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1. 184 XII The Utilities tab 186 l Ca 187 2 ESE pay 189 3 Snap Align 0 0 ccc cece eee nee 191 4 Oo Taper Bender and g 193 5 WW Deformer NFFD 1333 195 10 Hexagon Table of Contents 6 196 I EE 198 8 Multiple des anded aw derokiokewarn sake 199 9 201 10 dih 565 2 nE A E IES 203 1 205 12 C SNOV ng E EEE EEE de ee 207 13 P COUR 34 6265 E E E E 208 14 g 210 16 Q ee 213 17 Extract the openings 214 18 Triangulate non planar 215 19 215 20 J Merge 216 2L Merge duplicated ineertedese 216 22 217 XIV Materials in Hexagon 218 1 ID anaana sana been ane an he dae 219 2 Materials ho teeh on eehakeeeaeo 219 3 Materials 221 3 1 Creating a new material 221 3 2 5 222 4 Shading
2. 270 l Presentation 271 2 Organization of 3D workspace split views 271 3 Snapping and axis constraints 3D guides 272 4 Contrin 273 4 3 5 274 5 3D drawing styles 275 13 Hexagon Table of Contents 6 Real 276 6 1 276 6 2 wb Real time 5 276 6 3 Sa Ambiant Occlusion eee 277 XV The Scene properties palette 279 1 The taD ccrercress cerned taksiden EENEI iE 280 2 The Scene properties 281 XVI The Object properties palette 282 XVIII 286 1 The Interface 40 denen dbaciwdused 287 287 ne ee E ene eee ee 287 e 288 IA INNIS 288 2 Display preferences 289 2 1 Entities display n44 n0ha4aag tn baktawes oni hontai ou 289 pu sered toie 289 2 3 Advanced display parameters 290 2 4
3. 35 2 Operation sequence s ied Gsaon 35 3 Options and ACCESSOMES 2 2465 600haecnde extend 37 4 Parameters 424 4s2 s400e sdeseadonesecesendbaddvesd bes 37 5 1 38 V 3D Manipulator oe 40 3 41 1 1 SS 1 l2 6 iaiia iae 42 1 3 6 l ec wath EE EEEN 43 1 4 MINCE 44 2 3D Manipulator accessories 0 000 45 45 2 2 Working planes and 3D Manipulators 45 2 3 M2 Hide Show 45 DA WONG ont stor rirnan TERA E iR ae heses ts 46 2 3 DISSOIVE ca oh one nnn ee 46 2 6 Copy from the 47 2 7 Displaying the Universal Manipulator Components 47 3 Advanced options for the Manipulators 48 3 1 RS Set the auaa 48 3 2 Sa 49 VI Selections 2 000000 50 RE ance EE 51 1 1 Types of 5 ee 51 Hexagon Table of Contents Le p Select auto 0 0 cece eee 52 1 3 Soft selection lt a acace 52 1 4 Selection memorization 0 0 0 0 53 2 Selection methods 6 ec 54 2
4. E ndi Watch the video 213 Hexagon The Utilities tab 17 amp EXTRACT THE OPENINGS Description The Extract the openings tool functions like the Close tool in the Vertex modeling tab letting you select the openings on an object to close them except this tool creates the closures as a new object unattached to the original From left to right the object with its openings the extracted openings then moved Use Select an object with openings to be extracted Select the Extract the openings tool in the Utilities Tab Click on the openings to extract which are symbolized by a white contour around the edges The selected openings turn red Validate the tool to finish the operation Options Select all selects all openings on selected object 214 Hexagon The Utilities tab 18 Z TRIANGULATE NON PLANAR FACETS Description The Triangulate non planer facets tool lets you transform into triangles the polygons of a selected object the points of which are not in the same plane Use Select an object where the polygons are non planar Select the Triangulate non planar facets tool in the Utilities Tab the tool triangu lates any non planar facets 19 TRIANGULATE N GONS Description The Triangulate n gons tool lets you divide any polygon made up of more than four points into triangles This tool is useful when exporting to cer
5. cease 102 5 2 BY Tesselate by segment 5 cuisine ahaa dnd arse oes 104 5 3 Add a single vertex on an edge of a polygon 105 5 4 Tesselate DY SCG 106 R Y Automatic Tesselation 107 EAEEREN 108 A Si Smooth more 1658 2 c6acessaccusadaduades 110 E E E E 112 g Weld objects lt 2 cddencraveauasaacateaorteacionesae 113 10 ty 4 114 11 a9 Average WEl 116 12 Target weld nunnana nannaa raaa 117 13 Sweep surface amp g Extrude surface 118 14 120 15 NS 4 3 e ta nn E E er ee eee ee 121 16 Rp PIGS co cece tea deasudeease 122 17 S E E EENET ETET 124 Hexagon Table of Contents XI Limes 126 i GJ Rectangles jnacan ay wenawaped sends ARER EE 127 Zi I as eee Se ke eee ae bee 128 EE ouside EE E E 129 3 1 Circle from the center 129 3 2 g Circle from the basis 130 3 3 amp Circle from diameter 0 aoaaa 131 3 4 a Circle from three points onnan unnan aana 132 By OAC EET 133 4 1 225 Center Start Radius Angle 134 4 2 135 Start Center Radius Angle 134 4 3 28 134 4
6. Watch the video Remarks There are several limitations to the tessellation of a polygon The Tessellation process must start and end on an edge It cannot start in the middle of a polygon Avoid creating crossing edges over a polygon even if it s technically possible it may generate degenerated surfaces 103 Hexagon Vertex Modeling 5 2 TESSELATE BY SEGMENT Description The Tesselation by segment mode by default lets you cut a face by adding edges between clicked points on the object From left to right the Tesselation in action Use Select the object to be edited Select the Tesselate tool in the Vertex Modeling Tab Click on an edge or intersection of edges to define the start of the cut Click on another edge of your choice and the new edge or edges will be created automatically It is not necessary to click on all the edges through the cut the tool will automatically cut through any edges between the two clicked places Double click on an edge to validate the tool and start again elsewhere if necessary Validate to finish the operation eeeee amp Watch the video 104 Hexagon Vertex Modeling 5 3 amp ADD A SINGLE VERTEX ON AN EDGE OF A POLYGON Description The Tesselation allows you to add a vertex on an edge of an existing po lygon to transform for example a triangle into a quadrangle Use Select the object to edit
