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976 Chapter 9: Surface Modeling
Flip Normal Mode—
Flips the normal of any patch
you click. To exit, click this button again or
right-click anywhere in the program interface.
Tip: ThebestwaytouseFlipNormalMode
is to set up your viewport to display w ith
Smooth+Highlight and Edged Faces on. If you use
Flip Normal Mode with default settings, you’ll be
able to flip a patch away from you, but you won ’t be
able to flip it back. For best results, turn off I gnore
Backfacing in the Selection rollout. This lets you
click any patch and flip the direction of its normal,
regardless of its current direction.
Material group
These cont rols let you use
multi/sub-object
mater ia ls (page 2–1403)
with patches.
Set ID—Lets you assign a particular mater ial ID
(page 3–1063)
number to selected patches for
use with multi/sub-object materials and other
applications. Use the spinner or enter the number
fromthekeyboard.Thetotalnumberofavailable
IDs is 65,535.
Select ID—Selects patches or elements
corresponding to the Ma terial ID specified in
theadjacentIDfield. Typeorusethespinnerto
specify an ID, then click the Select ID button.
[Sel ect B y Name]—This drop-down list shows
the names of sub-materials if an object has a
M ulti/Sub-Object material assigned to it. Click the
drop arrow and choose a sub-material from the
list.Thepatchesorelementsthatareassignedthat
material are selected. If an object does not have
a Multi/Sub-Object material assig ned, the name
list is unavailable. Likewise, if multiple objects
areselectedthathaveanEditPatch,EditSpline,
orEditMeshmodifierapplied,thenamelistis
inactive.
Note: Sub-material names are those specified in the
Name colu mn on the material’s Multi/Sub-Object
Basic Parameters rollout; these are not created by
default, and must be spe cified separately from any
material names.
Clear Sel ection—When on, choosing a new ID or
material name deselects any previously selected
patches or elements. When off, selections are
cumulative, so new ID or sub-materia l name
selections add to the existing selection set of
patches or elements. Default=on.
Smoothing Grou ps group
Use these controls to assign selected patches to
different
smoothing groups (page 3–1107) ,andto
select patches by smoothing group.
To assign patches to one or more smoothing
groups, select the p atches, and then click the
number(s) of the smoothing group(s) to assign
them to.
Select by SG (Smoothing Group)—Displays a dialog
that shows the current smoothing g roups. Select
a group by clicking the corresponding numbered
button and clicking OK.
Clea r All—Removesanysmoothinggroup
assignments from selected patches.
Edit Vertex Colors group
Use these controls to assig n t he color, illumination
color (shading), and alpha (transparency) values
of ver tices on t he selected patch(es).
Co lor—Click the color swatch to change the color
of ver tices on t he selected patch(es).
Illumination—Click the color swatch to change
the illumination color of vertices on the selected
patch(es). T h is lets you change the color of
shadows without changing the vertex colors.
Alpha—Lets you assign an alpha (transparency)
value to vertices on the selected patch(es).