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Edit Poly (Border) 665
• Selectanevennumberofbordersontheobject,
and then click Bridge. This immediately creates
the bridge between each pair of selected borders
using the current Bridge settings, and then
deactivates the Bridge button.
• If no qualifying selection exists (that is, two
or more selected b orders), clicking Bridge
activatesthebuttonandplacesyouinBridge
mode. First click a border edge and then move
the mouse; a rubber-band line connects the
mouse cursor to the clicked edge. Click a
second edge on a different border to bridge the
two. This creates the bridge immediately using
the current Br idge settings; the Bridge button
remains active for connecting more pairs of
borders. To exit Bridge mode, right-click the
active viewport or click the Bridge button.
Note: Bridge always creates a straight-line
connection between b order pairs. To make
thebridgeconnectionfollowacontour,apply
modelingtoolsasappropriateafter creating the
bridge. For example, bridge two borders, and then
use B end (page 1–560).
Br idge S ettings—Opens the Bridge dialog (page
1–1067), which lets you connect pairs of borders
via interactive manipulation.
Connect—Creates new edges between pairs of
selected b order edges. The edges are connected
from their midpoints.
You can connect only edges on the same polygon.
Connect will not let the new edges cross. Thus, for
example, if you select all four edges of a four-sided
polygon and then click Connect, only neighboring
edges are connected, resulting in a diamond
pattern.
Connect S ettings —Lets you prev iew the
Connectandspecifythenumberofedgesegments
created by the operation. To increase the mesh
resolution around the new edge, increase the
Connect E dge Seg ments setting.
Create Sha pe—Afterselectingoneormore
borders, click this button to create a spline shape or
shapes from the selected edges, using the cur rent
settings from the Create Shape Sett ings dialog (see
following).
The new shape’s piv ot is placed at the same
location as that of the E dit Poly object.
Create S ha pe Set tings —Lets you preview the
Create Shape func tion, name the shape, and set
it to Smooth or Linear.
Edit Tri[angulation]—Lets you mo dify how selected
polygons are subdivided into triang les by drawing
internal edges.
To manually edit triangulation, turn on this
button. The hidden edges appear. Click a polygon
vertex. A rubber-band line appears, attached to
the cursor. Click a non-adjacent vertex to create a
new triangulation for the polygon.
Tip: For easier editing of triangulation, use the
Turn command instead (see following).
Tu rn—Lets you mo dify how polygons are
subdivided into triangles by clicking diagonals.
When you activate Turn, the diagonals (page
3–928) become visible as dashed lines in wireframe
and edged-faces views. In Turn mode, click a
diagonal to change its position. To exit Turn mode,
right-click in the viewport or click the Turn button
again.
Each diagonal has only two available positions
at any g iven time, so clicking a diagonal twice in
succession simply retur ns it to its original position.
But changing the pos ition of a nearby diagonal
can make a different alternate position available
to a diagonal.