8

Shapes 259
3. Ifyouplantoassignamappedmaterialtothe
spline,turnonGenerateMappingCoords.
When Enable in Renderer is on, the shape is
rendered using a circle as a cross section. Mapping
coordinates are generated with U mapped once
around the perimeter, and V mapped once along
the lengt h.
The software provides more control over
renderable shapes; viewports, including wireframe
viewports, can display the geometry of renderable
shapes. The rendering parameters for shapes
appear in their own rollout.
The Steps settings affect the number of cross
sections in the renderable shape.
Please observe the following:
• When you apply a modifier that converts a
shape into a mesh (such as
Extrude (page
1–671)
or Lathe (page 1–699) ), the object
automatically b ecomes renderable, regardless
of the state of the Enable in Renderer check box.
You need to turn on the Enable in Renderer
check box only when you want to render an
unmodified spline shape in the scene.
• As with a ll objects, a shape’s layer must be on
for the shape to render . See
Layer Properties
(page 3–706)
.
•The
Object Properties dialog (page 1–111) also
has a Renderable check box, which is turned on
by default. Both this check box and the General
rollout > Renderable check b ox must be turned
on in order to render a shape.
Shapes as Planar Objects
A straightforward usage for shapes is 2D cutouts or
planar objects. Examples include ground planes,
text for signs, and cutout billboards. You create a
planar object by applying an
Edit Mesh modifier
(page 1–613)
to a closed shape, or by conv erting it
to an
editable mesh object (page 1–984) .
2D objects
Yo u c a n a l s o a p p l y a n E d i t M e s h m o d i f i e r t o a 3 D
shape (for example, a shape whose vertices hav e
been moved vertically away from the construction
plane by different amounts) to create a curved
surface. The resulting 3D surface often requires
manual editing of faces and edges to smooth
surface ridges.
Extruded and Lathed Shapes
You can apply modifiers to a shape to create a 3D
object. TwoofthesemodifiersareExtrudeand
Lathe.
Extrude (page 1–671) creates a 3D object
by adding height to a shape.
Lathe (page 1–699)
creates a 3D object by rotating a shape ab out an
axis.