Dept. of Obscure: Edit Verticies

In the process of reviewing some tool-tips I came across a command that really felt like a blog post waiting to be written.  What is this command, where does it live, and why would one need it?

Essentially this command allows you to control triangulation on the surfaces of a blend. The two forms below are made from the same blends but the edgy guy on the right was worked over with the "Edit Verticies" command.

Note:  The workflow in the new massing environment is different.  This command applies only to general family blend forms of non-mass categories.

When working with blends I typically make some "Bones" using model lines.  These can be made parametric and live in nested families that are placed at different heights in the parent family.  Not a requirement but powerful (An extreme example of this "rig" technique using the new modeling tools can be found here on David Lights blog and here on BIM Troublemaker)

Once you have your bones use the "Pick Lines" method when sketching the top and base of the blends.

 

While making the blend, or later editing the blend top or base, you will see the "Edit Verticies" command.  When clicked you'll get the 'Twist" and "Reset" commands as well as toggles to control where the vertice controls appear.

 

Here is what the controls look like in the view.  The controls are either hollow (no vertice) or filled (vertice). They kind of point to an intersection where they will try to connect to.  The best way to learn how they work is just start clicking them until you get the shape you desire.  If you go too far use the "Reset" command.

Below I enabled eight vertices on the base of the blend.

  Continuing on editing eight vertices on the top of the upper blend.  Voila.

 

_erik

Comments

[rpict]

this leads me to another question about the blend, sweep and revolve command. when modeling tiny things of about 1/4" size, geometry based on circles is getting segmented instead of being smooth round.
is this a bug or a feature?

[Erik]

ah yes. The tessellation is not fine enough on very tight curves and this can produce a flattened appearance or shadow. The code tries to keep the number of triangles down for performance but there can be issues on small geometry. I'm fairly certain this is a known issue but will check our database.