INSIDE 3DS MAX® 7 [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

Edit Poly Modifier

The new Edit Poly modifier is similar to the Edit Mesh modifier, but the Edit Poly modifier is much more powerful. For example, within Edit Mesh, there are no Edge selection functions for Ring and Loop, nor can you animate functions or the position of the vertices. The Edit Poly modifier allows us to work with most of the modeling features that are available within Editable Poly.

There's an important workflow advantage to having a modifier for editing the model: All your changes are contained in a single modifier. This allows you to remove the modifier as if it were a layer and revert to what you had before you applied the modifier settings. In effect, it's like having one super-undo operation that brings you back to a clean model.

Of course, there's also an important exception to this advantage. Removing the Edit Poly modifier causes any objects that might be attached to your modifier to be deleted from the sceneand they will be lost from the scene for good (unless you reload it). So I recommend the following: If an object is to be attached to an Edit Poly modifier, copy it first, just in case the modifier needs to be removed. Or detach its element from the original object before removing the Edit Poly modifier.

Note

Here's a useful application of the Edit Poly modifier: If you use it to create a sub-object selection, any modifiers applied above it will be restricted to the selected area. This is the same workflow as with the Edit Mesh modifier.

One of the nice features of the Edit Poly modifier is its ability to animate functions with the use of a Model or Animate toggle. Only one sub-object selection can be animated per Edit Poly modifier. Animation should be done last within Edit Poly and before you go back to Model mode, or the keyframes will be lost.

You can only Commit keyframes when the toggle is on Animate. All the animation keys will be lost, but changes will be permanent. Clicking the Commit button produces the same result as if you collapsed the stack and created a new Edit Poly modifier (Figure 2.1).