PART II 05 06 07 08 09 10 MESH MODELLING.

CONCEPT

CH. 6 MESH MODELING

Plane
A standard plane contains four vertices, four edges, and one face. It is like a piece of
paper lying on a table; it is not a real three-dimensional object because it is flat and
has no thickness. Objects that can be created with planes include floors, tabletops,
CONCEPT, BASIC EDITING, TOOLS, or mirrors.
SUBDIVISION SURFACES, META OBJECTS
Cube
A standard cube contains eight vertices, 12 edges, and six faces, and is a real three-
dimensional object. Objects that can be created out of cubes include dice, boxes, or
crates.

The principal Object of a 3D scene is usually a Mesh. In this chapter we will first Circle
enumerate the basic mesh objects, or primitives, then follow with a long series of A standard circle is comprised of n vertices. The number of vertices can be specified
sections describing in detail the action which can be taken on Mesh Objects. in the popup window which appears when the circle is created. The more vertices the
circle contains, the smoother its contour will be. Examples of circle objects are disks,
plates, or any kind of flat and round object.
Basic Objects
UVSphere
To create a basic Object press SPACE and select "Add>>Mesh", or, access the 'add'- A standard UVsphere is made out of n segments and m rings. The level of detail
menu by pressing SHIFT-A or simply hold LMB on 3D Window, for more than half can be specified in the popup window which appears when the UVsphere is created.
a second. Select the basic object you'd like to create from the menu. We describe Increasing the number of segments and rings makes the surface of the UVsphere
every basic object or primitive you can create within Blender below. Figure 1 also smoother. Segments are like Earth meridians, going pole to pole, rings are like Earth
shows the variety of basic objects that can be created. parallels. Example objects that can be created out of UVspheres are balls, beads or
pearls for a necklace.

If you specify a six segment, six ring UVsphere you'll get something which, in top
Monkey view, is a hexagon (six segments), with five rings plus two points at the poles. Thus,
one ring fewer than expected, or two more, if you count the poles as rings of radius 0.
UVsphere Icosphere

Cylinder Cone Icosphere

An Icosphere is made up of triangles. The number of subdivisions can be specified
in the window that pops up when the Icosphere is created; increasing the number of
Tube subdivisions makes the surface of the Icosphere smoother. At level 1 the Icosphere
Cube
is an icosahedron, a solid with 20 equilateral triangular faces. Any increasing level
Circle of subdivision splits each triangular face into four triangles, resulting in a more
(with faces)
spherical appearance. Icosphere's are normally used to achieve a more isotropical
Grid
and economical layout of vertices than a UVsphere.

Plane Cylinder
A standard cylinder is made out of n vertices. The number of vertices in the circular
cross-section can be specified in the popup window that appears when the object is
created; the higher the number of vertices, the smoother the circular cross-section
becomes. Objects that can be created out of cylinders include handles or rods.
1 Basic Objects.

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Tube
A standard tube is made out of n vertices. The number of vertices in the hollow
circular cross-section can be specified in the popup window that appears when the
object is created; the higher the number of vertices, the smoother the hollow circular
cross-section becomes. Objects that can be created out of tubes include pipes or
drinking glasses. (The basic difference between a cylinder and a tube is that the
former has closed ends.)

Cone
A standard cone is made out of n vertices. The number of vertices in the circular
base can be specified in the popup window that appears when the object is created; 2 Two pyramids, one in EditMode (left) 3 Cube with selected
the higher the number of vertices, the smoother the circular base becomes. Objects and one in ObjectMode (right). vertices in yellow.
that can be created out of cones include spikes or pointed hats.

Grid Structures: Vertices, Edges and Faces

A standard grid is made out of n by m vertices. The resolution of the x-axis and y-axis
can be specified in the popup window which appears when the object is created; In basic meshes, everything is built from three basic structures: Vertices, Edges and
the higher the resolution, the more vertices are created. Example objects that can be Faces. (We're not talking about Curves, NURBS, and so forth here.) But there is no
created out of grids include landscapes (with the proportional editing tool) and other need to be disappointed: This simplicity still provides us with a wealth of possibili-
organic surfaces. ties that will be the foundation for all our models.

Monkey
This is a gift from old NaN to the community and is seen as a programmer's joke Vertices
or "Easter Egg". It creates a monkey's head once you press the Oooh Oooh Oooh A vertex is primarily a single point or position in 3D space. It is usually invisible
button. The Monkey's name is Suzanne and is Blender's mascotte. in rendering and in ObjectMode. (Don't mistake the center point of an object for a
vertex. It looks similar, but its bigger and you can't select it.)

