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Wings 3D/User Manual/The Edge Operations Menu

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The Edge Operations Menu

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Commands

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This section lists commands as they appear with advanced menus enabled. With advanced menus disabled, some options and commands are not available.

  • .Move.
    • Normal
    • Free
    • X
    • Y
    • Z
    • Last Axis
    • Default Axis
    • Absolute
  • .Rotate.
    • .Normal.
    • .Free.
    • .X.
    • .Y.
    • .Z.
    • .Last Axis.
    • .Default Axis.
  • .Scale Uniform.
  • .Scale Axis.
    • .X.
    • .Y.
    • .Z.
    • .Last Axis.
    • .Default Axis.
  • .Scale Radial.
    • .Radial X.
    • .Radial Y.
    • .Radial Z.
    • .Radial Last Axis.
    • .Radial Default Axis.
  • .Extrude.
    • Normal
    • Free
    • X
    • Y
    • Z
    • Last Axis
    • Default Axis
  • .Cut.
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5
    • 10
    • Enter Number
  • Connect
  • Bevel
  • Dissolve
  • Collapse
  • Hardness
    • Soft
    • Hard
  • Loop Cut
  • Vertex Color
  • .Intersect.

Reference

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To use the commands in the menu, select one or more edges and press RMB.

Axes

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Many commands require that you select an axis from the menu. This axis defines the direction or orientation for the command.

In addition to the three world axes—X, Y and Z—many commands work with edge normals, custom axes, default axes and most recently used axes.

If you specify edge normals as the axis (by selecting Normal), each group of connected edges uses the average normal of its vertices.

Custom axes can be specified only when advanced menus are enabled. For details about this feature, see Advanced Menus.

A default axis is an axis that you define in advance to use later. To define the default axis, use the Tools | Set Default Axis in the main menu. This is done in two stages: first you specify the actual axis, and then the point of origin for that axis. A default axis is stored until you redefine it. To recall the default axis for an edge operation, such as Move, select Default Axis from the edge operations menu.

The Last Axis menu item recalls the axis you used during your most recent operation.

Move, Rotate and Scale

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Moving, rotating or scaling are straightforward operations.

To move the selection, specify the axis you want to move it along. For details about axes, see above.

To rotate the selection, specify the pivot axis. If you use custom axes, the pivot point (center of rotation) is set automatically as well.

Scale Uniform scales the selection in all directions at once. If you right-click the command, the secondary selection specifies the pivot point (scaling center).

Scale Axis scales the selection along the axis you specify.

Scale Radial scales sideways around the axis you specify, but not along it. Each vertex in the selection of stays on the plane perpendicular to the specified axis.

The effect of edge rotation and scaling depends on whether you let Wings set the center automatically or specify it with a secondary selection.

By default, each isolated edge and group of connected edges gets its own transformation center. This means, for example, that default scaling of multiple isolated edges is different from scaling their vertices. To see the difference, try scaling an edge ring, then undoing, converting the selection to vertices and scaling the vertices.

Slide

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Slides the selected edges, shifting the border between the edges that they connect.

Extrude

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Creates an edge loop that runs around the selected edges, and moves the selection along the axis you specify, creating a "ridge". Use the + and - numpad keys to slide the new edges.

Cut

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Splits the selected edges by creating vertices along their length. Click Cut to select a predefined number of divisions (2, 3, 4, 5 or 10) or specify a custom number. If advanced menus are enabled, you can right-click Cut to perform a precise split.

Connect

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Creates edges that connect the centers of the selected edges.

Bevel

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Creates a face in place of the selected edges, putting the vertices of the new face on the edges that were connected to the original edge. Drag the mouse to slide the face along those edges.

Dissolve

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Removes the edge or edges and joins the faces that shared them.

Collapse

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Collapses each isolated edge or group of connected edges to a single vertex; switches to vertex selection mode. This command can be used very effectively in conjunction with Select | By | Short Edges to remove microscopic edges that are interfering with your modeling.

Hardness

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Makes the selected edge or edges Hard or Soft. Edge hardness affects two things: the way edges appear in the geometry window and the way the model is smoothed.

Soft Edges are smooth by default. Soft edges do not look sharp in preview mode (when you toggle off work mode with Tab). In other words, Gouraud shading is used for soft edges—the normals of connected faces are interpolated smoothly across the edge. Soft edges are fully affected by the Smooth operation.

Hard Hard edges look sharp in preview mode, as if the faces they connect belong to different models.

The Smooth operation in Wings produces different results on smooth and hard edges. Smoothing actually happens in two stages: first, the model is subdivided; then the resulting vertices are displaced to make a smooth shape. Edge hardness does not affect the subdivision, but has an effect on the displacement.

Smoothing considers the surrounding geometry when vertices are displaced after subdivision. Hard edges mark boundaries for displacement. After a face is subdivided, displacement calculations ignore geometry beyond a hard edge.

You can use edge hardness as a modeling aid to retain sharp features when you perform smoothing. The effect is most pronounced when you harden edges that form a closed shape.

Note that it doesn't normally make sense to leave hard edges in your finished model. Not all file formats and renderers support hard edges, and they don't look natural when rendered. It's generally better to replace them with small bevels.

Loop Cut

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Use this command when the selected edges form one or more closed shapes on the surface of the model. Loop Cut splits the model into as many objects as these shapes divide the model into.

One obvious use case is to loop cut an asymmetrical model in half and mirror it.

Vertex Color

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Opens a dialog box where you can specify a color for the vertices belonging to the selected edges. The specified color is strongest at the target vertices and fades out towards surrounding vertices.

Note: A vertex cannot have a color and a UV coordinate at the same time.

Intersect

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Extends the selected edge or edges to the points where they intersect the specified plane. Requires advanced menus.

Intersect has three modes depending on which mouse button you click the command with:

  • LMB—Intersect standard planes
  • RMB—Pick plane
  • MMB—Pick plane and ref point on plane
Intersect standard planes
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Extend the edges till they intersect with the plane perpendicular to one of the following axes:

  • X
  • Y
  • Z
  • Last Axis
  • DefaultAxis

For details on axes, see above.

Clicking an axis label with LMB specifies that the plane passes through the world origin. Clicking with RMB lets you specify the point that this plane passes through.

Pick plane
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Extend the edges till they intersect with a custom plane. Specify the plane by selecting the components that define it.

Pick plane and ref point on plane
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Extend the edges till they intersect with a custom plane passing through a custom point. First specify the direction of the plane's normal, and then the point that the plane passes through. This mode is a step forward from the RMB mode. It is useful when some components conveniently specify the direction of the normal, but the plane must pass elsewhere.

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