Modify the Primitive Shapes

Primitive solid forms include basic shapes such as boxes, wedges, pyramids, spheres, cylinders, cones, and tori. Each type of primitive solid has unique properties. By changing settings in the Properties palette, you can modify basic size, height, and shape characteristics. For example, to change a four-sided pyramid that ends in a point to an eight-sided pyramid that ends in a planar surface (pyramid frustum), update the Top Radius and Sides properties.

Set Whether to Retain Compound Object History

With 3D solids that have been recombined to form compound objects, you can choose to retain the history subobject, which represents components that have been removed. The Properties palette controls the availability and display of these histories. See Work with Complex 3D Solids and Surfaces.

Modify Loft Settings

For lofted solids or surfaces, you can modify such properties as the number of isolines and how the profile passes through the cross sections. (These properties are set in the Loft Settings dialog box during the loft operation.) The Surface Normals property settings change the overall shape of the lofted object.

• Ruled. Specifies that the solid or surface is ruled between the cross sections and has sharp edges at the cross sections.

  

• Smooth. Specifies that a smooth solid or surface is interpolated between the cross sections and has sharp edges at the start and end cross sections. The adjacent cross sections control the tangent direction.

  

• First Normal. Specifies that the surface normal is perpendicular to the first cross section.

  

• Last Normal. Specifies that the surface normal is perpendicular to the last cross section.

  

• Ends Normal. Specifies that the surface normal is perpendicular to both the first and last cross sections.

  

• All Normal. Specifies that the surface normal is perpendicular to all cross sections.

  

• Use Draft Angles. Controls the draft angle of the first and last cross sections of the lofted solid or surface. The following variables control the draft angle settings: LOFTANG1, LOFTANG2, LOFTMAG1, and LOFTMAG2.

  

Modify 3D Object and Subobject Properties

You can modify the properties of the 3D solid, surface, and mesh object in the Properties palette. In addition, you can modify specific properties of individual subobjects, such as faces, edges, and vertices. Different properties are available for different types of subobjects.

In some cases, the application of properties can differ. depending on the object type. For example, you can modify the properties of mesh faces, including their color. However, the color appearance of a mesh face might differ from the equivalent color on a 3D solid face. This difference occurs because changing the color of a face modifies the diffuse color of the face, but not the ambient color (which is derived from the mesh material property). To obtain a closer match between the color of 3D solid and mesh faces, you can add lights and turn off the default lighting (which disables ambient lighting). You can also try assigning a material that has the same ambient and diffuse color. For more information see Create Materials.

Modify Mesh Forms by Changing Properties

Mesh objects have additional properties that control the level of smoothness and creases. Crease properties of face, edge, and vertex subobjects are also reflected in the Properties palette.

• Level of Smoothness. Smooths or sharpens the edges of a mesh object.

  

• Crease Type. Specifies the presence of a crease (or sharpened edge) and the effect of smoothing. Smoothing does not affect a crease with a value of Always. A crease set to By Level retains its sharpness until the mesh object is smoothed to the specified crease level.

  

• Crease Level. When a crease is set to By Level, indicates the smoothing level at which the crease starts to lose its sharpness.