyCut1) and turn "Delete Faces" to ON (1)

To add faces manually to a polygon
• Polygon Context... Edit Mesh... Split Polygon Tool...
• Drag select on and edge of your polygon
• Repeate to create a line across a face, and press Enter
• The face is now split in two.

To smooth a polygon:
• Polygon Context... Mesh... Smooth...
• Be careful of smooth too much - smoothing essentially subdivides your geometry, turning each face into 4. Start with 100 faces, it becomes 400. 400 becomes 1600, 1600 becomes 6400. Once we get into 10,000+ poly faces, we will start to notice performance problems and large file sizes.

Combining & Extracting Meshes

To extract a series of faces:
• Select the faces you want in sub-object mode
• Polygon Context... Mesh... Extract

To combine a set of meshes into a single polygon:
• Select all polygons
• Polygon Context... Mesh... Combine

To merge vertexes of the resulting mesh:
• Select all vertexes in sub-object mode
• Polygon Context... Edit Mesh... Merge...

Repair/Clean-Up

Sometimes, we need to fill in a gap, or during a combine operation our vertexes will not merge properly. This is usually a function of reversed "normals"

To display normals:
• Select your object
• Any Context... Display... Polygons... Face Normals...

To repair a polygon (make all normals face the same direction)
• Select your object
• Polygon Context... Mesh... Cleanup...
• Make sure "Non-Manifold Geometry" is toggled, Press "Cleanup".
• Any fixed area of your polygon should be highlighted.
• You need to re-merge your vertexes now.

To fill a hole:
• Select the edges around the hole in sub-object mode
• Mesh... Fill Hole...