| General | Tessellation | Extrude | Bevel
Controls the tessellation, extrusion, bevelling, and other options when converting curves to polygon meshes.
To apply: Select a curve, then choose from the Model toolbar. This property page is also with other pages when you choose or from the Model toolbar.
To redisplay: Select the polygon mesh, click the Selection button on the Select panel, then click the Curve to Mesh Converter icon.
Inputs
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Hides all the inputs for the generated object to simplify the display of your scene in the 3D views, or unhides the inputs
when you need to modify them.
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Freezes the generator and deletes the inputs. This simplifies the scene once you are satisfied that you won't need to modify
the inputs again.
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Recalculates the mesh when the input curves are transformed. Leaving this option off prevents potentially long computations
when the curves are moved.
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Inputs' construction mode
Sets the connection point from which the operator reads to the top of the specified construction region of the input objects.
For example, if this is set to Modeling, the operator reads the geometry and other attributes from the top of the inputs'
Modeling region and ignores he effect of operators above it. If it is set to Secondary Shape (Result), it reads from the top
of the inputs' entire stack, taking all operators into account.
Stats
Displays the number of and in the resulting mesh. These values are displayed at the top of every tab. This is for information only; they cannot be changed
directly, but will change as a result of other settings.
General
Step
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The number of edges to generate between each pair of knots on the outer contour curves.
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The number of edges to generate between each pair of knots on the inner hole curves. This option is not available when is on.
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For both parameters, higher values produce smoother results that deform well, but increase the geometry.
Options
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Uses curves inside an outer contour curve to define holes. If this option is off, inner curves are filled with polygons.
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Removes points from straight edges to simplify the geometry, as well as eliminates spiky noise in the input curves. Turn this
option on to reduce the geometry. Turn it off if you need the number and distribution of vertices in the polygon mesh to reflect
the actual vertices in the input curves, or if you need the extra geometry, for example, to allow the polygon mesh to deform
smoothly.
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Specifies which vertices are considered colinear. Any vertex with two edges that meet at an angle greater than this value
in degrees is removed when is on.
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Specifies which vertices are considered spikes. Any vertex with two edges that meet at an angle less than this value in degrees
is removed when is on. This applies to both convexities and concavities.
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Allows holes to be created in areas bounded by the intersection of two curves. This option may be necessary to provide the
correct tessellation on some imported EPS curves. It treats all input curves as one object, so as a result will not work. In addition when this is on, you cannot set the value for , nor can you use on the Bevel tab. If this option is off and the curves do intersect, you might not get the desired results.
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Offsets the input curves. Positive values enlarge the curves and negative values shrink them. Values are in Softimage units.
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Create Polygon Clusters
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Creates separate polygon clusters for each "island" of polygons (if creating polygon meshes from curve objects) or for each
character (if creating polygon meshes from text). This makes it easier, for example, to break up the mesh by selecting clusters
and extracting new polygon mesh objects using on the Model toolbar.
The clusters are automatically named Face1, Face2, and so on. If you change the resulting mesh structure by adding, removing, or moving curves or by changing the text after creating partition
clusters, the clusters are not updated automatically. You must click this button again to re-create the clusters.
Note that this button does not work if is on.
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Creates five polygon clusters corresponding to the Front, FrontBevel, Extrusion, BackBevel, and Back. These clusters are automatically
updated even if you change the mesh structure by changing settings, for example, setting a bevel after clicking this button.
The clusters are created even if they are empty. For example, if you do not apply a bevel then FrontBevel and BackBevel contain
no polygons.
The clusters span multiple characters or islands. If you explode the mesh after creating these clusters, each mesh object
in the exploded hierarchy will have these five clusters.
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Explode Mesh
Creates a hierarchy of polygon mesh objects. There is one object for each "island" of polygons (or each character, if using
text), and all objects are parented under a common null.
Add Curve
Adds a new input curve:
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Click Curve. A picking session starts.
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Pick a curve. The curve is added to the Curve to Mesh operator and the resulting polygon mesh is re-tessellated according
to the current settings.
Tessellation
Controls how the curves' enclosed areas are filled with polygons.
Method
The algorithm used to tile the curves' enclosed areas.
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Generates a mesh composed entirely of triangular polygons. This method gives consistent and predictable results, and in particular
it will not give different results if the curves are rotated. This method is more precisely known as constrained Delaunay
tessellation.
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Uses the least number of polygons possible. For a single contour curve with no holes, this results in exactly one polygon.
When holes are present, there are multiple polygons and their shapes are not predictable.
In general, Minimum Polygon Count creates irregularly-shaped n-sided polygons. For this reason, it is best used when you need
to keep the geometry light on simple objects that will not be deformed.
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Creates concentric contour lines along the medial axes (averages between the input boundary curves), morphing from one boundary
shape to the next. This method creates mainly quads with some triangles, so it is well-suited for subdivision surfaces.
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Delaunay Options
Various options for refining the tessellation when is set to .
