Editable Poly (Edge)

See Editable Poly for information on the Select rollout settings.

Soft Selection controls apply a smooth falloff between selected sub-objects and unselected ones. When Use Soft Selection is turned on, unselected sub-objects near your selection are given partial selection values. These values are shown in the viewports by means of a color gradient on the vertices, and optionally on the faces. They affect most types of sub-object deformations, such as the Move, Rotate, and Scale functions, as well as any deformation modifiers (such as Bend) applied to the object. This provides a magnet-like effect with a sphere of influence around the selection.

For more information, see Soft Selection Rollout — Editable Poly.

This rollout includes commands specific to edge editing. Some were available previously from the Edit Geometry rollout; others (marked with the icon) are new in 3ds max 5.

Note: To delete edges, select them and press the DELETE key. This deletes all selected edges and attached polygons, which can create one or more holes in the mesh. To delete edges without creating holes, use Remove (see below).

Remove—Deletes selected edges and combines the polygons that use them.

Edges with the same polygon on both sides usually can't be removed.

Warning: Use of Remove can result in mesh shape changes and non-planar polygons.

Split—Divides the mesh along the selected edges.

This does nothing when applied to a single edge in the middle of a mesh. The vertices at the end of affected edges must be separable in order for this option to work. For example, it would work on a single edge that intersects an existing border, since the border vertex can be split in two. Additionally, two adjacent edges could be split in the middle of a grid or sphere, since the shared vertex can be split.

Insert Vertex—Lets you subdivide visible edges manually.

After turning on Insert Vertex, click an edge to add a vertex at that location. You can continue subdividing polygons as long as the command is active.

To stop inserting edges, right-click in the viewport, or click Insert Vertex again to turn it off.

Note: In previous versions of the software, this command was called Divide.

Weld—Combines selected edges that fall within the threshold specified in Weld dialog.

You can weld only edges that have one polygon attached; that is, edges on a border. Also, you cannot perform a weld operation that would result in illegal geometry (e.g., an edge shared by more than two polygons). For example, you cannot weld opposite edges on the border of a box that has a side removed.

Weld Settings—Opens the Weld dialog, which lets you specify the weld threshold.

Extrude—Lets you extrude edges manually via direct manipulation in the viewport. Click this button, and then drag vertically on any edge to extrude it.

Extruding an edge moves it along a normal and creates new polygons that form the sides of the extrusion, connecting the edge to the object. The extrusion has either three or four sides; three if the edge was on a border, or four if it was shared by two polygons. As you increase the length of the extrusion, the base increases in size, to the extent of the vertices adjacent to the extruded edge's endpoints.

Following are important aspects of edge extrusion:

Chamfer box showing extruded edge

Extrude Settings—Opens the Extrude Edges dialog, which lets you perform extrusion via interactive manipulation.

If you click this button after performing a manual extrusion, the same extrusion is performed on the current selection as a preview and the dialog opens with Extrusion Height set to the amount of the last manual extrusion.

Target Weld—Allows you to select an edge and weld it to a target edge. When positioned over an edge, the cursor changes to a + cursor. Click and move the mouse and a dashed line appears from the vertex with an arrow cursor at the other end of the line. Position the cursor over another edge and when the + cursor appears again, click the mouse. The first edge is moved to the position of the second, and the two are welded.

You can weld only edges that have one polygon attached; that is, edges on a border. Also, you cannot perform a weld operation that would result in illegal geometry (e.g., an edge shared by more than two polygons). For example, you cannot weld opposite edges on the border of a box that has a side removed.

Chamfer—Click this button and then drag edges in the active object. To chamfer vertices numerically, click the Chamfer Settings button and change the Chamfer Amount value.

If you chamfer multiple selected edges, all of them are chamfered identically. If you drag an unselected edge, any selected edges are first deselected.

An edge chamfer "chops off" the selected edges, creating a new polygon connecting new points on all visible edges leading to the original vertex. The new edges are exactly <chamfer amount> distance from the original edge along each of these edges. New chamfer faces are created with the material ID of one of the neighboring faces (picked at random) and a smoothing group which is an intersection of all neighboring smoothing groups.

For example, if you chamfer one edge of a box, each corner vertex is replaced by two vertices moving along the visible edges that lead to the corner. Outside faces are rearranged and split to use these new vertices, and a new polygon is created at the corner.

Connect—Creates new edges between pairs of selected edges.

You can connect only edges on the same polygon.

Connect will not let the new edges cross. Thus, for example, if you select all four edges of a four-sided polygon and then click Connect, only neighboring edges are connected, resulting in a diamond pattern.

Connect Settings—Lets you preview the Connect and specify the number of edge segments created by the operation. To increase the number of edges connecting the selected edges, increase the Connect Edge Segments setting. The segments are always even spaced.

Create Shape From Selection—After selecting one or more edges, click this button to create a spline shape from the selected edges. A Create Shape dialog appears, letting you name the shape and set it to Smooth or Linear. The new shape's pivot is placed at the center of the poly object.

Weight—Sets the weight of selected edges. Used by the NURMS subdivision option and by the MeshSmooth modifier.

Increasing an edge weight tends to push the smoothed result away.

Crease—Specifies how much creasing is performed on the selected edge or edges. Used by the NURMS subdivision option and by the MeshSmooth modifier.

At low settings, the edge is relatively smooth. At higher settings, the crease becomes increasingly visible. At 1.0, the highest setting, the edge becomes a hard crease.

Edit Triangulation—Lets you modify how selected polygons are subdivided into triangles by drawing internal edges.

To manually edit triangulation, turn on this button. The hidden edges appear. Click a polygon vertex. A rubber-band line appears, attached to the cursor. Click a non-adjacent vertex to create a new triangulation for the polygon.

