Wings 3D/User Manual/Vertex Operations with Advanced Menus
NB - If you're reading this, it's still a WIP!
Section 5.2 The Context Sensitive Menus
5.2.2 The Vertex Operations Menu –
Figure 46: The Vertex Operations pop-up menu.
General
If one or more vertices are selected, right clicking in the workspace will display the Vertex Operations Menu. Some of these operations are unique to Vertex selection mode and all operations are referenced to a single common datum.
(Compare rotating several isolated faces with rotating any type of vert selection.)
Enabling Advanced Mode (via Edit | Prefs.) provides the following additional features over the basic menu.
Magnet operations for supported commands (use Alt (+ any mouse button) to access magnets in the default Mirai camera mode)
Greater functionality (specifying custom vectors / axes and origins) for all major commands.
3 completely new commands:
Bend
Bend Clamped
Shift
The underlying common feature which provides the extra functionality is that of 'secondary selections' - which allows the user to specify many 'custom actions' similar to the following examples:
Modify geometry as if with a 'magnet', to obtain smooth transformations.
Moving in a direction that isn't parallel to the XYZ axes.
Rotating around an axis that isn't parallel to the XYZ axes - and also to have that rotate axis pass through a particular point. (eg Having a door rotate around its correct hinge axis, rather than through the middle of the door)
Scaling from a specified point (origin) rather than the default one that wings works out, based on the selected geometry.
Specifying a particular location for a Flatten plane to pass through
A typical workflow using secondary selections for a basic vector move might be -
Select geometry to be altered (some verts on a sphere, say)
R - Clk to display menu (note new options on the lower info line, which weren't present for 'basic' menu mode).
R - Clk to choose the 'Pick axis to move along' option.
L - Clk on any edge to specify the move direction - note how wings displays a blue arrow, confirming this.
R - Clk to execute the operation, drag as required.
L - Clk to complete the move, once the object is where you want it to be.
In the above example, the 'secondary' selection is the one done to specify the direction of movement, ie selecting the edge, whilst the 'primary' selection is that of choosing the geometry to be modified.
Wings will also let you use very complex selections when defining / specifying parameters for secondary purposes.
VERTEX MENU | MOVE
Normal – moves the selected vertex/vertices along their normal. A normal is a vector (line of direction) that runs out perpendicular to the reference element (applying View | Show Normals will display them if needed)
Free – Will move the selected vertex(es) in the direction of mouse movement. Since all movement takes place on planes that are parallel to the monitor screen, some care is needed to avoid problems when used in a general 'tumbled' view. This command is especially useful when used in conjunction with View | X,Y or Z, as it allows the user to keep moved vertexes on the 2D axial planes associated with the relevant viewing direction. If working with background reference images, Ortho should also be used (with View | XYZ) to eliminate perspective distortion issues.
X – Movement is parallel to the X axis.
Y – Movement is parallel to the Y axis.
Z – Movement is parallel to the Z axis.
VERTEX MENU | ROTATE – Vertices will rotate about a single center for the entire selected set whether or not they are adjacent.
Note that this works fundamentally differently than how faces or edges rotate. At least two vertices must be selected for this to have any effect at all.
Free – Will rotate the selected vertices in the direction of mouse movement.
X – Rotation is around an axis parallel to the X axis.
Y – Rotation is around an axis parallel to the Y axis.
Z – Rotation is around an axis parallel to the Z axis.
VERTEX MENU | SCALE - Scales the dimension between each vertex and a common reference in accordance with the chosen option.
The nature of the common reference used depends on the scale option chosen but is always located where Scale = 0%.
Uniform - is a single point (selection center)
Axis - is a plane (perpendicular to chosen axis) passing through the selection center.
Radial - is a line (parallel to chosen axis) passing through the selection center.
Requires two or more vertices to have any effect.
Uniform – Scales the distance between each vertex and the selection center.
X – Scales the distance along the X axis between each vertex and the reference plane.
Y – Scales the distance along the Y axis between each vertex and the reference plane.
