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158 Chapter 5: Creating Geometry
To choos e a n obj ect t y pe:
• Clickthebuttonforthetypeofobjectyouwant
to create.
The button hig h lights, showing that it is
active. Four rollouts appear: Name and
Color, Creation Method, Keybo ard Entr y, and
Parameters.
To choose a crea tion method (optiona l):
You can accept the default method and skip this
step.
• Choose a method in the Creation Method
rollout.
To pr eset the creati on pa r ameter s (optiona l):
Yo u c a n a d j u s t all creation parameters after you
create an object. Skip this step if you prefer.
• In the Parameters rollout, you can set
parameters before you create an object.
However, the values of parameters you set by
dragging the mouse (for example, the Radius
and Height of a cylinder) have no effect until
after you create the object.
To create the object:
1.
Put the cursor at a point in any viewport where
you want to place the object, and hold the
mousebuttondown(donotreleasethebutton).
2. Dragthemousetodefinethefirstparameter
of the object; for example, the circular base of
acylinder.
3. Releasethemousebutton.Thefirstparameter
is set with this release.
4. Mov e up or down without touching the mouse
button. Thissetsthenextparameter;for
example, the height of a cylinder.
If you want to cancel: Until you complete the
next step, you can cancel the creation process
with a right-click.
5. Click when the second parameter has the value
you want, and so on.
The number of times you press or release the
mouse button depends on how many spatial
dimensions are required to define the object.
(For some kinds of objects, such as Line and
Bones, the number is open-ended.)
When the object is complete, it is in a selected state
and ready for adjustments.
To name the object (optional):
• Highlight the default object name in the Name
and Color rollout, and then enter a name. This
optionisavailableonlywhenasingleobjectis
selected.
Namingobjectsisagoodpracticefor
organizing your scenes. To name a set of
selected objects, see Named Selection Sets (page
1–67).
To change the object’ s di splay color (optional):
• The color swat ch next to the object name field
displays the selected object’s color and lets you
select a new one. The color is the one used to
display the objec t in viewports. Click the color
swatch to display the Object Color dialog (p age
1–159).
You can a lso change object colors w ith Layers
(page 3–656).
To adjust the object’ s parameters:
• You can change the creation pa rameters
immediately after you complete an object, while
it’s still selected. Or, you can select the object
later and adjust its creation parameters on the
Modify panel.
While making adjustments, you can use viewport
navigation controls lik e Zoom, Pan, and Arc
Rotate to change your view of the selected object.
You can also adjust the time slider.