Page 405 - Kitab3DsMax

Chapter 13: Modeling with Polygons and Patches

Many of the buttons for the Editable Poly include a small icon to the right of the button that opens a settings
caddy. These caddy interfaces appear around the selected subobject and allow you to change the settings and
immediately see the results in the viewports. The OK button (a check mark icon) applies the settings and
closes the dialog box, and the Apply button (a plus sign icon) applies the settings and leaves the dialog box
open. These caddy interfaces are included next to the buttons such as Extrude, Bevel, Outline, and Inset.
Editable Poly objects include all their common buttons in the Edit Geometry rollout and all subobject-
specific buttons is a separate rollout named after the subobject mode, such as Edit Vertices or Edit Edges.

Repeat Last
The first button in the Edit Geometry rollout is the Repeat Last button. This button repeats the last sub-
object command. This button does not work on all features, but it’s very convenient for certain actions.

Tip
The tooltip for this button displays the last repeatable command. n

Enabling constraints
The Constraints options limit the movement of subobjects to a specified subobject. The available constraints
are None, Edge, Face, and Normal. For example, if you select and move a vertex with the Edge constraint
enabled, then the movement is constrained to the adjacent edges.

Tutorial: Creating a roof truss
When creating houses, modeling the roof can be tricky, but using an edge constraint makes it much easier.
To create a triangular roof truss, follow these steps:
1. Select Create ➪ Standard Primitives ➪ Box, and drag in the Top viewport to create a Box object
centered over the Y-axis.
2. Right-click the box object and select Convert To ➪ Editable Poly in the pop-up quadmenu.
3. Open the Modify panel, and choose the Vertex subobject mode. In the Constraints drop-down list
of the Edit Geometry panel, select the Edge option.
4. With the Select and Move tool, drag over the top-left corners and drag them to the Y-axis; then
repeat for the top-right corners.
Notice that the points are constrained to the top edge as they are dragged. Moving both sets of points
results in a simple perfect triangle.
Tip
An even easier way to create such a triangle would be to use the Gengon primitive found among the Extended
Primitives. n

Preserve UVs
UV coordinates define how a texture map is applied to an object’s surface. These UV coordinates are tied
closely to the surface subobject positions, so moving a subobject after a texture is applied moves the texture
also. This could cause discontinuities to the texture map. The Preserve UVs option lets you make subobject
changes without altering the UV coordinates for an existing texture.
The Settings dialog box for the Preserve UVs option lets you select a Vertex Color and Texture Channel to pre-
serve. Figure 13.7 shows two block objects with a brick texture map applied. The inner vertices on the left
block were scaled outward without the Preserve UVs option selected; the right block had this option enabled.
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