7. esdedostoredinbataa danas 222 4 1 Creating a Shading Domain on a Selection of Faces 222 4 2 6 224 il Hexagon Table of Contents XV Creating and Managing UVs 225 226 11 Using the acoan scene o aeuau senda 226 1 2 The GIZMO PGP c2ceccndaceianesiwenasuatudnean 228 1 3 The Gizmo UV Stretch 228 UV tard sana EEA E 229 229 2 2 Selection and 5 231 2 3 6 5 231 2 4 Options and scse siawediewneeeeus 232 Dy MOM exc eek anes penne stages eeeua news 233 RERNE ENA 233 Unfolding 234 3 3 Re editing the Unfolding 235 XVI Surface displacement Modeling 237 238 1 1 Structure Mesh Density and Smoothing 238 1 2 From the Rough Shape to the Detailed One 239 1 3 True or Fake Modeling 239 1 4 Preparing the 3D Model Before Displacement Modeling 240 1 5 Multi resolution 241 2 Communic
8. Frem left ot right the edges selection the Fillet operation and the final result Use Select one or several edges on a surface or volume Select the Edge tool or Extract fillet tool in the Vertex modeling tab Click and drag on the manipulator that appears on the selection and move it to define the spacing of the newly created edges or the size of the fillet In the case of the Extract fillet tool and not the Edge tool it is also possible to click directly on the edge Hexagon Vertex Modeling and not just on the manipulator to affect it The operation has only one step so there is no need to validate it Watch the video Keyboard shortcut CTRL F 96 Hexagon Vertex Modeling 2 Fast EXTRUDE Description The Fast Extrude tool lets you extrude faces or edges depending on your selection The results differ according to the selection If the selection is faces a specific manipulator appears made of three elements permitting different operations e 4 Manipulator for making a vertical extrusion an extension e Manipulator for making a horizontal extrusion an inset e ce Manipulator for making a free extrusion The Manipulator on a face selection If the selection is made of edges shared by two polygons e ey Manipulator for making a vertical extrusion The Manipulator on an edge selection If the selection is made of edges that are on the border o
9. 3 COONS SURFACE Description The Coons surface tool lets you create a surface between a closed curve or several open curves connected together Example of use This tool is very useful for the creation of complex shells for example when two profiles and two sections are necessary If we use the example of the car hood of the Ruled surface tool we can see that it could be difficult to create such a complex form quickly Using the Coons surface tool you can define a curve for the lateral part one for the center and one for the front and finally another for the back Hexagon will then create the surface On the left the support curves for the car hood and on the right the finished surface Use Create the curves to be used by the Coons surface tool Select the Coons surface tool in the Surface modeling tab Click on the curves The selecting order is not important Once all the connected curves are selected the surface is automatically created 160 Hexagon Surface modeling tab Watch the video Remarks If no surface is created make sure the curves are correctly connected at their end points 161 Hexagon Surface modeling tab 4 D GORDON SURFACES Description The Gordon surfaces tool lets you create a surface defined by a series of latitudinal cross sections and longitudinal profiles These must be created before the use of this tool Example of use This tool is used for the cr
10. 36 Hexagon How tools function in Hexagon 3 OPTIONS AND ACCESSORIES Tool properties The Extrude and Sweep tool s options A tool can do complex operations The operations can have variations which are accessible by the tool s options These are symbolized by icons in the Tool proper ties palette The options can vary depending on the step of the operation sequence you are at 4 PARAMETERS The Sphere parameters A tool produces geometric actions of construction and editing These actions are most often made in an interactive fashion in the 3D workspace with the help of your mouse cursor Hexagon also offers complete control by entering exact numbers for all tool actions This permits you for example to create a box of precise dimensions or set an exact thickness This precise control is made possible by the input of parameters of tool actions in progress When you use a tool the parameter values follow the position of your mouse cursor in the 3D workspace Click in the parameters input zone The field is now open for editing and you can input numbers using the keyboard You can validate your entry either by using the Enter key or by clicking the Validate button 37 Hexagon How tools function in Hexagon You can also use the wheel of your mouse once the field is open for editing and the values will increase or decrease one at a time following the movement of the wheel INDICATION OF TH
