You can model an object by manipulating its points, edges, and polygons. SOFTIMAGE|XSI provides a variety of tools to accomplish this. Each tool supports different features and workflows, so different ones may be appropriate for different tasks or personal preferences.
• You can select components and use the Translate, Rotate, and Scale tools to transform them. See Transforming Components and Clusters.
• The Tweak Component tool allows you to translate, rotate, or scale the point, polygon, or edge under the mouse pointer, as well as select and move one or more components at once. It also has options to slide components along the surface, as well as to weld points on polygon meshes. See Using the Tweak Component Tool.
• The Move Point tool allows you to translate the point under the mouse pointer. It also has an option to weld points on polygon meshes. See Using the Move Point Tool.
• The View Plane Proportional Transform tool allows you to translate, rotate, or scale points using a brush with a proportional falloff. See Transforming Points by Brushstrokes.
• The View Plane Pivot Transform tool lets you translate, rotate, or scale selected points, polygons, and edges using the mouse pointer as the pivot. See Transforming Components about the Mouse Pointer.
• You can nudge selected points, polygons, and edges. See Nudging Components.
• Proportional modeling allows you to affect nearby components with a falloff based on distance, and works in conjunction with the manipulation tools. See Using Proportional Modeling.
• Symmetry mode allows you to affect both sides of an object simultaneously, and works in conjunction with the manipulation tools. See Manipulating Components Symmetrically.
• You can use a weight map to paint a push deformation on an object. See Push Paint.
• You can attach a volume deformer to an object, and transform it to affect the points contained with a proportional falloff. See Manipulating Points by Volume.
• You can constrain a cluster of components to a null or other object, and then animate the null. See Cluster Centers.
About Component Manipulation covers some basic information that is common to all or many of the manipulation tools.
For manipulating components on curves, the Tweak Curve tool is described in Manipulating Curve Components in the Surface and Curve Modeling guide.
SOFTIMAGE|XSI v.6.01