EditMode To create a new vertex, change to EditMode, hold do CTRL, and click with the
LMB. Of course, as a computer screen is two-dimensional, Blender can't determine
When working with geometric objects in Blender, you can work in two modes: all three vertex coordinates from one mouse click, so the new vertex is placed at
ObjectMode and EditMode. Basically, as seen in the previous section, operations the depth of the 3D cursor 'into' the screen. Any vertices selected previously are
in ObjectMode affect whole objects, and operations in EditMode affect only the automatically connected to the new one with an edge.
geometry of an object, but not its global properties such as the location or rotation.
Edges
In Blender you switch between these two modes with the TAB key. EditMode only An edge always connects two vertices with a straight line. The edges are the 'wires'
works on one object at a time: the active object. An object outside EditMode is drawn you see when you look at a mesh in wireframe view. They are usually invisible on the
in purple in the 3D Windows (in wireframe mode) when selected; it is black other- rendered image. They are used to construct faces. Create an edge by selecting two
wise. The active object is drawn black in EditMode, but each vertex is highlighted vertices and pressing FKEY.
in purple (fig. 2). Selected vertices are drawn in yellow (fig. 3) and, if appropriate
buttons in the Editing (F9) Context Mesh Tools 1 Panel are pressed (Draw Faces Faces
and Draw Edges) also selected edges and faces are highlighted. A Face is the most high level structure in a mesh. Faces are used to build the actual
surface of the object. They are what you see when you render the mesh. A Face is
defined as the area between either three or four vertices, with an Edge on every side.
Triangles always work well, because they are always flat and easy to calculate.

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Take care when using four-sided faces, because internally they are simply divided
into two triangles each. Four-sided faces only work well if the Face is pretty much
flat (all points lie within one imaginary plane) and convex (the angle at no corner is
greater than or equal to 180 degrees). This is the case with the faces of a cube, for
example. (That's why you can't see any diagonals in its wireframe model, because
they would divide each square face into two triangles. While you could build a cube
with triangular faces, it would just look more confusing in EditMode.)

An area between three or four vertices, outlined by Edges, doesn't have to be a face. 4 Chopped-off pyramid.
If this area does not contain a face, it will simply be transparent or non-existent in
the rendered image. To create a face, select three or four suitable vertices and press
FKEY.

Basic Editing
Most simple operations from ObjectMode (like selecting, moving, rotating, and scaling) 5 Edit Context.
work identically on vertices as they do on objects. Thus, you can learn how to handle
basic EditMode operations very quickly. The only notable difference is a new scaling opti-
on, ALT-S which scales the selected vertices along the direction of the normals (shrinks-
fattens). The truncated pyramid in figure 4, for example, was created with the following All operations in Edit Mode are ultimately performed on the vertices; the connected
steps: edges and faces automatically adapt, as they depend on the vertices' positions. To
select an edge, you must select the two endpoints or either place the mouse on the
edge and press CTRL-ALT-RMB. To select a face, each corner must be selected.
1. Add a cube to an empty scene. Enter EditMode.
Edit Mode operations are many, and most are summarized in the Editing Context
2. Make sure all vertices are deselected (purple). Use border select (BKEY) to Buttons window, accessed via the ( ) button of header or via F9 (fig 5). Note the
select the upper four vertices. group of buttons in the Mesh Tools 1 Panel.

3. Check that the scaling center is set to anything but the 3D cursor (see fig. 1 in Chap-
ter 5), then switch to scale mode (SKEY), reduce the size, and confirm with LMB. • NSize - Determines the length, in Blender Units, of the normals to the faces,
if they are drawn.
4. Exit EditMode by pressing TAB. • Draw Normals - Toggle Normals drawing. If this is ON, face normals are drawn
as cyan segments.
• Draw Faces - If this is ON, faces are drawn as semi-transparent blue, or as
One Extra feature for Edit Mode is the Mirroring tool. If you have some vertices semi-transparent purple if they are selected. If this is OFF, faces are invisible.
selected and you press MKEY you will be presented with a Menu containing nine • Draw Edges - Edges are always drawn black, but if this button is ON, selected
options. You can select from these to mirror the selected vertice with respect to any edges are drawn in yellow. Edges joining a selected node and an un-selected one
of the X,Y or Z axis of the Global, Local, or Viewing reference. have a yellow-black gradient.
• All Edges - Only those edges strictly necessary to show the object shape are
One additional feature of EditMode is the CircleSelect mode. It is invoked by pres- shown in Object mode. You can force Blender to draw all edges with this button.
sing BKEY twice instead of only once, as you would for BorderSelect. A light grey
circle is drawn around the cursor and any LMB click selects all vertices within. NUM+
and NUM- or the MW, if any, enlarge or shrink the circle.
Of course all these colors are customizable in the Theme editor.

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 PART II 05 06 07 08 09 10 MESH MODELLING.UNDO

With WKEY you can call up the "Specials" menu in EditMode (fig. 6). With this menu Edit U-Key Shift-U
you can quickly access functions which are frequently required for polygon-model-
ling.

You can access the entries in a PopupMenu by using the corresponding numberkey.
For example, pressing WKEY and then 1KEY you will subdivide the selected vertices
without having to touch the mouse at all.
7 Undo and Redo.

