9

Editable Patch (Patch) 983
Sur face Proper tie s rollout
These controls let you work with patch normals,
material IDs, smo othing groups and vertex colors.
Normals group
Flip—Reverses the direction of the surface normals
of the selected p atches.
Unif y—Flips the normals of an object so t hat they
all point in the same direction, usually outward.
This is usef ul for sett ing an object’s patches
to appropriate orientations, thus eliminating
apparent holes in the object surface.
Flip Normal M ode—Flips the normal of any patch
you click. To exit, click this button again or
rig ht-click anywhere in the program interface.
Tip: ThebestwaytouseFlipNormalMode
is to set up your viewport to display with
Smooth+Highlig ht and Edged Faces on. If you use
Flip Normal Mode with default setti ngs, you’ll be
able to flip a patch away from you, but you won’t be
able to flip it back. For best results, turn off Ignore
Backfacing in the Selection rollout. This lets you
click any patch and flip the direction of its normal,
regardless of its current direction.
Material group
These controls let you use multi/sub-object
materials (page 2–1594) with patches.
Set ID—Lets you assign a par ticular material ID
(page 3–969) number to selected patches for
use with multi/sub-object m aterials and other
applications. Use the spinner or enter the number
fromthekeyboard.Thetotalnumberofavailable
IDs is 65,535.
Select ID—Selects patches or elements
corresponding to the Material ID specified in
theadjacentIDfield.Typeorusethespinnerto
specify an ID, then click the Select ID button.
[S elect B y N ame]—This drop-down list shows
the names of sub-materials if an object has a
M ulti/Sub-Object material assigned to it. Click the
dro p arrow and choose a sub-material from the
list. The patches or elements that are assigned that
material are selected. If an object does not have
aMulti/Sub-Objectmaterialassigned,thename
list is unavailable. Likewise, if multiple objects
areselectedthathaveanEditPatch,EditSpline,
or Edit Mesh modifier applied, the name list is
inactive.
Note: Sub-material names are those specified in the
Name column on the material’s Multi/Sub-Object
Basic Parameters rollout; these are not created by