For everything you create in Modeler, you’ll need select or deselect points, edges, and polygons. As mentioned earlier, you create points to make polygons. A polygon can’t exist without at least three points. (It’s like connect-the-dots, remember?) When points are connected to form polygons, the lines between the points become edges. With that said, take a look at Figure 1.63. Here, you can see the Points, Edges, and Polygons selection and modeling modes.
Figure 1.63 At the bottom of the Modeler interface are the Points, Edges, and Polygons selection and modeling modes. Select the appropriate mode you want to work with.
Choose a selection mode simply by clicking on it, or you can rotate among them by simply pressing the spacebar. Essentially, all you need to do is think about what you want to extend, move, rotate, and so on, and then choose the appropriate mode.
Selection Modes
Let’s say you have a project you’ve created for your best client. They come to you and say it’s great, but they would like you to move some of the model slightly. For something like this, you might want to move points, or perhaps adjust the edges. Whichever the case, selection and deselection work the same no matter what mode you’re in. This next project will help you understand further.
Exercise 1.2 Selecting and Deselecting in Modeler
Follow these steps to get a feel for selection, deselection, and the various options available to you when working with points, edges, and polygons.
1. From your LightWave install directory on your computer, load the Antique_Chadwick object. This is an old-fashioned lamppost.
2. Figure 1.64 shows the object loaded into Modeler. Notice that the lamppost is very tall. Select the Points mode at the bottom of the interface in the Back view. The Back view is the bottom-left quadrant of the interface, and looks toward the back of the object. The Back view is an XY view, meaning that you only have control over those two axes; the Z-axis is not a factor in that viewport.
Note that you should be working with a wireframe viewport style. Doing so will allow you to select the points in the front and back of the object.
Figure 1.64 The simple lamppost object loaded into Modeler.
3. With Points selection mode enabled, you can select points of the object. You can do this in one of two ways. The first option is to click on any point directly to select it, so click around the top of the lamp. Your point should become highlighted as in Figure 1.65.
When you release the mouse button, you automatically enter Deselect mode. Click on the point again, and it will be deselected. This is exactly how the Polygons selection mode works. Now that there is nothing selected, you can begin selecting points again. If you click on a point and then realize you want to select more, just hold the Shift key down and continue your selection.
Figure 1.65 Directly clicking on a point with the left mouse button selects it. Let go of the mouse, click again, and you deselect.
4. The second option for selecting points uses Lasso select mode, which is a better choice for selecting all of the points around the top of the lamp. Press the slash key (/) to deselect the points. With the right mouse button held down, run your mouse around the points of the top of the lamp, as in Figure 1.66.
Figure 1.66 Use the right mouse button to select a range of points in Lasso mode.
Note
Mac users, if you’re not working with a two-button mouse (even though you should be), use Cmd-click to accomplish right mouse button functions in LightWave 3D. But, go get a two-button mouse already, OK?
5. With the points of the top of the lamp selected, press t to select the Move tool from the Modify tab. Click and drag the points down in the Back view. You can hold the Ctrl key as you move to constrain the movement to an axis.
Congratulations! You just edited points. That’s all there is to it! After the points are adjusted to your liking, deselect them by pressing /.
Note
To properly deselect points, edges, or polygons, first turn off any tool you’re using by clicking its button in the LightWave toolset, or simply press the spacebar.Then, press / to deselect. It’s important to get in the habit of performing this process. Know what you’re actually doing before you click the mouse or press a button.You can use only one tool at a time.Your process should be as follows. First, select points, edges, or polygons.Turn on a tool. Use the tool.Turn off the tool. Deselect the geometry. It sounds like a lot of steps, but learning this process will save you time in the long run.
Too often, people learning LightWave (or even those who already know it) jump the gun and forget to deselect their points or polygons and move on, only to accidentally get unwanted results in their model. And remember that the selection methods are identical whether you’re working with points, edges, or polygons.
Symmetry Mode
Every once in a while, you might find that working on the same thing twice is a real pain. Perhaps you’re building a character—why build one side of the body and then do it again for the other side? Sure, you could build half and then mirror it over. But there are times when creativity suffers when you can’t see your how your entire model is coming along. If you turn on Symmetry mode, using the button to the right of the Points, Edges, and Polygons mode-selection buttons, whatever action is performed on the positive X-axis will also take place on the negative X-axis. Note, however, that whatever point, edge, or polygon you modify on the positive X-axis must live in the same space on the negative X-axis.
