3ds Max 2012 Bible - Kelly L. Murdock [177]
FIGURE 13.20
The Turn feature is used to change the direction of edges.
Editing Border subobjects
Editable Poly objects do not need the Face subobject that is found in the Editable Mesh objects because they support polygon faces. Instead, they have a Border subobject. Border subobjects are polygons with no faces that are actually holes within the geometry. The Border rollout is shown in Figure 13.21.
FIGURE 13.21
Many of the Border subobject commands are the same as those for Edges.
Cap
The Cap button causes the existing border selection to be filled in with a single coplanar polygon. After using this feature, the Border subobject is no longer identified as a Border subobject.
Bridge
The Bridge feature joins two selected Border subobjects with a tube of polygons that connect the two borders. The two selected borders must be part of the same object and need not have an equal number of segments.
The Bridge dialog box, shown in Figure 13.22, lets you specify twist values for each edge, the number of segments, and the Taper, Bias, and Smooth values.
FIGURE 13.22
The Bridge dialog box lets you specify options such as the number of segments, the Taper, and whether the bridge twists.
Tutorial: Bridging a forearm
The Bridge tool is great for working with two border selections, allowing you to create a smooth set of polygons that flow between them. For this example, you'll create a forearm by bridging a hi–res hand model with a simple cylinder. The polygons of the hand and the cylinder that are to be joined have already been removed.
To create a forearm object by bridging a cylinder with a hand model, follow these steps:
1. Open the Forearm bridge.max file from the Chap 13 directory on the CD.
2. With the body parts selected, open the Modify panel, and select the Border subobject mode. Then press and hold the Ctrl key, and click on the borders for the hand and cylinder objects.
3. With both facing Border subobjects selected, click the dialog box icon next to the Bridge button in the Edit Borders rollout.
4. In the Bridge caddy, select the Use Border Selection option and set the Segments value to 6. Then click OK.
Figure 13.23 shows the resulting forearm object.
FIGURE 13.23
The Bridge feature can be used to quickly connect body parts such as this forearm.
Editing Polygon and Element subobjects
Like the other subobject modes, Editable Polys can be edited at the polygon and element subobject level. The buttons for these modes are found in the Edit Polygons and Edit Elements rollouts. Figure 13.24 shows the Polygon rollout.
FIGURE 13.24
The Polygon subobjects commands are found in the Polygons rollout.
Outline and Inset
The Outline button offsets the selected polygon a specified amount. This increases the size of the selected polygon or element. The Inset button creates another polygon set within the selected polygon and connects their edges. For both these buttons, a Settings dialog box is available that includes the Outline or Inset Amount values.
Bevel
The Bevel button extrudes the Polygon subobject selection and then lets you bevel the edges. To use this feature, select a polygon, click the Bevel button, drag up or down in a viewport to the Extrusion depth, and release the button. Drag again to specify the Bevel amount. The Bevel amount determines the relative size of the extruded face.
Figure 13.25 displays a poly dodecahedron. Each face has been locally extruded with a value of 20 and then locally beveled with a value of –10.
FIGURE 13.25
The top faces of this dodecahedron have been individually extruded and beveled.
Flip
The Flip button flips the normal vectors for the selected subobjects. The Flip button is available only in Polygon and Element subobject modes.
Retriangulate
The Retriangulate button automatically computes all the internal edges for you for the selected subobjects.
Hinge From Edge
The Hinge From Edge button rotates a selected polygon as if one of its edges were a hinge. The angle of the hinge depends on the distance that you drag