8

616 Chapter 8: Modifiers
Inter face
The Edit Normals modifier is useful m ainly at the
sub-object level, Normal, so this level is active by
defaultassoonasyouapplythemodifiertoan
object. At this poin t, you can see the normals as
lines emanating from the mesh vertices, select and
transform them, copy and p aste them, and change
their sett ings on the Modify panel.
You can transform normals only by moving and
rotating them, not by scaling them. H owever,
moving a norma l effectively rotates it, so in most
cases you’ll have better control by using the Rotate
tool.
The following command reference includes
keyboard shortcuts, which are available when the
Key b oard Shortcut Override Toggle (p age 3–912)
(onthetoolbar)isturnedon. Inaddition,you
can use CTRL+0 (zero) to access the object level
of the modifier.
Select B y group—Lets you specif y how to select
normals in the viewport:
• Normal (CTRL+1): Click a normal to select it.
• Ve r t e x (C T R L + 2 ): Click a mesh vertex to selec t
all of its normals.
• Edg e (CTRL+3): Click a mesh edge to select
the norma ls associated with the neighboring
polygons.
• Face (CTRL +4): Click a mesh face (or polygon)
to select t he associated normals.
Of course, with all of these methods, you can also
use region selection to select multiple normals at
once.
Igno re Backfacing—When on, selection of
sub-objects affects only those facing you. When
off (the default), you can select any sub-object(s)
under the mouse cursor, regardless of their
visibility or facing. If there are more than one
sub-object under the cursor, repeated clicking
cyclesthroughthem. Likewise,withIgnore
Backfacing off, region selection includes all
sub-objects, regardless of the direction they face.
Show Handles—Enables the display of handles,
which are small squares at the end of each normal.
Turn this on to make it easier to select normals.
Display Length—Specifies the leng th of each
normal. Thisisfordisplaypurposesonly;the
length has no effect on the normal’s functionality.
Unif y (U )—Combines all selected normals at
each vertex into a single
specifie d normal .By
default, with Unify/Break To Average off, Unify
sets the d irection for each unified normal to be
perpendicular to the averaged sur face at that point.
With Unify/Break To Average on, Unify sets the
directionbetheaverageofthecombinednormals
at each location.