==================================================================== The Add Menu Vertex 1-1 THE ADD MENU: Function FastKey Page ================== =================================== ==== Add Shapes A-S 1-2 Add Grid A-G 1-3 Add Duplicate A-D 1-4 Add Basic Shapes A-B 1-5 Add Vertex Precise A-V 1-7 Add Edge A-E 1-8 Add Face A-F 1-8 To add anything to Vertex, you must either read an object from disk, or create a new object within the program. Object reading is covered in its own section, later in this manual. The Add menu is where you can create new objects. Available are functins to create lathes, polygons, grids, simple shapes such as rings and spheres, and individual vertices. Also included, are functions to add specific edges and faces to previously created objects. ==================================================================== Add Menu: Shapes Vertex 1-2 Function: Add Shapes FastKey: A-S Description: This is the new polygon creator. Should be a vast improvement over the older tool. This function changes the main view into the shape definer. The buttons on the left of the display will change: POINTS Add points, connected by edges. Auto close on points. LINES Click and drag. See below for resolution. ARCS Click the CENTER point, drag out a line, press and hold to define the arc (up to 180 degrees in either direction.) EDIT Lets you edit your shape while in the Shape Creator. SET RES Adjust the resolution for lines and arcs, above. GRID Toggle the grid on or off. SNAP Toggle the snap-to-grid. Grid must be on to work. GRID RES Set the grid resolution on X and Y OVERLAY Draw all previous objects, from the front view, behind your new shape and the grid. EXIT Exit this tool. The first function, POINTS, should operate just like the older Add-Polygon tool, but the shape will auto close when you re-click on a point. To start a new shape, simple re-select this option. Lines and Arcs can have a settable resolution. The arcs may take some getting used to - Just remember to first click at the CENTER of the arc, then draw out the radius, then click and hold to sweep out the arc itself. You can change the resolution by adjust Set-Res. Edit will let you re-shape your objects immediately. There may be screen residue after moving a few points - to get rid of it, just click on EDIT again. Grid will toggle the state of the grid. Snap has been seperated from grid per user request. You may choose exit at any time. ==================================================================== Add Menu: Grid Vertex Page 1-3 Function: Add Grid Fast Key: A-G Description: Grids are similar to graph paper. You can define the width and height of the grid, and the resolution. When this function is chosen a requestor appears, asking for the following information: GRIDX: This is the size, in units, of the grid width. GRIDY: This is the size, in units, of the grid height. RESX: This is the number of divisions to use for the width. RESY: This is the number of divisions to use for the height. NAME: The name of the new object. Grids are nice for applying curves to and using the multiply function with. Be careful, however, as grids can take up large amounts of storage space quickly. Add grid now places the grid on the X,Y axis. Previous versions placed the grid on the X,Z axis. ==================================================================== Add Menu: Duplicate Vertex Page 1-4 Function: Add Duplicate FastKey: A-D Description: You can duplicate any object or set of selected vertices. You are presented with a requestor asking for: DISTX: This is the amount to move the new object on the X axis DISTY: This is the amount to move the new object on the Y axis DISTZ: This is the amount to move the new object on the Z axis ROTX: Amount of rotation around the X axis ROTY: Amount of rotation around the Y axis ROTZ: Amount of rotation around the Z axis SCAL X: Amount of scaling on the X axis SCAL Y: Amount of scaling on the Y axis SCAL Z: Amount of scaling on the Z axis NAME: This is the name of the new object. It defaults to the name of the first selected vertex plus a "-1" at the end. If the object is already named with a "-1", then it will be named "-2", etc... This requester is getting a little crowded. You can now move, scale and rotate the duplicate parts, and set the number of steps to take in the duplication. All selected vertices, and any associated edges and faces will be duplicated. ==================================================================== Add Menu: Basic Shapes Vertex Page 1-5 Function: Add Basic Shapes FastKey: A-B Cube A-B-C Pointed Star A-B-P Ring A-B-R Sphere A-B-S Tube A-B-T Cone A-B-N Disk A-B-D Arc A-B-A File A-B-F Cube When this function is selected a requestor appears asking for the length, with an height of the cube to be created, and its name. Pointed Star You are prompted with a reqiestor asking for the number of Points, the total diameter, and the name of the object. Ring This function brings up a requestor asking for a number of values: Radius1 The actual diameter of ring sections Radius2 The total diameter of the finished ring Points The number of points to create ring sections with Res The total number of divisions to make in the entire ring Name The name of the object. Sphere The add basic sphere function askes for the diameter, points and res of the sphere. Radius The total width of the finished sphere Points How many points to make the side of the sphere Res The total divisions to create the sphere ==================================================================== Add Menu: Basic Shapes Vertex Page 1-6 Tube You enter the the radius, height and resolution. Cone Similar to tube, but creates a solid base object. Disk Enter radius and resolution. Arc Lets you easily add arcs with any radius,resolution and degrees. File I've included this so we can easily define a set of objects and have them available without hunting through directories. To use this feature you must take care of some pre-requisites: 1. The ENV: device must be available. If you do not have an ENV: device, I'd suggest adding this line to your startup-sequence: assign ENV: ram: 2. There should be an entry on the ENV: device called PRIMS. You can create this file thus: setenv PRIMS dh0:3d/objects/primitives/ Or use any directory you wish. Again, I'd suggest you put this line in your startup-sequence. If you've set everything up properly, you can access this directory anytime you choose this menu option. After Double clicking the file you wish to load, a requester will appear asking for 3 scaling values, X,Y and Z. This lets you easily scale the objects at load time. I've had at least one request for this type of feature. If you think it's worthless, then don't bother with it. However, if you do something like set-design and you need a set of basic shapes to be used over and over, you just save them here and have them available quickly and easily. The directory is cached, meaning when you go to save your actual file, the original directory will still be in the file requester. ==================================================================== Add Menu: Vertex Precise Vertex Page 1-7 Function: Add Vertex Precise FastKey: A-V Description: You can add vertices at precise positions with this function. You are presented with a requestor asking for: POSX: The X coordinate of the vertex POSY: The Y coordinate of the vertex POSZ: The Z coordinate of the vertex The name of this vertex will be the name of the last vertex. If you wish to enter large numbers of vertices in this manner, you may want to use Arexx instead. ==================================================================== Add Menu: Edge Vertex Page 1-8 Function: Add Edge FastKey: A-E Description: This function lets you add edges by clicking on 2 vertices. You can continue adding edges until you press the right mouse button. If you create an edge over an existing edge, it will be deleted by Vertex. ==================================================================== Add Menu: Add Face Function: Add Face FastKey: A-F Description: This function lets you add faces by consecutively selecting 3 vertices. You can continue adding faces until you press the right mouse button or the space bar. If you create an edge over an existing edge, it will be deleted by Vertex. This function is the only good way to fill concave polygons. If you create a polygon you may try filling it with Planar-Fill under modify. If this does not yield correct results, you may either add the faces by hand, or use another software which has the ability to fill concave polygons.