11. G Remove B from A Intersection of the surface of A from B G Intersection of the surface of B from A W Surface of A removed by B Qj Surface of B removed by A Contour of the intersection creates a 3D line All surface parts of the cut All surface parts of B sliced by A Q All surface parts of A sliced by B 00 60 Watch the video Remarks Boolean operations are not used for finalizing an object The surface structure is often very dense and triangulated and you should avoid operations after the Boolean 72 Hexagon Surface modeling tab such as bevel and smoothing Avoid modeling an organic object using the Boolean tool for example attaching the head of a dog to his body Choose instead other techniques such as box modeling which allows for more control over the number of polygons In some cases multiple operations etc the calculations can be long An operative should not intersect with itself like objects in a group that cross with each other Choose to work with composite curves when possible instead of Boolean opera tions between lines In the case of a 2D line cutting into a 3D surface punch Verify before using the tool that the 2D curves are well aligned with the object to cut In some cases multiple operations etc the calculations can be long The depth of the cut is done with the Stretch tool and no
12. Take the Tesselation tool in the Vertex Modeling tab Click on the edge on which you want to add a vertex and then validate to end the operation Remark Using this tool will not immediately change the visual aspect of the object To visualize the added vertex turn to Vertex Selection Mode to edit it afterwards if necessary Hexagon Vertex Modeling 5 4 TESSELATE BY SLICE Description The Tesselation by slice mode will slice the object perpendicular to the edge at the place clicked on that edge If the topology permits the slice will go around the object From left to right the original object and the starting edge the Slice and the Slice once selected Use Select the object to be edited Select the Tesselate tool in the Vertex modeling tab then the Tesselation by slice option in the Tool options palette Click on an edge or intersection of edges to define the start of the cut The tool automatically creates the slice Create as many slices as needed then validate the tool 0900900 Watch the video Remark It is not always obvious what the results will be because it depends entirely on the topology the slice encounters especially across intersections of a face with more than four sides 106 Hexagon Vertex Modeling 5 5 Q Q amp Automatic TESSELATION Description The three Automatic Tesselation tools enable you to sub
13. These tool will function on a group but not on a point selection within a group Keyboard shortcut Space bar lets you change the deformation axis or jump between the three options for these tools on the number keypad Increases or decreases the deformation applied to the selection 194 Hexagon The Utilities tab 5 DEFORMER NFFD Description The Deformer tool also known as NFFD or Free Form Deformation Cage lets you modify globally the shape of an object by modifying a three dimen sional matrix of vertices which form a cage around the object On the left the origianl object on the right the deformed object Use Select the object to deform If needed select in Vertex Selection Mode the part of the object to deform Select the Deformer tool located in the Utilities tool tab a deformation cage is displayed around the object Using the manipulators and in Vertex or Edge Selection Modes only deforms the cage to get a global or local deformation of your object according to the selection you will have done previously If needed modify the definition of the deformation cage for greater or less preci sion Validate to end the deformation Option Adjust the box Lets you change the definition of the cage Remark This tool works on groups but does not work on selections inside a group Hexagon The Utilities tab 6 1 BEND Descriptio
14. 3 2 OPERATIONS ON MATERIALS Once the material has been created several operations can be performed acces sible through a pull down menu by clicking on the small arrow located to the right of the material name e Apply Material applies the material to the selected object or to the multi se lected objects e Select associated objects selects all the objects which own this material e Rename Material lets you change the name of the material e Duplicate Material allows you to create a copy of the material with the same parameters as the current material e Remove Material definitively removes the material from the materials list as well as on all objects on which this material was applied 4 SHADING DOMAINS Hexagon 2 lets you place several materials on different parts of the same object To do this you will create Shading domains These are zones polygon faces on which you can place a material different than the base material of the object An object with tow domains 4 1 CREATING A SHADING DOMAIN ON A SELECTION OF FACES e On your current object make a selection of the faces you want to apply a spe cific texture to 222 Hexagon Materials in Hexagon e In the Shading domain palette choose an existing domain in the scrolling menu to save your polygon selection to or click on the button New to create a new domain e If you create a new domain a new material is created as well and is applied to that d
