Wings 3D/User Manual/Edge Operations with Advanced Menus

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� Section 5.2 The Context Sensitive Menus WINGS3D USER MANUAL 5.2.3 The Edge Operations Menu Edge Operations Menu – General

If one or more edges are selected, right

Figure 50: The Edge Menu. clicking in the workspace will bring up the Edge

Context Sensitive Menu. This will allow you to perform operations unique to edge manipulations.

EDGE MENU | MOVE

Normal – moves the selected edge/edges along their normal.

Free – Will move the selected edge/edges in the direction of mouse movement. This can be very useful when in Orthographic mode, since it allows you to use the mouse to move edges in two cardinal directions while "locking" out movement in the third.

X – constrains movement along the x axis.

Y – constrains movement along the y axis.

Z – constrains movement along the z axis.

EDGE MENU | ROTATE

Connected edges will rotate about their collective center of mass. Non-connected edges will rotate about their individual centers of mass.

Free – Will rotate the selected edge/edges in the direction of mouse movement.

X – constrains rotation about the x axis.

Y – constrains rotation about the y axis.

Z – constrains rotation about the z axis.

EDGE MENU | SCALE

Increases or decreases the length of the selected edges.

Uniform – Scales the selected edges uniformly in all three directions at once.

X – Scales the distance of the edges along the x axis.

Y – Scales the distance of the edges along the y axis.

Z – Scales the distance of the edges along the z axis.

Radial X (YZ) – Scales the length of selected edges radially from the x axis; i.e. The distances in y and z are effected while x remains constant.

Radial Y (XZ) – Scales the length of selected edges radially from the y axis so that the y dimension remains constant.

Radial Z (XY) – Scales the length of selected edges radially from the z axis; so that the z dimension remains constant.

EDGE MENU | EXTRUDE

As with vertex extrusions you can use the plus and minus (+ -) keys to increase or decrease the base area of the extrusion.

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� WINGS3D USER MANUAL Section 5.2 6The Context Sensitive Menus Normal – extrudes the selected edge or edges along their normal(s).

Free – Will extrude the selected edge/edges in the direction of mouse movement.

X – constrains the extrusion along the x axis.

Y – constrains the extrusion along the y axis.

Z – constrains the extrusion along the z axis. When you extrude an edge, new faces are created to connect the line to the main body of the object it is being extruded from. That is to say, the result will have thickness, you cannot create a "sheet" that protrudes from the object.

EDGE MENU | CUT

2 – one edge is cut into two edges.

3 – one edge is cut into three edges.

4 – one edge is cut into four edges.

5 – one edge is cut into five edges.

10 – one edge is cut into ten edges. Cuts the selected edge(s) into the number of equally sized segments as specified by the number chosen from the side bar menu. Note that the number keys on the main keyboard can be used in lieu of the Cut command. The keys allow for an edge to be cut into 2 – 10 (0 being 10) segments by the simple press of a key.

EDGE MENU | CONNECT C

New edges are created that connect the selected edges together. Multiple edges can be connected at a time.

EDGE MENU | BEVEL

Creates a bevel, or chamfer, on selected edges. If used on an edge in the middle of a flat face, Bevel will open up a new face within the original face, on the same plane. Bevels interact with one another, so that if you have adjacent edges selected and then Bevel them, the new chamfered edges will join properly. Many renderers do not work well with large flat straight edged surfaces, causing artifacts to show up in textures and cast shadows. These side effects can be reduced, or even completely eliminated, if you apply a very slight bevel to all such harsh edges. Slight bevels will also help maintain

the objects shape when you subdivide the object with the Smooth command.

EDGE MENU | DISSOLVE (Bksp) Dissolve can be used to eliminate unwanted edges to refine your model or in preparation for other commands. Be careful in the use of Dissolve, for it can destroy the topological relationships between elements (and thus the model) very easily.

Quick Tip: Creating round eyes from square holes.

You can create roundish eyes from the results of a Vertex | Bevel by using a combination of Edge | Dissolve and Face | Smooth commands. To demonstrate this, create a cube and connect the left and right edges of one of its sides. Then Connect the three horizontal edges of that side to form a square cross intersection in the middle of the face. Select the vertex of the intersection and Bevel it to form a diamond shape in the middle of the face. With the face selected do a Smooth. Now select the four edges within the smoothed area and Dissolve them. You now have a roundish single face in the middle of the cube from which you can now extrude and scale several times to create an eye.

EDGE MENU | COLLAPSE

Collapse will eliminate an edge by snapping the vertices on each end together. This is the same effect of Weld Vertices found in many modeling programs. It can be used very effectively in conjunction with Select | By | Short Edges to remove microscopic edges that are interfering with your modeling.

EDGE MENU | HARDNESS

Hard

Soft Edges can be Hard or Soft. They are soft by default. Hard edges are not moved when a model is smoothed, and therefore are handy for maintaining sharp edges where they are needed in a model to maintain overall shape. To make an edge hard, select it then from the Edge Menu choose Hard. To set it back to soft, choose Soft. If you have a lot of edges you want to make Hard, you can use the Object Menu | Auto Smooth which sets

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� Section 5.2 The Context Sensitive Menus WINGS3D USER MANUAL all edges at sharp angles to hard, then use the Edge Menu | Soft to set selected edges back to soft.

Quick Tip: Replace your hard edges with bevels.

Not all renderers or other modeling programs can handle hard edges. Therefore it is generally agreed that they should not be used, especially in the final model. But that does not mean that they can not be used effectively during the modeling process. It is sometimes useful to set some edges as hard to hold the local form on a given area of a model and the do a Smooth. You can then continue to work the model. Once you are done, do a Select By | Hard Edges and then apply a slight Bevel. If you find that your bevels do not hold the form true after a sample smooth it probably indicates an area of the model in need of more geometry. Try adding some additional edges near the bevels and do another test smooth. Now the bevels should hold the form of the model true while eliminating the hard edges from the final model.

EDGE MENU | LOOP CUT

This is one of the most important commands in Wings. If you have a complete edge loop that closes on itself you can cut the model in two with Loop Cut. For example, if you have an edge loop that completely encircles the

arm at the shoulder, you can select that edge loop, and do a Loop Cut to sever the arm from the model. Then you can work with both parts independent of one another or even save one part out as a separate model. This can also be useful in symmetrical modeling. If you create your rough model with a clean central edge loop, you can develop detail on one side of the model, then periodically Loop Cut the model, delete the non detailed side, and then Mirror the detailed side to quickly duplicate all the detail from one side to the other. This can be a great time saver.

EDGE MENU | TURN

This command is intended to be used on models that have been triangulated. It can easily destroy models made of quads, so be careful when and how you use it. Some programs, such as game engines, expect models to be composed entirely of triangles. But the overall shape of a model can be determined by how those triangles are laid out. Turn lets you create a better flow for the edges so that you can fine tune triangulated models.

EDGE MENU | OPTIMIZED TURN

Optimized Turn will triangulate your model by finding the shortest edges possible to create the triangles.