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332 Chapter 5: Creating Geometry
Parameters rollout
Operands group
Operands list—Lists all operands in the compound
object. The first operand is the mesh object, and
any number of shape-based operands can follow.
Delete S hape—Remove selected shapes from the
compound object.
Extract Operand—Extractsacopyoraninstanceof
theselectedoperand.Chooseanoperandinthe
list window to enable this button.
Instance/Copy—Lets you specify how t he operand
is extracted. It can be extracted either as an
instance (page 3–1051)
or a copy.
Operation group
Theseoptionsdeterminehowtheshapeisapplied
to the mesh.
Cooki e Cutter Cuts the shape out of the mesh
object’s surface.
Merge—Merges the shape with the surface of the
mesh object.
Inver t—Reverses the effect of Cookie Cutter or
Merge.WiththeCookieCutteroption,theeffect
is obvious. When Invert is off, the shape is a hole
in the mesh object. When Invert is on, the shape
is solid and the mesh is missing. When you’re
using Merge, Invert reverses the sub-object mesh
selection. As an example, if you merge a circle
shapeandapplyaFaceExtrude,thecircularareais
extruded when Invert is off, and a ll but the circular
area is ext ruded when Invert is on.
Output Sub-M esh Selection group
Provides options that let you specify what selection
level is passed up the Stack. The ShapeMerge
object stores all selection levels; that is, it stores the
vertices, faces, and edges of the merged shape with
the object. (If you apply a Mesh Selec t modifier
and go to the various sub-object levels, you’ll see
that the merged s hape is selected.) Thus, if you
followtheShapeMergewithamodifierthatactson
aspecificlevel,suchasFaceExtrude,thatmodifier
will work properly.
If you apply a modifier that can work on any
selection level, such as Volume Select or XForm,
the options will specify which selection level is
passed to that modifier. Although you can use a
Mesh Select modifier (page 1–710)
to specify a
selection level, the Mesh Select modifier considers
the selection only at frame 0. If you’ve animated
the shape operand, that animation will be passed
up the Stack for all fr ames only by using the
Output Sub-Mesh Selection options.
None—Outputs the full object.
FaceOutputsthefaceswithinthemerged
shape.
Edge—Outputs the edge of the merged shape.