Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
InEdgeselectionmode,pressingShift+Gbringsupamenuthatenablesyoutoselectedgesthatarethesame
length, run in the same direction, or have the same number of face users as the selected edges. You can also
select edges based on whether they are part of a seam or crease or based on their sharpness value. This is an
excellent method for quickly selecting all seams on an object: Simply select a seam edge, and then use this se-
lection method to select them all.
In Face selection mode, you can select faces that share the same area, share a material, share an image, have
commonnormaldirections, orarecoplanar,meaningthatthefacessharetheirnormaldirections andarelocated
on a single imaginary plane in the 3D space. Finally, the Perimeter option enables you to select regions of faces
that have the same size perimeter or outline as the originally selected region.
Whenameshhasmultiplematerialsassignedtodifferentfaces,theShift+Gmenuenablesyoutoselectfaces
with the same material.
Object Manipulation
The most commonly used and taught methods of translating, rotating, and scaling 3D elements are the hot keys
G, R, and S. These are the easiest to control, but using other methods can increase the speed and efficiency of
your workflow in some cases.
Itmaycomeasabitofasurprise,butthe3Dmanipulatorwidgets,shownin
Figure1-35
(andrepeatedinthe
colorinsertofthisbook),alsorequirealittlepracticetogetafeelforusingthemproperly.Thesecanbeenabled
individually or all at once using the manipulator buttons on the 3D viewport header (to select more than one,
hold down the Shift key while choosing, just as in other contexts).
Figure 1-35
Translate, rotate, and scale manipulator widgets
The easiest way to use the manipulator widgets is to left-click the colored manipulator widgets (the arrows
for translation, curves for rotation, and cube-shaped tips for scale) and drag. The transformation is finalized
when you release the left mouse button. To abort the transformation, either press the Esc key or click the right
mouse button
before releasing the left mouse button.
Finally, you can scale or translate along two axes by holding down the Shift key and clicking the hot spot
of the third axis. This is analogous to the way axes are constrained by hot key. Thus, to scale along the x- and
y-axes, hold down Shift and click the z-axis manipulator hot spot. The hot spot is the arrow, box, or curve part
of the manipulator for translate, scale, and rotate transformations, respectively.