15. Loop RING BETW FR Export Bump Tool Export Bump and Displacement maps Perspective view Reset pivot point o 3 lels 1 Ts Te 7 G 5 F Symmetry Smoothing o 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 O a e oe gt ee 0 575 6 815 334 UNN 0 _ 18 012 13 519 1 Ctrl 4 Ctrl Shift A 50 000 E l E Scene vx Scene tree Properties A Dynamic Geometry A2 S Form4s8 dino_71 OBER Hexagon and its interface The workspace of Hexagon is divided into eight zones e The 3D workspace in which you can build and visualize your 3D models e The Manipulators palette gives you choices over how you want to position your models in the 3D workspace moving rotating scaling etc e The Selection palette contains tools for selecting all or parts of your 3D scene and models e The Modeling palette contains all the tools for building and editing your mo dels organized for a logical workflow from 2D to 3D e The Properties panel contains information about the scene The Object proper ties palette has information about your scene and objects with precise measure 7 Hexagon General Principles and Concepts of Hexagon 18 ments and input of positions and dimensions The Tool properties palette gives you options specific for each tool and creation of objects The Scene properties palette also shows you the structure of your scene and gives you acc
16. Select the Weld objects tool Now select the other objects to be joined The selections are made in inverse mode clicking on a selected object deselects it and clicking an unselected object selects it Validate the tool to finish the operation Options Select all takes all the objects in the scene and welds them together d Keep the Dynamic Geometry welds the objects together while keeping the ability to edit further their DG tree Remarks Once several objects are welded the only operation that can take off the weld is Undo unless you use the Keep the Dynamic Geometry option This function works also between curves and between surfaces but you cannot weld a curve to a surface 113 Hexagon Vertex Modeling 10 ty WELD POINTS Description The Weld points tool lets you weld selected points Left the surfaces with unwelded points Right the merged points Use Select the Weld points tool in the Vertex Modeling Tab Select the points one at a time and see the resulting welding in real time or use a lasso selection to go quicker Validate to finish with the tool Watch the video Remarks The selection after welding remains active until the tool is validated Click again 114 Hexagon Vertex Modeling on a point to remove it from the weld operation For better productivity choose to select points with the lasso a selection of other elements other than the active se
17. where you can also define the space between the slices Validate the tool to finish the operation 203 Hexagon The Utilities tab S290 G60 amp Watch the video Remarks This tool does not work on groups Keyboard shortcut numbers keypad increases or decreases the number of slices 204 Hexagon The Utilities tab 11 Hive Description The Hide tool lets you make an object in the scene disappear temporarily The object is not deleted but is hidden and is still present in the Scene Tree of the Properties panel You can unhide the object as needed Two methods of use First method Select the object to hide or make a multiple selection Select the Hide tool in the Utilities Tab or on the Hide icon next to the element in the Scene Tree The object is automatically hidden Second method No object is selected in the scene Select the Hide tool in the Tools sub palette Select the objects to be hidden They now take on the color of a selection Validate to hide the selected objects Options Select all selects all the objects in the scene and hides them OX Watch the video Remarks Hidden objects in a scene are not exported A hidden object in a saved file is still there when the file 15 reopened Visible objects are displayed in the Scene Tree preceded by the icon This sym bol is an active icon and allows you to mask the