• Subdivide - Each selected edge is split in two, 8 Undo Menu.

new vertices are created at middle points, and Mesh Undo
faces are split too, if necessary.
• Subdivide Fractal - As above, but new vertices As for Blender 2.3 we finally have a true Undo. It works only for Meshes and only in
are randomly displaced within a user-defined range. Edit Mode.
• Subdivide Smooth - As above, but new vertices
are displaced towards the baricentrum of the Mesh undo works in the background saving copies of your mesh in memory as you
connected vertices. make changes. Pressing the UKEY in mesh EditMode reverts to previously saved
• Merge - Merges selected vertices into a single one, mesh, undoing the freshly performes edit operation (fig. 7).
at the baricentrum position or at the cursor position.
• Remove Doubles - Merges all of the selected Undo operations are only stored for one mesh at a time. You can leave and re-enter
vertices whose relative distance is below a given EditMode for the same mesh without losing any undo information, but once another
threshold (0.001 by default). mesh is edited, the undo information for the first is gone.
• Hide - Hides selected vertices.
• Reveal - Shows hidden vertices. Pressing SHIFT-U re-does the last undo operation (fig. 7). Pressing ALT-U brings up
6 Specials Menu. • Select Swap - All selected vertices become the undo menu (fig. 8). This lists all the undo steps by name so you can quickly find
unselected and vice-versa. your way back to a known good point in your work. The ALT-U menu also contains
• Flip Normals - Change the Normals directions the option All Changes. This option is more powerfull than merely pressing UKEY
in the selected faces. repeadetly, and will reload the mesh data as it was at the beginning of your edit
• Smooth - Smooths out a mesh by moving each session even if you have used up all your undo steps.
vertex towards the baricentrum of the linked
vertices. Edit undo can be memory intensive. A mesh of 64,000 faces and verts can use over
• Mirror - Same as MKEY described above. 3Mb of RAM per undo step. In case you are on a machine that is strapped for RAM,
there is in the User Preference Window, under Edit Methods, a NumButton for
determining the maximum number of undo steps saved. The allowed range is 1-64.
The default is 32.
Many of these actions have a button of their own in the Mesh Tools Panel of the
Edit Buttons Window (fig. 5). The Remove doubles threshold can be adjusted here,
too. Smoothing
As seen in the previous sections, polygons are central to Blender. Most objects in
Blender are represented by polygons and truly curved objects are often approximated
by polygon meshes.

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When rendering images, you may notice that these polygons appear as a series of
small, flat faces (fig. 9). Sometimes this is a desirable effect, but usually we want
our objects to look nice and smooth. This section shows you how to smooth an ob-
ject, and how to apply the AutoSmooth filter to quickly and easily combine smooth
and faceted polygons in the same object.

There are two ways to activate Blender's face smoothing features. The easiest
way is to set an entire object as smooth or faceted by selecting a mesh object, in
ObjectMode, switching to the Editing Context (F9), and clicking the Set Smooth
button in the Link and Materials Panel (fig. 10). The button does not stay
pressed, but forces Blender to assign the "smoothing" attribute to each face in the
mesh. Now, rendering the image with F12 should produce the image shown in figure 9 Simple un-smoothed test object. 11 Same object as in fig. 9, this time
11. Notice that the outline of the object is still strongly faceted. Activating the completely smoothed by 'Set Smooth'.
smoothing features doesn't actually modify the object's geometry; it changes the way
the shading is calculated across the surfaces, giving the illusion of a smooth surface.

Click the Set Solid button in the same Panel to revert the shading to that shown in
figure 9.

Alternatively, you can choose which faces to smooth by entering EditMode for the ob-
ject with TAB, then selecting the faces and clicking the Set Smooth button (fig. 12).
When the mesh is in editmode, only the selected faces will receive the "smoothing"
attribute. You can set solid faces (removing the "smoothing" attribute) in the same
way: by selecting faces and clicking the Set Solid button.

It can be difficult to create certain combinations of smooth and solid faces using
the above techniques alone. Though there are workarounds (such as splitting off sets
of faces by selecting them and pressing YKEY), there is an easier way to combine 10 Set Smooth and Set Solid 12 Object in editmode with some faces
smooth and solid faces, by using AutoSmooth. buttons of EditButtons context. selected.

Press the AutoSmooth button in the Mesh Panel of the Edit Buttons (fig. 13) to tell
Blender to decide which faces should be smoothed on the basys of the angle bet-
ween faces (fig. 14). Angles on the model that are sharper than the angle specified
in the Degr NumBut will not be smoothed. Higher values will produce more smoo-
thed faces, while the lowest setting will look identical to a mesh that has been set
completely solid.

Only faces that have been set as smooth will be affected by the AutoSmooth fea-
ture. A mesh, or any faces that have been set as solid will not change their shading
when AutoSmooth is activated. This allows you extra control over which faces will be
smoothed and which ones won't by overriding the decisions made by the AutoSmooth
algorithm.

13 AutoSmooth button group in the 14 Same test object with AutoSmooth

EditButtons context. enabled.

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