Mesh editing tools
In poly edit mode you change an editable mesh point by point. To start, select a SPHERE, BOX, CYLINDER, CONE, TORUS, PLATONIC, TEXT or GROWTH object, a pen loft of two or more strokes, a boolean or split result or an imported model, then press Tab. Edit a mesh point by point walks through the common tasks.
Distances in poly edit are meters of the object as built, before SCALE under TRANSFORM makes it larger or smaller. The object itself stays where it is while its mesh is edited.
Buttons at the top of the INSPECTOR
Below the object's name sits one of these buttons, depending on the state of the object. Tab does the same as whichever is shown.
| Label | Effect | Availability |
|---|---|---|
| MAKE EDITABLE (TAB) | Bakes the object's current shape, the deformers that are switched on and ORGANIC smoothing included, into an editable mesh and starts poly edit. One undo step. | Kinds listed above that have no editable mesh yet. Hidden for every other kind, and Tab then does nothing. |
| ENTER POLY EDIT (TAB) | Starts poly edit on the existing mesh | An editable mesh outside poly edit |
| EXIT POLY EDIT (TAB) | Leaves poly edit | In poly edit |
The conversion also empties the DEFORMERS list, turns ORGANIC off and sets SMOOTH ANGLE to 180°; Editable meshes sets out the details. If the mesh still matches the object's settings on the way out of poly edit, Orbit drops it and the settings work again. The right-click menu of the object and the command palette offer the same three commands as MAKE EDITABLE, ENTER POLY EDIT and EXIT POLY EDIT.
The poly edit INSPECTOR
In poly edit, these controls take the place of the object's own settings. TRANSFORM, MATERIAL, DEFORMERS and ARRAY follow below them as usual.
Counts and modes
| Label | Values and default | Effect | Availability |
|---|---|---|---|
| Count line, such as 24 FACES · 26 VERTICES | Faces and points in the mesh. WELD, COLLAPSE and deleting faces leave points behind that belong to no face. Those points stay in the count but cannot be seen or selected. | Always | |
| POINT V, EDGE E, FACE F | Default FACE F | The kind of element that clicks, drags and most tools act on. V, E and F switch too, so in poly edit E and F no longer choose the rotate gizmo or frame the view. | Always |
| EXTRUDE, BEVEL, TENDRIL | Default EXTRUDE | What a drag on a face does, as set out in Drags in the viewport | Face mode |
| WELDED, PER FACE | Default WELDED | WELDED lifts the selected faces as one connected piece. PER FACE lifts each face along its own direction, apart from its neighbors. | EXTRUDE |
| SCALE /STEP | 0.70 to 1.10, default 0.92 | Size of each ring of a tendril compared with the ring before it. Below 1.00 the tendril narrows toward a tip, at 1.00 it stays even and above 1.00 it flares. | TENDRIL, in its own TENDRIL section |
| TWIST /STEP | −45° to 45°, default 0° | Turn of each ring around the tendril's path | TENDRIL |
Tendril settings apply from the next drag, since a drag reads them when it starts. None of the settings in this table are saved with the scene.
SELECTION
The section title shows how many elements of the current kind are selected, as in 4 SELECTED. Points, edges and faces each keep a selection of their own, and switching kinds leaves the others as they were.
| Label | Values and default | Effect | Availability |
|---|---|---|---|
| SELECT ALL | Selects every element of the current kind | Always | |
| DESELECT | Clears the selection of the current kind. Space does the same. | Always | |
| GROW | Adds the ring of elements around the selection | Dimmed with nothing selected | |
| SHRINK | Removes the elements on the edge of the selection. Elements on the border of an open mesh stay selected. | Dimmed with nothing selected | |
| INVERT | Selects what was unselected and clears the rest | Always | |
| TOUCHING | Adds everything connected to the selection, so a whole separate piece is selected from any part of it | Dimmed with nothing selected | |
| RANDOM | Replaces the selection of the current kind with about PERCENT of its elements, picked at random by SEED | Always | |
| RESEED | Picks a new SEED between 1 and 999 and selects again | Always | |
| PERCENT | 1 to 100, default 25 | Chance, in percent, that RANDOM selects each element | Always |
| SEED | 1 to 999, default 42 | Which elements RANDOM picks. The same seed and PERCENT pick the same elements. | Always |
RANDOM and RESEED are undo steps. The other buttons here change only the selection and record no step. PERCENT and SEED are not saved with the scene.