18. which will create the primitive located where you will have released the mouse button The Primitive dimensions will be automatically defined according to the 3D View size 82 Hexagon 3D Primitives 2 Q SPHERE The different kinds of Spheres Use Select the Sphere tool in the 3D Primitives Tab Click in the 3D workspace to create the sphere or by entering its coordinates in the Object properties palette If necessary in the Tool properties palette choose create from Center and not by Basis the default Move the mouse to define the size of the sphere and validate the tool or enter the dimensions in the Tool properties palette In the Tool properties palette define the number of points that make up a half diameter of the sphere as well as the vertical horizontal pucker and bloat an in out distortion around the hemisphere or vertical axis Option Pole sphere default Q Geodesic Sphere Q Geodesic Sphere based on an Icosahedron Geodesic Sphere based on an Octahedron Remark It is also possible to drag and drop the tool icon into the 3D scene which will create the primitive located where you will have released the mouse button The Primitive dimensions will be automatically defined according to the 3D View size Keyboard shortcut Increase or reduce the number of points making up the half diameter of the Sphere 83 Hexagon 3D Primitives 3 Dy Facer Description The Facet
19. you can also remove the last dynamic operation applied to the object by clicking on the amp icon in the DG Tree at the highest level of the tree Attention this is not the same as the Undo command This action removes all the steps as well as the last step of construction on the object This remove operation can itself be cancelled by using Undo 75 DNS ONNA WWWIGRAPHINCYCOM Hexagon Modeling with Symmetry VII MODELING WITH SYMMETRY Many 3D models are symmetrical such a car a character and more To make the modeling process easier Hexagon provides two ways to work in symmetry each of them having its own advantages Modeling with symmetry simply means that when you perform any operation on a model such as moving vertices extruding faces and more this operation is automatically applied in real time on the symmetrical part of the model and in a symmetrical way moving a vertex to the right will move the symme trical vertex to the left and so on 77 Hexagon Modeling with Symmetry 1 THE SYMMETRY MODE AND THE SYMMETRY TOOL It is important to note that to model with symmetry Hexagon provides a sym metry mode and a symmetry tool The difference is essential in the mode case the current object is updated while in the tool case a new object is created 1 1 SYMMETRY MODE This mode available in the object Properties Panel allows you to c
20. 1 54 nc hag op he hat oe eae eae EE gas 54 2 3 MB Can Cle ASSO n dan duduadeseuioueneawdn 55 2 4 MPolygon Lasso 0 eee 55 3 Selection bees eieds oe owas 55 4 Selection acceSSOrieS 0 cece ee eee 56 4 1 56 4 2 ue treaated yasuun 5 4 3 Em Select 57 4 4 One over N for Loop Ring and Select Between 58 4 5 BGIOW 1 cc cece ence een ene 59 4 6 Shrink 0 60 4 60 4 8 61 n naaa 62 4 10 62 4 11 Ca Unselect AM ee chede hese wires wees 63 5 Selection Extensions 0 0 ce cece eee 64 5 1 Extend Selection 00 00 cece eee 64 53 66 5 4 Set Selection Auto 66 5 4 Selection by Topology 67 6 P Hide Show Selected 68 7 Isolate 5 69 VII Dynamic Geometry in Hexagon 70
21. 4 483 Start End Center Radius 135 4 5 i 85 135 5 1 0 a anaua aaan a raana 136 6 137 7 fae Interpolated Curve dc 5 tutk nd sm hadbous ae eareddane 139 ef re ee er 140 9 Composte CUIVES 2350nchccteadseecaun hed EDERN 141 10 2DText 00 eee eee 143 n 145 12 e ee E E E 146 13 Curve Extraction nec un od 147 14 A Cuve 145 Hexagon Table of Contents 15 t 149 16 Polyline 5 150 151 Surface 153 l 7 Ruled surface 154 yy Double WEED onset eid 95 oh bns ges gateneneneun 157 3 Coons 160 4 D Gordon surfaces ceviuaroinetetaiequaveius 162 5 Q pEi EEE ARE EEES 164 6 Sweep MNS scape a doen ood anaes asagsesecse 167 I Boolean operations 171 8 174 9 A E eae 176 10 AS SMOD aise autre she a EE A ETA 178 11 chamfer 181 12
22. However for precise manipulations of 3D entities like vertices or edges the number of clickable mo difiers on each axis may become a problem l i Watch the video Remark The size of the manipulator is modifiable in the preferences Keyboard shortcut U 44 Hexagon 3D Manipulator 2 3D MANIPULATOR ACCESSORIES 2 1 SELECTION The 3D manipulators and their accessories work according to the current selec tion For example if you are in Select Point mode and you use the Translation manipu lator to move an edge it will affect only the selected edges and not the other entities 2 2 WORKING PLANES AND 3D MANIPULATORS The working plane can be defined for the manipulators in the conext menu located on the current manipulator e World According to the working planes defined globally in the program e g the three absolute planes XYZ the camera plane or the specific plane e Selection The working axis snaps to the internal orientation of the selected element the geometric normal of the face or edge selected e Bbox The working axis of the manipulator follows the orientation of the ob ject s bounding box If the object is rotated the axis lets you scale or move it using its Own axis 2 3 x HIDE S HOW This function lets you hide the manipulator when necessary like when ma king complex selections around the clickable areas of the manipulator e Cl
