In polygonal modeling, you generally start with a polygon mesh object and then modify it, for example, by adding edges, welding points, subdividing polygons, and so on.
There are several different ways to get the polygon mesh object to start with:
• You can get primitive polygon mesh objects or create text as described in Starting From Scratch: Primitives and Text in the Modeling and Deformation Basics guide.
• You can build polygon meshes from curves by performing operations such as extruding, lofting, and revolving, as described in Generating Objects from Curves in the Modeling and Deformation Basics guide.
• You can draw a new polygon mesh object from scratch using the Add/Edit Polygon tool. Simply make sure that no other polygon mesh object is selected before choosing Modify > Poly. Mesh > Add/Edit Polygon Tool from the Model toolbar or pressing n, and then click in the 3D views to place vertices. For complete details about using the Add/Edit Polygon tool, see Adding and Editing Polygons (Drawing).
• You can build polygon meshes by combining other ones using Blend, Merge, or Boolean operations — see Blending and Merging Polygon Meshes and Performing Boolean Operations on Polygon Meshes.
• You can create a planar or solid polygon mesh by tessellating curves as described in Converting Curves to Polygon Meshes.
• You can convert a NURBS surface mesh to a polygon mesh as described in Converting NURBS Surfaces to Polygon Meshes.
• You can extract or detach polygons from an existing polygon mesh as described in Extracting Polygons.
• You can create a subdivided version of a polygon mesh as described in Subdivision Surfaces.
• You can import models and scenes with polygon mesh objects from SOFTIMAGE|3D or other programs as described in Importing and Exporting in the Data Management guide.
Whenever you generate a polygon mesh object from other polygon meshes, you can transfer materials, envelopes, and other cluster properties as described in Attribute Transfer in the Modeling and Deformation Basics guide.
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