3ds Max 2012 Bible - Kelly L. Murdock [176]
Many of the Edge subobject options work in the same way as the Vertex subobject options. Figure 13.17 shows the Edit Edges rollout.
Split and Insert Vertex
The Split button adds a new vertex at the middle of the edge and splits the edge into two equal sections. This button is handy when you need to increase the resolution of a section quickly.
The Insert Vertex button lets you add a new vertex anywhere along an edge. The cursor changes to crosshairs when it is over an edge. Click to create a vertex. When in Edge, Border, Polygon, or Element subobject mode, this button also makes vertices visible.
Bridge Edges
The Bridge button for edges allows you to create a new set of polygons that connect the selected edges. If two edges are selected when the Bridge button is pressed, then they are automatically connected with a new polygon. If no edges are selected, then you can click the edges to bridge after clicking the Bridge button. The selected edges on either side of the bridge can be different in number.
FIGURE 13.17
All the Edge specific commands are available when the Edge subobject mode is enabled.
You also can access the settings dialog box using a Caddy interface for the Bridge feature. This caddy offers the options to Use Specific Edges or to Use Edge Selection. The Use Specific Edges option has two buttons for each edge. If you click one of these buttons, you can select an edge in the viewport. The Use Edge Selection option lets you drag a marquee in the viewport to select the edges. The Bridge Edges dialog box also includes options for setting the number of Segments, the Smooth value, and a Bridge Adjacent value, which increases the triangulation for angles above the given threshold. There is also a Reverse Triangulation option.
Figure 13.18 shows a simple example of some edges that have been bridged. The letters before bridging are on the top and after bridging on the bottom.
FIGURE 13.18
Selecting two opposite edges and clicking the Bridge button in Edge subobject mode creates new connecting polygons.
Create Shape from Selection
The Create Shape from Selection button creates a new spline shape from selected edges. The Create Shape dialog box appears, shown in Figure 13.19, enabling you to give the new shape a name. You can also select options for Smooth or Linear shape types.
FIGURE 13.19
The Create Shape dialog box lets you name shapes created from selected edge subobjects.
Edit Triangulation
For the Editable Poly object, the Edge, Border, Polygon, and Element subobjects include the Edit Triangulation button. The Edit Triangulation button lets you change the internal edges of the polygon by dragging from one vertex to another. When this button is clicked, all hidden edges appear. To edit the hidden edges, just click a vertex and then click again where you want the hidden edge to go. If you're dealing with multiple four-sided polygons, then the Turn button is quicker.
Turn
The Turn button rotates the hidden edges that break up the polygon into triangles (all polygonal faces include these hidden edges). For example, if a quadrilateral (four-sided) face has a hidden edge that runs between vertices 1 and 3, then the Turn button changes this hidden edge to run between vertices 2 and 4. This affects how the surface is smoothed when the polygon is not coplanar.
This button is available for all subobject modes except Vertex. When enabled, all subobjects that you click on are turned until the button is disabled again. Figure 13.20 shows the top face of a Box object with a hidden edge across it diagonally. The Turn button was used to turn this hidden edge.
Tip
Surfaces can deform only along places where there are edges, so as you create your models be aware of where you place edges and how the edges flow into one another. When building characters, it is important to have the edges follow the muscle flow to deform