23. THE OBJECT PROPERTIES PALETTE The Object properties palette on top of the Properties panel on the right side of your screen regroups the properties of the selected object 282 Hexagon Object properties Properties eles ie The Object Property Panel It has e Object name which can be changed by typing in the corresponding field e Activating the Symmetry Mode and its different axes e Activating smoothing and different smoothing ranges in blue the active ran ges in cyan the already applied smoothing ranges 283 Hexagon Object properties 284 Information about the number of vertices edges faces These are for informa tion only and cannot be edited Object position which can be modified either with an absolute value accor ding to the 3D universe origin or relative value Object size which can be modified either with an absolute value real dimen sions in space and relative resizing with a percentage Rotation lets you enter an angle of rotation for your object either with an ab solute value real dimensions in space and relative resizing with a percentage for example to turn the object 90 around the Z axis Absolute Relative mode how the palette displays and edits the position and size information The operation performed at the current level of Dynamic Geometry if any re presented by the corresponding tool icon click on the
24. Tracing Freehand continuous or in Dot mode 239 Hexagon Brushes and Painting Tool Channel The Inflate Tool operates only in the Displacement Channel Tool Shortcuts Shift key held performs the opposite operation polygons will be pushed instead of being pulled The cursor circle turns from red to green CTRL Command held invoke the Soften Tool while not releasing the Inflate Tool The cursor circle turns from red to blue CTRL Command Shift held allows you to change the influence radius of the tool click and drag from left to right increases the radius and from right to left de creases 1t From bottom to top increases the strength and from top to bottom decreases the strength The cursor circle turns from red to yellow 260 Hexagon Brushes and Painting 2 5 gt PAINT Description The Paint Tool lets you as its name sounds paint color on a 3D model as well as transparency or te reveal textures The Paint Tool will allow you to bring your own touch on the model very quickly and in an intuitive way Use Take the Paint Tool located in the UV Paint tool tab Acursor looking like a red circle appears Choose if needed the working channel Texture or Transparency Click and drag on the object to paint polygons or to reveal a texture in a conti nuous way This tracing will be done according to the different tool s options When painting transparency the
25. Two methods of use First method Select the objects to group making a multiple selection Select the Group tool in the Utilities Tab The group is automatically created Second method Less than two objects are selected Select the Group tool Select the objects to be included in the group They now take on the color of a se lection If needed use the Select all option in the Tool properties palette which Validates the tool Validate the tool to create the group Options Select all lets you select all the objects present in the scene and creates the group 208 Hexagon The Utilities tab 090000 Watch the video Remarks The Group tool 15 temporary unlike the Weld tool the weld tool cannot be reversed except with undo or if you used Dynamic Geometry but you can always ungroup Selecting elements once the group tool is active is done by inverse mode or clic king on a selected object deselects it and clicking an unselected object selects it The bounding box of a group is a wireframe cube containing all the group and not the four corners as on a standard object Keyboard shortcut CTRL Command G 209 Hexagon The Utilities tab 14 6 UNGROUP Description The Ungroup tool lets you break apart the individual elements of a group association Two methods of use First method Select a group to ungroup Select
26. and elevations and later as a guide in 3D space for attaching faces Profile Section Curves used as construction curves 22 Hexagon General Principles and Concepts of Hexagon 3 How DO YOU CREATE A 3D MODEL The creation of a 3D model consists of construction editing and eventually assembling the element with one or more other 3D objects 3 1 CONSTRUCTION You can construct an object using these three principal methods e By using what is called 3D Primitives generic predefined objects such as a cube sphere and cone e By drawing several lines and combining them together such as a circle and profile becoming a vase By modeling each polygon one by one until they make up your desired ob ject In practice you will be combining these 3 methods depending on the com plexity of the model 3 2 EDITING Since an object is rarely made perfect on the first try you will need to verify and edit the object and its exact position in space For this you will be using certain editing functions tools in taking your model from start to finish The simplest edits might be moving a point vertex in space to fine tune its position More advanced editing could be subtracting geometric volumes from each other 3 3 ASSEMBLY Depending on the scene you want to create you might need to bring several objects together For example it might be necessary to put an object representing part of the model in an exact po