Repeat Last—Repeats the most recently used command.

For example, if you extrude an edge, and want to apply the same extrusion to several others, select the others, and then click Repeat Last.

Note: Repeat Last does not repeat all operations. For instance, it does not repeat transforms. To determine which command will be repeated when you click the button, check the button's tooltip. If no tooltip appears, nothing will happen when it is clicked.

Constraints—Lets you use existing geometry to constrain sub-object transformation. Use the drop-down list to choose the constraint type:

Note: The Constraints setting persists at all sub-object levels.

Create—Creates an edge from vertex to vertex.

Click Create, click a vertex, and then move the mouse. A rubber-band line extends from the vertex to the mouse cursor. Click a second, non-adjacent vertex on the same polygon to connect them with an edge. Repeat, or, to exit, right-click in the viewport or click Create again.

Edges you create separate the polygons. For example, by creating an edge inside a quadrilateral polygon, you turn it into two triangles.

Collapse—Collapses selected edges by welding their vertices to a vertex at the selection center.

Attach—Lets you attach another object in the scene to the selected editable poly. You can attach any type of object, including splines, patch objects, and NURBS surfaces. Attaching a non-mesh object converts it to editable-poly format. Click the object you want to attach to the currently selected poly object.

For further details, see Attach.

Detach—Detaches the selected edges and all attached polygons from the poly object, creating a separate object or element. The Detach As Clone option copies the polygons rather than detaching them.

You're prompted to enter a name for the new object. Detached polygons leave a hole in the original object when you move them to a new position.

These knife-like tools let you subdivide the poly mesh along a plane (Slice) or in a specific area (Cut). Also see Full Interactivity.

Slice Plane—Creates a gizmo for a slice plane that you can position and rotate to specify where to slice. Also enables the Slice and Reset Plane buttons.

As you transform the slice plane, you see a preview of where the slice will occur in the mesh object. To perform the slice, click the Slice button.

Split—When on, the Slice and Cut operations create double sets of vertices at the points where the edges are divided. This lets you easily delete the new polygons to create holes, or animate the new polygons as separate elements.

Slice—Performs the slice operation at the location of the slice plane. Available only when Slice Plane is turned on. This tool slices the poly just like the “Operate On: Polygons” mode of the Slice modifier.

Reset Plane—Returns the Slice plane to its default position and orientation. Available only when Slice Plane is turned on.

QuickSlice—Lets you quickly slice the object without having to manipulate a gizmo. Make a selection, click QuickSlice, and then click once at the slice start point and again at its endpoint. You can continue slicing the selection while the command is active.

To stop slicing, right-click in the viewport, or click QuickSlice again to turn it off.

Cut—Lets you create edges from one polygon to another or within polygons. Click at the start point, move the mouse and click again, and continue moving and clicking to create new connected edges. Right-click once to exit the current cut, whereupon you can start a new one, or right-click again to exit Cut mode.

Use Snaps with Cut for precision. Cut honors Midpoint, Endpoint, and Vertex snaps.

MSmooth—Smoothes the selection using the current settings. This command uses subdivision functionality similar to that of the MeshSmooth modifier.

MSmooth Settings—Opens the MeshSmooth Selection dialog, which lets you specify how smoothing is applied.

Tessellate—Subdivides the selection based on the Tessellation settings.

Tessellation is useful for increasing local mesh density while modeling. You can subdivide any selection of polygons. Two tessellation methods are available: Edge and Face.

Tessellate Settings—Opens the Tessellate Selection dialog, which lets you specify how smoothing is applied.

Make Planar—Forces all selected edges to become coplanar. The plane's normal is the average surface normal of all faces attached to the selected edges.

View Align—Aligns selected edges to the plane of the active viewport. In the case of orthographic viewports, this is the same effect as aligning to the construction grid when the home grid is active. When aligning to a Perspective viewport (including camera and light views), the edges are reoriented to be aligned to a plane that is parallel to the camera's viewing plane. (Perspective viewports have invisible camera planes.) In these cases, the selection of edges is not translated but only rotated.

Grid Align—Aligns the selected edges to the current construction plane. The current plane is specified by the active viewport in the case of the home grid. When using a grid object, the current plane is the active grid object.

Lets you copy and paste named selection sets of sub-objects between objects. Start by creating one or more named selection sets, copy one, select a different object, go to the same sub-object level, and then paste the set.

Note: This function uses sub-object IDs, so if the target object's geometry differs from that of the source object, the pasted selection will probably comprise a different set of sub-objects.

Note: For more information, see Named Selection Sets.

Copy—Opens a dialog that lets you specify a named selection set to place into the copy buffer.

Paste—Pastes the named selection from the copy buffer.

Full Interactivity—Toggles the level of feedback for the Slice and Cut tools, as well as all settings dialogs.

When turned on (the default), the final result is always visible as you use the mouse to manipulate the tool or change a numeric setting. With Cut and QuickSlice, when Full Interactivity is turned off, only the rubberband line is visible until you click. With Slice Plane, the final result is visible only when you release the mouse button after transforming the plane. Similarly, with numeric settings in dialogs, the final result is visible only when you release the mouse button after changing the setting.

The state of Full Interactivity doesn't affect changing a numeric setting from the keyboard. Whether it's on or off, the setting takes effect only when you exit the field by pressing TAB or ENTER, or by clicking a different control in the dialog.

Show Cage—Toggles the display of the orange cage that covers half the mesh when working with an editable poly to which the Symmetry modifier is applied, and for which Show End Result is turned on.

See Subdivision Surface rollout for information on the Subdivision Surface rollout settings.

See Subdivision Displacement rollout for information on the Subdivision Displacement rollout settings.