You can construct faces between pairs of
border edges using the Bridge feature. The resulting bridged faces
are merged into the original mesh.
Bridge is useful when
you need to connect two sets of edges together with a piece of mesh.
For example, connecting and merging the wrist on a character’s arm
to its hand.
You can select border
edges by two methods:
- Select two regions of border edges using
an edge selection method.
- Select two regions of faces that are
associated with the border edges you want to bridge using a face
selection method.
To bridge between border
edges you must ensure that:
- the selected edges reside in the same
polygonal mesh. Separate meshes can be combined into one using
Mesh > Combine.
- the number of border edges in each selection
is identical. While you can have non-border edges in the selection,
the number of border edges to be bridged must match.
- the normals on the faces associated with
the selected edges are oriented consistently. Otherwise the resulting
bridge mesh may be constructed with an unexpected shape.
To bridge between two or more selected polygon
edges
- Select the border edges you want to bridge
as follows:
- Select two separate regions of border
edges on the combined mesh using any edge selection method.
It’s not critical that
you select only border edges when selecting edges because the Bridge feature
will automatically filter out non-border edges. However, the resulting
number of border edges in both the origin and target regions you
select, must match.
- Select two separate regions of faces
on the combined mesh using any face selection technique from which
the border edges will be used for the bridging mesh.
The Bridge feature
automatically determines the valid border edges from the face selection
and then deletes the faces after the bridging mesh is constructed.
NoteIf the border edges
reside in separate meshes you must first combine the meshes into
one using
Mesh > Combine.
- Select Edit Mesh > Bridge > .
The Bridge
Options window appears.
- In the Bridge Options window
set any of the following options as required:
- Select the Bridge type to
define the shape of the bridging mesh between the selected edges.
- Enter a number for the Divisions in
bridge to specify the number of equally spaced segments you want
between the selected border edges.
- Click the Bridge button
to create the bridging faces and close the option window.
NoteIf faces were originally
selected to determine the origin and target regions, those faces
will be deleted once the bridging mesh is constructed.
- You can edit the attributes for the bridging
mesh by selecting the mesh and editing the polyBridgeEdge
node in the Attribute Editor.
For more information
on the Bridge options and attributes
see
Edit Mesh > Bridge.
UV texture coordinates
and the Bridge feature
UV
texture information is taken into account when the bridging mesh
is created. UV texture coordinates are created based on the selected
edges and the UV texture or color information is interpolated based
on the divisions of the new bridging mesh.
Troubleshooting the Bridge
feature
- The Bridge feature failed
to bridge a mesh between the selected border edges.
-
- the meshes being bridged are combined
into one mesh.
- the number of selected border edges is
the same for both the origin and target regions of the mesh.
- The selected faces were not along an
outside border of the mesh.
- The bridged mesh flips between the two sets
of border edges in a “bow tie” shape.
-
If the selected edges
do not form a closed loop, the normals on the faces associated with
the selected edges may be oriented inconsistently. The Bridge
feature determines the orientation of each connection
using the normals associated with the faces of the selected edges.
You can check the orientation of the normals using
Display > Polygons > Face
Normals. If the normal orientation is inconsistent, try
reversing the normals on the faces on one side of the bridge using
Normals > Reverse,
and then create the bridged mesh again.
- The bridged mesh twists between the two sets
of closed loop border edges in a spiral.
-
When the selected edges
form a closed loop (for example, a ring or cylindrical shape) the Bridge feature may
connect between edges in an unexpected way. You can correct this
using the Bridge offset attribute in
the Attribute Editor. Simply increase
the Bridge offset value by one to
change the start or end location of the bridged loop of edges to
the next vertex in the loop.
- Will the Bridge
feature construction history let me switch the Bridge type after
I’ve created a bridge mesh?
-
If you created a bridge
mesh using the Linear path or Smooth
path + curve options, you can change the Bridge
type to Smooth path. If you created
a bridge mesh using the Linear path or Smooth
path options, you cannot change the Bridge
type to Smooth path + curve.
- How do I edit the explicit curve to modify the
shape of the bridging mesh?
-
It is recommended you select and modify only the
interior CVs on the explicit curve to modify the shape of the bridging
mesh.