27. at a higher level of smoothing One small note modifying the shape at a low level of smoothing very signifi cantly will have an impact on higher level details They will be kept but altered 2 COMMUNICATION WITH OTHER 3D TOOLS Hexagon 2 is a Stand Alone 3D modeler despite its texture creation tools and preview capabilities In order to generate a final photo realistic render you will need to export your textured 3D models to a rendering software such as Carrara or any other rendering and animation product which will allow you to set up lighting and rendering parameters and to compute an image or an animation Below are listed the capabilities and considerations to export 3D detailed mo dels created thanks to the surface displacement modeling tools of Hexagon 2 Please refer as well to the 3D Import Export section of the User Manual 2 1 EXPORTING GEOMETRY The easiest solution and the most compatible one for exporting your high resolution models which inside Hexagon 2 contain dynamic information due to the multi resolution smoothing is to save all the geometric data This will flatten the information similar to how you can flatten collapse layers in an image editing software Except for the native Carrara file format other 3D exchange formats do export the geo metry this way The major issue with this solution is that 11 your model count 15 as an example 1 million polygons inside Hexagon thanks to the dynamic s
28. being at the start of the line and the bigger or smaller size being at the end of the line Center point lets you define a reference point on the object to copy This point is the connection point of each copy on the support and the center of rotation when a 201 Hexagon The Utilities tab rotation value is input Watch the video 202 Hexagon The Utilities tab 10 gt CUT INTO SLICES Description The Cut into Slices tool lets you cut an object into parallel slices perpen dicular to a line indicating the first and last slice which generates a user defined amount of slices or cross sections describing the outer contour of the object qm ee oe oo amn ay tar A n Co ea is a z a 3 9 E F 2 E z a pee P Left the original object Right the object cut into slices Use Select an object to cut into slices Select the Cut into Slices tool in the Utilities Tab Click to define the start using the Shift key to snap to a point on the object if needed Amanipulator appears as a red line Move the mouse cursor and the red line shows the connection between the first point and current position Click to define the last point You can also enter this infor mation in the Tool properties palette Define the number of slices by using the keys on the keypad or in the Tool properties palette
29. by red points maximum influence whose color becomes black minimum influence Move it now you will see that a part of the nose is modified as well smoothly following your manipulation Two parameters and one option in the Tool Properties Panel will allow you to fine tune this Soft Selection Radius defines the size of the influenced area around the selection Softness the influence ratio in the soft selection area The higher the value the less flexible the modified surface Freeze Allows you to keep the same influence area around the selection after the modification 90660 6 Watch the video Note The Soft Selection only works with the 3D Manipulator Move Rotate Scale Universal and within the Tweak tool Keyboard shortcut CTRL SHIF T mouse click amp drag to change the radius 1 4 SELECTION MEMORIZATION Note that the active selection is memorized if you leave one mode for another unless you are in auto select mode For example while working in select point mode you have five points selected and you change to select face mode Hexagon hides the selected points while you work with the faces until you reselect the select point mode Hexagon then hides the faces you selected until you again return to select face mode It is not possible to work in several modes at once such as with faces and points 53 Hexagon Selections 2 SELECTION METHODS The following modes can create selections in dif
30. connects the last clicked point with the starting point of the Interpolated Curve Range modify the number of points of the curve Remark The creation of a Composite Curve is not possible with a closed Interpolated Curve 139 Hexagon Lines 8 gt CURVE Description This tool allows you to draw a smooth curve by creating a control polyline of at least 3 points The curve touches the segments but not the points except for the first and last points of the control polyline A Curve with its control polyline Compare with the Interpolated curve Use Select the Curve tool in the Lines tools palette Click in the 3D workspace to define the first point of the control polyline for the curve or by entering its coordinates in the Object properties palette Repeat this step as many times as necessary If needed close the polyline using the close option in the Tool properties palette or by holding down the Shift key while clicking on the start point Validate the creation of the curve when finished Options Close connects the last clicked point with the starting point of the curve Range modify the number of points of the curve Remark The creation of a Composite Curve is not possible with a closed curve 140 Hexagon Lines 9 amp COMPOSITE CURVES Description The Composite Curve is a collection of open curves connected to one ano ther letting you make complex forms wi