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Sets the minimum angle for triangles in the tessellation. If a triangle contains an angle that is smaller than this value,
it gets replaced by better-shaped ones. Eliminating small-angled triangles gives a more uniform OpenGL shading. However, increasing
this value will result in more polygons and heavier geometry.
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Sets the maximum area for triangles in the tessellation, in units of 0.01 of a Softimage unit squared. If a triangle is larger
than this value, it gets replaced by smaller ones. This allows the polygon mesh to be deformed more smoothly. However, decreasing
this value will result in more polygons and heavier geometry.
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Limits the total number of new vertices that can be added by the and options. Use this option as a precaution against accidentally setting the other options to values that would create huge
amounts of geometry with long processing times. It is not recommended that you rely on this option to control the final number
of vertices because it can force the tessellation to stop before the process is completed, thereby giving an unpredictable
combination of polygon shapes and sizes. Look at the in the property editor to see whether your object is at or near the limit.
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Controls the tessellation along boundaries:
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: Allows the boundary edges along the outer contour and inner holes to be split further during tessellation. This is particularly
useful for text and other shapes that may contain straight edges that need to be deformed smoothly.
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: Allows boundary edges along inner holes to be split, but not boundary edges along the outer contour. Note that this may
affect the uniformity of the mesh if you are using Minimum Angle or Maximum Area.
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: Does not allow any boundary to be split. Again, this may affect the uniformity of the mesh if you are using Minimum Angle
or Maximum Area.
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Medial Axis options
Various options for refining the tessellation when is set to .
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The number of contour lines drawn per boundary. Higher values result in more polygons and heavier geometry.
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If off, is the exact number of contour lines drawn per boundary (rounded to the nearest integer). If this option is on, it is the
average number of contour lines drawn and the distance between lines is kept fairly constant.
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Enhances the accuracy of the medial axes. This option adds vertices to allow the contour lines to follow the medial axes more
accurately. You should turn this option off if you are not creating holes (that is, if is off on the General tab); otherwise, there may be shading artifacts along internal curves.
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Controls the shape of polygons:
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: Long edges are not split. This result in fewer polygons and lighter geometry, but the resulting long, thin polygons may
not deform well.
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: This results in squarer polygons that will deform better.
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Controls the tessellation at extremities. When this value is 0, the medial axis intersects boundaries at each point of concavity,
which can often create many small triangles especially in sharp extremities. When this value is positive, the medial axis
does not extend completely to the boundary and the remaining area is tessellated with a fan shape. Negative values create
sharper embossing effects.
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Creates an embossed effect. Positive values raise the central medial axes in the direction of the normals, and negative values
push the medial axes back. A value of 0 corresponds to no emboss.
This option is not appropriate for creating embossed or incised text. Instead, use the options on the Bevel tab.
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The profile used for embossing: or .
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Extrude
Controls how the polygon mesh is extruded.
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The distance to extrude. A value of 0 gives no extrusion.
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The number of extra vertices along the length of the extrusion.
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The direction in which to perform the extrusion: is in the direction of the normals, and is in the opposite direction.
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The parts of the polygon mesh to generate: the faces, the faces, and/or the (sides).
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Bevel
Controls how the polygon mesh is beveled.
Bevel
Controls the size of the beveling.
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Controls how much the bevel protrudes in front and in back of the base mesh. The bevel profile is automatically scaled so
that the width of its bounding box equals this value. This value is in addition to any extrusion set on the Extrude tab.
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Scale factor that modifies the profile curve in the outward direction only. Positive values push the sides out, while negative
values push the sides in.
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Sides
Specifies which ends to bevel: and/or .
Options
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Scales the bevel profile applied to holes. This is useful to avoid overlapping geometry when holes are small compared to the
bevel size. This option is not available when is on in the General tab.
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Controls the direction of the bevel.
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When this option is on, the front and back are beveled outward. As a result, the silhouette matches the original curves but
polygons may intersect or interpenetrate in narrow areas when the bevel depth is high.
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When this option is off, the sides of the tube are extruded outward. In some cases, this may distort the object's outline
or cause separate islands of polygons (such as characters in text) to collide with each other.
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Activates mitering (sharp edges like at the corners of a picture frame). This option also produces hard edges along the contour
of the bevel.
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The threshold for mitering corners. Adjacent polygons whose dihedral angle is greater (i.e., that are sharper) than this value
are mitered.
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Corner Mitering
Rounds sharp corners instead of mitering them, which sometimes produces nicer results with extreme angles.
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Defines the minimum threshold for mitering convex and concave angles in degrees. Angles that are sharper than these values
are rounded instead of mitered. A value of 0 is equivalent to turning rounding off.
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Control the smoothness of the rounding. Higher values produce smoother arcs with denser geometry. A value of 0 creates a flattened
effect like a sawn-off corner.
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Profile Curve
Controls the shape of the beveling.
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The shape of the bevel profile curve.
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To select a preset profile curve, click the browse ... button.
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To use a custom profile curve, right-click on the connection icon, choose , then pick a curve drawn in the Front viewport. A modeling relation is maintained between the curve and the bevel.
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The number of subdivisions between each pair of knots on the profile curve.
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