Z – Scales the distance along the Z axis between each vertex and the reference plane.
Radial X (YZ) – Scales the distance between the vertices radially from their local geometric x axis; i.e. The distances in y and z are affected while x remains constant.
Radial Y (XZ) – Scales the distance between the vertices radially from their local geometric y axis so that the y dimension remains constant.
Radial Z (XY) – Scales the distance between the vertices radially from their local geometric z axis; so that the z dimension remains constant.
Section 5.2 6
The Context Sensitive Menus
VERTEX MENU | EXTRUDE
Can be performed on one or more vertices. During the extrusion process you can use the plus and minus (+ -) keys to change the size of the extruded spike's base.
Normal – a "spike" type feature is extruded from each selected vertex along the vertex normals, thus creating new faces.
Free – the "spikes" are created in the direction of mouse movement.
X – the "spikes" are created along the X axis.
Y – the "spikes" are created along the Y axis.
Z – the "spikes" are created along the Z axis.
VERTEX MENU | FLATTEN
Requires two or more vertices to have any effect.
All selected verticies are moved parallel to the specified axis until they all lie on a single common axial plane, appropriate to the axis option chosen. By default, wings computes the position of this common plane but using advanced menus allows the user to specify a particular location for this plane to pass through (use RMB option).
Flatten and Scale | Axis > 0% produce the same results.
X – Flattens the selected vertices by averaging their position in the X direction. This has the effect of aligning selected vertices in the X plane.
Y – Flattens the selected vertices by averaging their position in the Y direction.
Z – Flattens the selected vertices by averaging their position in the Z direction.
VERTEX MENU | CONNECT (C)
Connects selected vertices with edges if they have a common face, or if the faces between vertices is contiguous. More than one set of connects can be performed at a time. Some applications require triangles, rather than quads on import. You can convert your Wings quads to triangles very simply by selecting the Body, then pressing V to switch to vertex mode. All vertices on the model will then be selected. Then just do a Connect, and all the quads will be turned into triangles.
VERTEX MENU | TIGHTEN
Tighten deserves a bit of explanation as it is not immediately obvious just what it does. Tighten looks at each vertex and works out the direction they need to move in so as to create the most tension-free surface. It then allows you to interactively move those vertices along that direction by dragging the mouse left and right.
Another way to think of it is as a tool to get all the edges as similar in length as possible. It will eventually smooth out your model into an amorphous blob.
You can use it to gently smooth out regions where you've made changes in the surface too harsh, by tightening select areas by small amounts.
You can get your model into a more UV- friendly paintable state by tightening a lot, thus avoiding areas where there's overhang or creases.
Alternatively, you can tighten in the opposite direction (un-tighten) by small amounts where your surface is too smooth. It will make differences in edge length more extreme. If you find a model is coming out too gooey when smoothed, un-tighten it a bit before smoothing, it might help.
Tighten may work slightly differently from Nendo®. Wings calculates all directions once, before the drag is started. Nendo® might recalculate all directions after every mouse move. (It would probably make a difference if adjacent vertices are selected, which they usually are.)
VERTEX MENU | BEVEL
Bevels corners at selected vertices, thus creating new faces. It has no effect on isolated vertices where two edges fail to intersect with any other (a single edge cut in two). Such vertices should be eliminated, by the way, via the Collapse tool.
VERTEX MENU | COLLAPSE (Bksp) Removes the vertex, adjusting the faces and edges associated with it accordingly and leaves you in Face Selection Mode.
VERTEX MENU | DISSOLVE
Removes the vertex. Unlike Collapse, Dissolve leaves you in Vertex Selection Mode so that you can continue to select and eliminate vertices without having to switch back from Face Mode.
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� Section 5.2 The Context Sensitive Menus WINGS3D USER MANUAL VERTEX MENU | DEFORM
Wings3D has several deformation tools available, as listed below.
Crumple – moves selected vertices randomly. Good for adding "noise".
