Blocking In - Blender Master Class: A Hands-on Guide to Modeling, Sculpting, Materials, and Rendering - page 30

Table 4-1: Important Terms for Modeling in Blender's Edit Mode

Term Description

vertex (plural vertices ); also
known as a vert

A single point in 3D space with a specific location. Vertices are connected to construct
meshes .

edge A line connecting two vertices.

face (or polygon) Three or more vertices connected by edges and filled with a flat surface. A polygon

formed of three vertices is called a tri (short for triangle ). A polygon formed of four ver-
tices is called a quad (short for quadrangle ). Polygons with more than four vertices are
called n -gons .

normal The direction in which a face or vertex points. Imagine a flagpole pointing straight out from

the surface of an object. The direction it points is the face normal . Vertices and edges can
also have normals when they are part of a surface.

mesh A collection of vertices, faces, and edges that are all part of a single object.

topology A term that refers to the way the faces of a mesh “flow” over its surface. (See Chapters 5

and 7 for more on topology.)

operator Any operation you perform on part of a mesh, such as translating, scaling, duplicating,

and so on. Operators generally take input from the user (such as the distance and direction
you want to move something) and then do something to the selected object as a result.

Mesh operators

Toolshelf

3D Manipulator widget Selected vertices

Properties
editor

Subdivision
Surface modifier

Choose among
Verts/Edges/Faces

Pivot center for
Rotation/Scaling

Proportional editing options

Shading mode Manipulator

widget options

Snapping options

See-through mesh

Figure 4-1: Blender's 3D Viewport in Edit Mode