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Chapter 12: Drawing and Editing 2D Splines and Shapes

Editing Splines

After you create a shape primitive, you can edit it by modifying its parameters, but the parameters for
shapes are fairly limited. For example, the only parameter for the Circle shape is Radius. All shapes can be
converted to Editable Splines, or they can have the Edit Spline modifier applied to them. Doing either
enables a host of editing features. Before you can use these editing features, you must convert the shape
primitive to an Editable Spline (except for the Line shape). You can do so by right-clicking the spline shape
in the viewport and choosing Convert to ➪ Convert to Editable Spline from the pop-up quadmenu or by
right-clicking on the Circle base object in the Modifier Stack and selecting Convert to Editable Spline in the
pop-up menu. Another way to enable these features is to apply the Edit Spline modifier.

Editable Splines versus the Edit Spline modifier
After you convert the spline to an Editable Spline, you can edit individual subobjects within the spline,
including Vertices, Segments, and Splines. There is a subtle difference between applying the Edit Spline
modifier and converting the shape to an Editable Spline. Applying the Edit Spline modifier maintains the
shape parameters and enables the editing features found in the Geometry rollout. However, an Editable
Spline loses the ability to be able to change the base parameters associated with the spline shape.

Note
When you create an object that contains two or more splines (such as when you create splines with the Start New
Shape option disabled), all the splines in the object are automatically converted into Editable Splines. n

Another difference is that the shape primitive base name is listed along with the Edit Spline modifier in the
Modifier Stack. Selecting the shape primitive name makes the Rendering, Interpolation, and Parameters
rollouts visible, and the Selection, Soft Selection, and Geometry rollouts are made visible when you select
the Edit Spline modifier in the Modifier Stack. For Editable Splines, only a single base object name is visible
in the Modifier Stack, and all rollouts are accessible under it.

Note
Another key difference is that subobjects for the Edit Spline modifier cannot be animated. n

Making splines renderable
Splines normally do not show up in a rendered image, but using the Renderable option in the Rendering
rollout and assigning a thickness to the splines makes them appear in the rendered image. Figure 12.15
shows a rendered image of the Expeditions South logo after all shapes have been made renderable and
assigned a Thickness of 3.0.

Cross-Ref
The settings in the Rendering and Interpolation rollouts are the same as those used for newly created shapes,
which were covered earlier in the chapter. n

Selecting spline subobjects
When editing splines, you must choose the subobject level to work on. For example, when editing splines,
you can work with Vertex (1), Segment (2), or Spline (3) subobjects. Before you can edit spline subobjects,
you must select them. To select the subobject type, click the small plus sign icon to the left of the Editable

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