To work on faces of a polygonal model, you must select the model, and then click this action.
How to use
1. Select a polygonal model (to convert a NURBS surface into a polygonal one, refer to the PolyMesh from NURBS or PolyMesh from NURBS control net modeling tools).
2. Click the Faces editing icon or choose the Tools > PolyMesh > Faces editing command.
3. An alert panel warns you: The selected PolyMesh is part of a Construction Tree. In order to edit with this Modeling Tool, the PolyMesh needs not to be a part of the Construction Tree. Do you want the PolyMesh to be set as hidden and a copy to be created for editing?
Note: If you have previously used a PolyMesh editing tool, the program will not prompt you, as the Construction Tree has already been broken.
4. If you click Yes, a new polygonal model with the same shape of the selected one is created.
When you apply the Faces editing action, the Construction Tree is broken. The original polygonal model is hidden from the 3D views but still displayed in the hierarchy browser.
The newly created polygonal model is NOT linked in any way to the original one. Thus, modifying the shape of the original model will NOT cause the new PolyMesh to change its shape accordingly.
5. Choose the Edit mode: faces can now be selected. The blue points displayed at the center of each face turn yellow when selected.
Note: As well as translating faces, you can rotate and scale them by applying the rotation and scaling transformations as usual.
Options
Select all
To select faces of the polygonal models.
Views. Choose the Edit mode. Select the faces by picking them. For multiple selections, pick edges while holding down the Ctrl key.
Modeling Tool panel. Press the Select All button.
Show normals
To displays the normals direction. Normals are displayed as a small green line for each face.
Modeling Tool panel. Choose the Edit mode. Switch the Show normals check box on.
Invert normals
To inverts the direction of the surface normals of the selected faces.
Views / Modeling Tool panel. Select the faces whose normals you want to invert. Then, press the Invert normals button.
Unify normals
To unify the normal vectors of all polymesh faces. In other word, orient the normal vectors of all faces toward the same direction.
Views / Modeling Tool panel. Select the faces whose normals you want to unify. Then, press the Reset normals button.
Reset normals
To reset any change applied to the normals of the selected polymesh and bring the original status back.
Views / Modeling Tool panel. Select the faces whose normals you want to reset. Then, press the Reset normals button.
Delete
Deletes selected faces.
Views / Modeling Tool panel. Select the faces you want to delete and press the Delete button.
Offset
To adjust the extrusion length of the selected face with respect to its face normal.
Modeling Tool panel. Set the value either by moving the slider or by typing it in the data field and press Enter.
Bevel length
To bevel each selected face given a distance.
Modeling Tool panel. Set the bevel length value either by moving the slider or by typing it in the data field and press Enter.
Extrude
To extrude the selected faces. If you switch the Keep face connections check box on, you will keep the connection of the faces during the extrusion. Otherwise, the extrusion will be performed with respect to each selected face normal.
Views / Modeling Tool panel. Select the faces you want to extract and press the Extrude button.
Extract
To extract the selected faces into an independent object.
Views / Modeling Tool panel. Select the faces you want to extract and press the Extract button.
Refine
To refine the polygonal model according to different options.
Views / Modeling Tool panel. Select the faces you want to refine, enable one of the available options by switching its radio button on, then press the Refine button.
Options are:
Split. Splits a selected face with more than three vertices into two faces.
Triangulate. Splits selected faces in triangles.
Corner Refine. Inserts vertices in the middle of each edge and creates new edges connecting those vertices.
Radial Refine. Inserts a vertex in the middle of each face, splits the sides of the selected faces into 2 edges and connect the new created vertices to the middle vertex. As a result, four side faces are created.