Inflate – moves selected vertices along their normal out from the center of mass of the selection. If you have a hollow object and select vertices on the inside as well as the outside of the object, Inflate will cause the vertices on the inside and outside to move outward just as if you were inflating a balloon. In other words, the outside vertices move on their positive normals while the inside vertices move on their negative normals. This can be a very powerful modeling tool. Note however that Inflate can cause faces to collide with each other, and can therefore ruin a model rather quickly. Be judicious in its use, especially in areas of dense geometry that may be oriented towards other parts of the model.
Taper (X, Y, Z) – will evenly spread the vertices apart radially along the selected axis. Note that the reference point for the Taper operation is at the middle of the model.
Twist (X, Y, Z) – This twists the selected vertices around an axis parallel to the chosen major axis. The axis will be pass through the center of bounding box for the selected vertices. Note that the 'anchor / stationary' end of the model always faces the negative side of any axis chosen. To twist round the other way, the model has to be rotated 180 degrees first.
Torque (X, Y, Z) – This twists the selected vertices around the chosen major axis (X, Y, or Z). Note that as with standard Twist, the 'anchor / stationary' end of the model always faces the negative side of any axis chosen. To twist round the other way, the model has to be rotated 180 degrees first.
Some Examples:
In the image below, Twist|Y and Torque|Y will do exactly the same thing. Both will twist the cylinder around the Y axis, because the cylinder is exactly centered in the middle of the workspace.
Figure 47: Twist and Torque. A cylinder placed in the center of the workspace (a) exhibits exactly the same result (b) when subjected to either Twist|Y or Torque|Y.
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� WINGS3D USER MANUAL Section 5.2 6The Context Sensitive Menus In the image below, Twist|Y twists the off-around the workspace Y axis, yielding center cylinder around a vertical axis passing different results. through the center of the cylinder. Torque|Y on the other hand will twist the cylinder
Figure 48: Twist vs. Torque. A cylinder is moved off center in Z by 1 unit (a). Then a Twist|Y by 180 is applied. The result is exactly as in Figure 47. An Undo converts it back to a standard cylinder (a), and then Torque|Y by 180 is applied. The results are completely different.
You can achieve dramatically different results asymmetrical (a). In (b) we have applied a between Twist and Torque on asymmetrical Twist | Y by 180 degrees. You can see that objects. In the example below we have a it caused the cylinder itself to become bent. cylinder that is centered in the workspace. In (c) we have applied a Torque | Y by 180 One set faces has had an Extrude Region | degrees and get an interesting screw like Normal applied to make the object object with a straight shaft.
Figure 49: Other factors. If your object is asymmetrical, Torque can give you better results.
The above examples were kindly provided by Björn Gustavsson.
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� Section 5.2 The Context Sensitive Menus WINGS3D USER MANUAL Quick Tip: Experiment with Deformers
Deliberately moving models off center and experimenting with Twist and Torque can give 'interesting' results. In my opinion, ensuring you have sufficient 'sections' along the length of your model is essential for producing satisfactory results. For non-organic / technical models, careful choice (and matching) of the number of linear and radial sectors can result in geometry that offers considerable scope for polygon reduction after twisting is complete. Experimentation and keeping away from prime numbers can pay dividends in this area if low polygon counts are needed. Rotating the model off a main axis and twisting at right angles to the models main axis can often prove an entertaining (and fruitful) exercise. If you
want to 'dirty up' an object that's been twisted (for maybe a more 'organic' look) try selecting sections of the twisted item (rather than the whole) and re-applying a bit more twist. Taper operates from the center of the selection set along the axis chosen. One end will Taper up while the other end Tapers down. Like twist, experiment with selecting parts rather than the whole of the model - it is quite easy to get useful shapes this way. Successive applications of taper should also be tried - e.g. tapering a multi-sectioned cylinder 100% in Y and then repeating the op will produce a concave spike, like a Chinese hat whereas, if you perform the second taper by -100% you get a beer barrel shape.
Tip provided by Puzzled Paul
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� WINGS3D USER MANUAL Section 5.2 6The Context Sensitive Menus Both Models by Erin McClellan.