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Chapter 14: Using the Graphite Modeling Tools and Painting with Objects

On selections located to the right of the Step Build button. If you select the On: Surface option, then you
can use the Pick button to select the object whose surface you want to create vertices on. After freestanding
vertices are created, you can hold down the Shift key and drag over these new vertices to create a polygon.
The Ctrl key lets you remove polygons, and the Alt key lets you remove vertices. With these controls, you
can quickly remove and rebuild polygons to create new shapes.

Extend
The Extend tool works on border subobjects and lets you add new polygons to fill the hole by dragging on
the border vertices. If you press and hold the Shift key while dragging an edge, you can pull the edge away
to create a new polygon. Dragging with the Shift+Ctrl keys lets you drag two adjacent edges out. The Ctrl
key and a click deletes the polygon, and dragging with the Alt key held down moves the polygon perpen-
dicular to the view axis.
Optimize
The Optimize tool quickly collapses subobjects. Click an edge with this tool to remove it and to combine its
two end points into one. The Shift key is used to target weld two vertices into a single one, and the Alt key
removes vertices. The Shift+Ctrl key combo can remove an entire edge loop at once.

Tutorial: Opening a diamond
Ever wonder what was inside a diamond? This example uses some of the PolyDraw tools to open up a dia-
mond. Maybe there is treasure inside!
To edit a diamond-shaped object, follow these steps:
1. Select Create ➪ Standard Primitives ➪ Sphere, and drag in the Top viewport to create a Sphere
object. Set its Segments value to 6. Then right-click, and select Convert To ➪ Editable Poly from
the pop-up quadmenu.
2. Open the Graphite Modeling tools, click the Freeform tab, select the Step Build tool, press and
hold the Ctrl key, and click the center polygon to delete the polygon. Then click within the center
polygon to create four vertices in the shape of a square. Then press and hold the Shift key, and
drag near these vertices to create a polygon.
3. Select the Drag tool, and drag the new vertices until they are aligned with each other to form a square.
4. Select the Extend tool, and with the Shift key pressed, drag the edge on the left side of the open
polygon toward the middle to create a new extended polygon. Then repeat for the left side.
Figure 14.21 shows the resulting diamond.
Draw On and Pick
The Draw On drop-down list gives you three options for specifying the object that is drawn on: Grid,
Surface, and Selection. If Surface is selected, you can use the Pick button to choose the surface object. You
also can set an Offset, which is the distance above the surface on which the drawn objects appear.
Tip
It is best to keep a non-zero offset value when drawing on the surface of an object, especially if the drawn object
overlaps an edge. This keeps the surfaces from interpenetrating. n

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