MESH TOOLS
The tools act on the selection of the current kind, and a tool that needs a selection is dimmed until there is one. Each press of a tool is one undo step, apart from LOOP, which changes only the selection, and KNIFE, whose cut is the undo step. Some tools show only in one mode.
| Label | Values and default | Effect | Availability |
|---|---|---|---|
| SOFT MAGNET | Off | With it on, dragging a point or edge pulls every point within RADIUS along with it, fading to nothing at the edge of the radius. The selection neither limits nor widens the pull. Two rings in the viewport mark the radius and half of it. | Point and edge modes |
| RADIUS | 0.05 to 5.00 m, default 0.60 m | Reach of the pull. [ and ] shrink it to four fifths or grow it by a quarter, from 0.05 to 10 m, even during a drag. | SOFT MAGNET on |
| WELD | Fuses the selected points into one at their center | Point mode | |
| COLLAPSE | Shrinks each selected edge to its midpoint, or each selected face to its center. Selected elements that touch end in one shared point. | Edge and face modes | |
| FLATTEN | Moves the selection onto one flat plane. In face mode the plane faces the average direction of the selected faces; in the other modes it is the plane that fits the points best. | Needs a selection. Does nothing when the selection covers fewer than three points. | |
| RELAX | Moves each selected point halfway toward the average of its neighbors, smoothing the area. Press again for more. | Needs a selection | |
| JITTER | Moves each selected point a random distance along each axis, up to JITTER AMT. Every press picks new directions. | Needs a selection | |
| JITTER AMT | 0.01 to 1.00 m, default 0.10 m | Greatest distance JITTER moves a point along each axis | Always |
| SPIN | Swaps the diagonal between two triangles for their other diagonal. Press again to keep turning it. Edges that do not lie between exactly two triangles are left alone. | Edge mode | |
| LOOP | Selects the whole loop of edges through each selected edge. A loop stops at a triangle, at a point where other than four edges meet and at the border of an open mesh. A selected border edge selects the whole border. Double-clicking an edge does the same. | Edge mode | |
| LOOP CUT | Cuts a new loop of edges halfway across the band of faces with four sides beside each selected edge. The band stops at triangles and borders. The new loop comes out selected. | Edge mode | |
| KNIFE | Arms the knife, and the button stays lit. The next drag in the viewport cuts the mesh, as described under Drags in the viewport, and disarms it. Click KNIFE again to disarm it without cutting. | Edge mode. Needs no selection. | |
| BEVEL | Replaces each selected edge with a flat strip. Only edges between two faces inside the mesh can be beveled; border edges are skipped. The new creases come out selected, so a second press bevels them. | Edge mode | |
| BEVEL W | 0.02 to 1.00 m, default 0.10 m | Width of the strip. It is held to 45% of the shortest edge near the bevel, so a face never folds. | Edge mode |
| SEGMENTS | 1 to 4, default 1 | Facets across the strip. 1 is a flat strip, and more round it. | Edge mode |
| SUBDIVIDE | Splits each selected face into four. A face of more than four sides becomes a fan of triangles around its center. Faces beside the selection are rebuilt so no gaps open. The new faces stay selected. | Face mode | |
| SPIKEY | Raises a spike from the center of each selected face. The spikes stay selected. | Face mode | |
| BRIDGE | Joins the two selected faces with a tunnel of new faces and removes the two faces, which become its openings. The tunnel follows the shortest, least twisted pairing of their corners. The new walls come out selected. | Face mode. Dimmed unless exactly two faces are selected. Does nothing when the faces have different numbers of sides or share a point. | |
| SPIKE HT | 0.10 to 3.00, default 1.00 | Height of each spike as a multiple of the average edge length of its face, so small faces get short spikes | Face mode |
| MERGE POINTS | Fuses any points of the whole mesh that lie closer together than MERGE DIST, whatever is selected. It closes doubled points and open seams. | Always | |
| OPTIMIZE | Rebuilds the mesh with fewer faces. Short edges in flat areas go first, and sharp edges hold out longest. A collapse that would turn a face inside out is skipped. With a selection, only the selected area loses faces. | Always | |
| MERGE DIST | 0.001 to 0.250 m, default 0.020 m | Distance under which MERGE POINTS fuses points | Always |
| REDUCE % | 10 to 90, default 50 | Share of the faces OPTIMIZE aims to remove. At least four faces remain. | Always |
The slider values and SOFT MAGNET are not saved with the scene.