Note
If you have no need for Symmetry, always turn it off. Keeping it on can really mess you up because actions are mirrored across the X-axis!
Modes:Action Center
To the right of the Symmetry button is another button, a drop-down list labeled Modes, which is used to set the Action Center for tools in Modeler. Settings in this list (Figure 1.67) determine how tools behave with respect to the mouse pointer, and you’ll use them often in Modeler.
Figure 1.67
The Modes selection area enables you to change how tools react to the mouse.
The Modes options enable you to change how certain tools work with the mouse or how their "action" is centered. The Action Center for your mouse is where a tool action happens. For example, by default the mode is set to Action Center: Mouse. This means that if you select the Rotate tool from the Modify tab, you can click and rotate in any viewport, and the spot you click will be the point around which your object or selection will rotate. If you change the Action Center to say, Selection, the selected object, polygon, or point will become the center around which other objects rotate.
You’ll use these varying modes depending on what you’re creating. If you’re sizing an object within another object, it can be difficult to size perfectly in place using the Action Center: Mouse setting. Instead, with Action Center set to Selection, the Size tool works perfectly, and the object or selection is sized without shifting toward the mouse location.
Modeler General Commands
Now take a look at the rest of the buttons along the bottom of the interface, as in Figure 1.68. Here you can see a series of buttons and tools. These are key to working in Modeler, which is why they are always visible on the interface.
Figure 1.68 The LightWave v9 Modeler Interface keeps key tools accessible along the bottom of the screen, no matter which tool tab is selected.
At the bottom left of the interface is a small information area (Figure 1.69). This is the "info" area to which you’ll be referred throughout this topic. It shows you many properties, depending on the tool at hand, such as the size of objects, point position, and more.
You’ll use the info area sometimes just as a reference and at other times to measure and control the movement of objects.
Figure 1.69
The info area at the bottom left of the Modeler interface shows key information about your tools.
SubD-Type
SubD-Type stands for subdivision type. A subdivided object is one in which each polygonal patch is subdivided x number of times. You can tell Modeler (and Layout) how much subdivision to apply. The benefit of this feature is that you can create very simple geometry, manipulate it in the software, and then render it out as a detailed high-resolution model. There are two SubD-Type options in Modeler: the original Subpatch mode that existed in earlier versions of LightWave, and a new option called Catmull-Clark.
To work in Subpatch mode, select it from the SubD-Type drop-down and press the Tab key. You’ll see your model change into curved surfaces, and a representative cage will appear around it. To revert to standard model view, press the Tab key again. In order to use the Subpatch SubD-Type, your object must have three or four vertices. That means a polygon can’t be made up of five sides or more. For that matter, it can’t be made up of one or two sides either.
Every once in a while, however, there’s no way to reduce your entire model to polygons with just three or four vertices. It’s for just those occasions that LightWave v9 added the SubD-Type called Catmull-Clark. Because this SubD-Type allows you to subdivide objects with more than three or four vertices, why even bother with the original Subpatch method at all? Backward compatibility is one reason. Those of you who have used LightWave in the past will appreciate that you can still use your existing models. Another reason is that the Catmull-Clark SubD-Type is more complex and a bit more demanding of your system resources. Applying it to one or more complex models might bring your system to its knees. That’s not to say Catmull-Clark is bad—but use it only when needed and not as a default.
Numeric Panel
Vital to most modeling tools is the Numeric panel. Although many tools will be used just by turning them on and clicking and dragging, most tools have added control through the Numeric panel. Figure 1.70 shows the Numeric panel open with the Capsule tool selected. You can press n on your keyboard, or just click the Numeric button at the bottom of the interface to open the panel.
Note
The Numeric panel can stay open all the time.Adjust your interface to give the Numeric panel its own space on your screen. It’s useful for determining whether a tool is active. If the Numeric panel is blank, no tool is active.
Figure 1.70 The Numeric panel, accessible by pressing n on the keyboard or by choosing it from the bottom of the interface, is useful for specific tool control.
Use the Numeric panel often, as both a reference and a control center for your tools.
