8

Editable Patch (Element) 979
Co py—
When on, the detached patch elements are
copied to a new patch object, leaving the orig inals
intact.
Attach—Lets you attach an object to t he currently
selected patch object. Click the object you want to
attach to the currently selected patch object.
For f ur ther details, see
Attach .
Reorient—When on, reorients the attached element
so that each patch’s creation local coordinate
system is aligned with the creation local coordinate
system of the selec ted patch.
Delete—Deletes the selected element.
Hide—Hides selected elements.
Unhide A ll—Restores any hidden sub-objects to
visibility.
Extrude & Bevel group
These controls let you extrude and bevel all
patches in an element or elements. Extruding
patches moves them along a normal and creates
new p atches that form the sides of the extrusion,
connecting the selection to the object. B eveling
adds a second step that lets you scale the extruded
patches. You can extr ude and bevel patches by
dragging or by direct entry. You can also hold
down the SHIFT key during extrusion, which
creates a separate element.
Note: Sides created by beveling or extrusion are
assigned to smoothing g roup 1.
Extrude—Click this button, and t hen drag any
element to extrude it interactively. Hold down the
SHIFT key during this operation to create a new
element.
When the mouse cursor is over a selected element,
it changes to an Extrude cursor.
Bevel—Click this button, and then drag any
element to extrude it interactively, then click and
release the mouse button, and drag again to bevel
the extrusion. Hold down the SHIFT key during
this operation to create a new element.
When the mouse cursor is over a selected element,
it changes to a Bevel cursor.
Original patch (top) and i nward and outward extrusions
Note: In some cases, particularly with closed objects (objects
with no holes or open edges), the second bevel step mig ht not
produce visible results.
Ex trusion—This spi nner lets you extrude selected
elements outward or inward, depending on
whether the value is positive or negative.
Outlining—This spinner lets you scale selected
elements bigger or smaller, depending on whether
the value is positive or negative. It is normally
used after an extrusion for beveling the extruded
patches.
Nor mal—If Nor mal is set to Local (the default),
extrusion takes place along the individual normals
of patches in selected elements. With Normal set
to Group, extrusion takes place along the averaged
normal of all patches in selected elements.