OPERATIONS
| Label | Effect | Availability |
|---|---|---|
| FLIP NORMALS | Turns the selected faces the other way round, so their inside faces out | Dimmed unless faces are selected, in any mode |
| DELETE FACES | Removes the selected faces and leaves a hole. Delete does the same. | Dimmed unless faces are selected, in any mode |
With no faces selected, Delete shows "Nothing to delete: Delete removes the selected FACES. Select faces first."
Drags in the viewport
Clicks select one element of the current kind, and ⇧-click adds it to the selection or takes it out. A drag that grabs an element outside the selection selects that element alone first, unless SOFT MAGNET is on, which leaves the selection as it is. Holding ⇧ while moving points or edges, or during an extrude, inset or bevel drag on faces, snaps to the cells of the floor grid, whether SNAP is on or off. Tendril and knife drags do not snap. ⌥-drag orbits the camera. Every drag is one undo step.
| Gesture | Where it works | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Drag a point or edge | Point and edge modes | Moves it parallel to the screen, together with the rest of the selection if it is selected |
| Drag a point or edge | SOFT MAGNET on | Pulls every point within RADIUS, as described under SOFT MAGNET |
| Double-click an edge | Edge mode | Selects its loop, like LOOP. With ⇧, adds the loop. |
| Drag a face | EXTRUDE | Moves the selected faces out of the surface or into it, joined to the rest by new side walls. WELDED and PER FACE decide whether they move as one piece. |
⌘-drag a face | EXTRUDE | Insets the selected faces, setting a smaller copy inside their border. An inset is always welded. |
| Drag a face | BEVEL | Cuts the border of the selected faces back into a slanted strip. The drag sets its width. |
[ and ] | BEVEL, a face selected | One facet fewer or more in the strip, from 1 to 8, starting at 1. During a drag, the strip updates at once. |
| Drag a face | TENDRIL | Grows a tube from the selected faces that follows the pointer, one ring at a time. A turn tighter than the rings allow is held at the tightest one, so the tube never folds into itself. |
| Drag across the mesh | Edge mode, KNIFE armed | Cuts along the plane through the line of the drag and the camera. Every face that plane crosses is split, including faces past the ends of the line and on the far side of the mesh. The new edges come out selected. A drag shorter than about 6 points cuts nothing. |
| Space | Any mode | Clears the selection of the current kind |
| Delete | Any mode | Deletes the selected faces |
| Tab | Any mode | Leaves poly edit. Esc does not. |
The strip at the bottom left of the viewport lists the drags for the current mode and tool, with the RADIUS or facet count where one applies. Keyboard shortcuts and mouse gestures has the full list of keys.
In the command palette
With ⌘K open in poly edit, the palette offers the tools of the current mode. The longer names it uses for some of them are GROW SELECTION, SHRINK SELECTION, INVERT SELECTION, SELECT TOUCHING, SPIN EDGE, SELECT LOOP, BEVEL EDGES, ARM KNIFE and TOGGLE SOFT MAGNET.
Palette commands run at fixed values and ignore the sliders in the INSPECTOR. JITTER moves points up to 0.10 m, MERGE POINTS fuses points closer than 0.020 m, SPIKEY uses a height of 1.00 and BEVEL EDGES cuts a flat strip 0.10 m wide. OPTIMIZE removes half the faces of the whole mesh, whatever is selected. For the palette in general, see Run any command by name.
The MESH IS EDITED banner
Outside poly edit, an object with an edited mesh shows ⚠ MESH IS EDITED · PARAMETRIC LOCKED at the top of its settings, with the line "Sides / segments / type-specific controls are inactive while an edited mesh exists. Reset to discard your edits and restore parametric controls." The settings below the banner are dimmed and have no effect. ORGANIC and SHADING, on the kinds that have them, stay active and act on the mesh.
| Label | Effect | Interactions |
|---|---|---|
| RESET TO PARAMETRIC | The first click changes the label to TAP AGAIN TO CONFIRM. The second discards the mesh and every change made to it, and gives back the object's settings with the deformers, ORGANIC and SMOOTH ANGLE it had before the conversion. | Deformers added after the conversion stay, below the restored ones. On a boolean or split result the reset leaves a plain box. One undo step, so ⌘Z brings the mesh back. |
An imported model shows a line such as IMPORTED MESH · 1204 FACES in place of this banner, with no reset button, because the mesh is the whole model. Going back to the settings explains what a reset restores.
The mesh is saved with the scene, and so is every change made to it.
Related: Edit a mesh point by point, How Orbit builds objects, Keyboard shortcuts and mouse gestures and What undo covers.