Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
Congratulations on successfully patching
your spline cage! We can now mirror the
object to complete the basic head, but
before we do so we need to run the Merge
Points command again. As it stands, each
individual patch is a separate object. You
can see this for yourself by selecting any
single polygon and tapping the <
]
> (right
bracket) key to select the connected poly-
gons. No more than four polygons will ever
be selected because each patch is its own
distinct object. In order to fuse the patches
together into one large object, we need to
merge points.
Press the <
m
> key to bring up the
Merge Points window. Accept the defaults
and press
OK
. A message should appear
saying that roughly 300 points have been
eliminated.
Let's go ahead and mirror our object. To
successfully mirror the head, we need to
ensure that the points running down the
center are positioned
exactly
at 0 on the X
axis.
1. Click the
Maximize
button for the
Back viewport. This takes us to a
full-screen view. Tap the <
a
> key to fit
the object in our viewport as shown in
Figure 14-82.
We need a way to select all of the points
running down the center of our object, but
as you can see, there are a lot of points in
this region. Selecting them all by hand
would be a nightmare. To remedy this, we'll
use Modeler's Volume Select tools.
2.
Press <
Ctrl
>+<
j
>
twice
to activate
Inclusive
Volume Select mode.
(Pressing <Ctrl> + <j> once would
activate
Exclusive
Volume Select
mode.) Volume Select mode enables us
to drag a bounding box around the
polys or points we want affected. The
Inclusive option means that anything
partially inside the bounding box will
still be selected. Drag out a bounding
box as shown in Figure 14-83.
Figure 14-82
Figure 14-83: Using the Inclusive
Volume Select tool, drag out a
bounding box that reaches just
inside your model.
