Identifying the Basic Building Blocks

On the Create panel, the categories for Geometry and Shapes supply the "building blocks" to combine and modify into more sophisticated objects. These parametric objects are ready to use. By adjusting values and turning some buttons on or off, you can create dozens of "new" building blocks from the ones listed here.

You can choose these types from the sub-categories list on the Create panel.

Geometry Types

Standard Primitives: Relatively simple 3D objects such as Box, Sphere, and Cylinder, as well as Torus, Plane, Cone, GeoSphere, Tube, Teapot, and Pyramid.
Extended Primitives: More complex 3D objects such as Capsule, OilTank, Spindle, Hedra, Torus Knot, and Prism.
Compound Objects: Compound objects include Scatter, Connect, ShapeMerge, Booleans, Morph, BlobMesh, Terrain, and Loft. Booleans combine the geometry of two objects using union, intersection, and difference operations. Morphs are animated objects that change one geometric shape into other shapes over time. ShapeMerge lets you embed a spline shape into a geometric mesh. Loft uses shapes as cross sections along a path to produce a 3D object.
Particle Systems: Animated objects that simulate spray, snow, blizzard, and similar collections of small objects.
Patch Grids: Simple 2D surfaces ready for modeling or repairing existing meshes.
NURBS Surfaces: Analytically generated surfaces especially suited for modeling surfaces with complicated curves.
AEC Extended: Elements useful for AEC design, including Terrain, Foliage (plants and trees), Railing, for creating custom railings, and Wall, for the production of Wall objects.
Stairs: Four types of stairs: Spiral, L-Type, Straight, and U-Type.
Doors: Parametric door styles include Pivot, BiFold, and Sliding.
Windows: Parametric window styles include Awning, Fixed, Projected, Casement, Pivoted, and Sliding.

NoteDefault materials are automatically applied to Foliage, as well as to the following object types: Railing, Stairs, Doors, and Windows.

Shape Types

Splines: Common 2D shapes such as a Line, Rectangle, Circle, Ellipse, Arc, Donut, NGon, and Star. Text shapes support TrueType fonts. Section creates a spline from the cross-section of an object. Helix is a 3D shape.
NURBS Curves: A Point Curve and CV Curve provide the starting points for complex surfaces. See Introduction to NURBS Modeling.
Extended Splines: More complex 2D shapes including Walled Rectangle, Channel Spline, Angle Spline, Tee Spline, and Wide Flange Spline. Extended splines can be used in architectural and similar applications.