31. finish the operation Options Select all takes all the objects in the scene and welds them together d Keep the Dynamic Geometry welds the objects together while keeping the ability to edit further their DG tree Remarks Once several objects are welded the only operation that can take off the weld is Undo unless you use the Keep the Dynamic Geometry option This function works also between curves and between surfaces but you cannot weld a curve to a surface 154 N E 7 a 19 H p 3d_net www Steph 3 x x 11 a5 a U H 4 N St phane m b v a O lt gt lt T 5 w lt Se tes 5 UV ustom ing Utii PA Si te Surface mod SS RIA A Lines 7 8 rje gt gt JINAN F4 wor mo com Eo A 4 a SEC World kainom 7 maison Hexagon The Utilities tab THE UTILITIES TAB Modeling is often the assembly of several simple objects with the goal of crea ting a complex one such as when a link duplicated several times in rotation becomes a chain Like making complex multiple copies Hexagon offers a great number of tools which will help you with your modeling of varied objects 156 Hexagon The Utilities tab 1 SQ STRETCH Description The Stretch tool lets you edit the structure of objects much like the ba
32. icon to launch the tool and to re edit the corresponding operation E Gaston 2005 ST PHANE LAUX STEPH3D NET Hexagon Preferences PREFERENCES Hexagon contains a preference system that is a set of parameters that can be customized mainly concerning the display and communication with external applica tions The preference editor can be accessed from the Edit gt Preference menu This is a dialog box with tabs Each tab containing a category of preferences Interface 3D display Imports Exports 286 Hexagon Preferences Preference editor 3D display Import Export Color of selected objects Selection color Display bounding box Display center Display edges 0 Point size Q Edge width Selected control shape color Selection color Highlight Highlighting color DG highlight color Selection highlighting color 0 Bounding box color Selection opacity factor 175 m The preferences window 1 THE INTERFACE PREFERENCES 1 1 GENERAL Allows you to set e The language of the interface e The full screen or window mode e The 3D workspace background color 1 2 GRIDS Allows you to set the parameters of the workspace grid and rulers e Anti aliasing of grid images slower but nicer e Number of columns of the grids 207 Hexagon Preferences Number of rows of the grids Grids color Grid main axis color 1 3 3D RULERS Allows
33. necessary to increase the density of the mesh so its smoothing range or level Locally the smoothing operation basically consists of subdividing a polygon into four smaller polygons It 15 performed on the entire surface of the model and thus smoothes the object Once the object is smoothed the displacement tools are going to act on a denser mesh so the result will be more precise Increasing the smoothing range more and more will increase the density of the mesh and thus the precision of the displacement tools Above is an example illustrating a displacement modeling operation with a default brush and a predefined pattern on a simple grid From left to right e With no smoothing rough mesh e With a range 2 smoothing e With a range 6 smoothing very dense mesh The last image to the right shows that a high smoothing range enables far more precise details 238 Hexagon Surface Displacement Modeling 1 2 FROM THE ROUGH SHAPE TO THE DETAILED ONE It is recommended to always start with a global shape which will be refined as it is modeled It 15 important not to start with small details and to come back afterwards on more rough modifications For example we will avoid starting sculpting veins on an arm if we have to sculpt the muscles It 15 of course better to do on the other way The method 15 way similar to the Box modeling technique which consists in starting with a cube which will be refined along the modelin
34. of the selec tion 4 O OQO Watch the video 4 7 BOUNDARY The Boundary tool lets you select the edges around a previously selected face Use Make a selection of touching faces In the Selection menu or in the Contextual Menu then trough the Advanced Selection sub menu choose Boundary Hexagon selects all edges around the previously selected faces and goes into Select edges mode thereby deselecting the previously selected faces 60 Hexagon Selections eS eo SJ ira A t AA Le AN ct A 09 G00 _ amp Watch the video Keyboard shortcut B 4 8 eE CONVERT The Convert tool lets you change one type of selection into another For exam ple a selection of faces can be converted into a selection of edges or points The selec tion mode changes automatically depending on the conversion Use Make a selection Use the appropriate Convert tool located in the Selection menu or in the Contextual Menu sub menu Advanced Selection Hexagon converts automatically the selection SSS Watch the video 61 Hexagon Selections 4 9 D The 1 n tool lets you make a selection of alternate entities on an object such as one point out of two or one point out of three Use Select your object and choose a selection mode In the Selection menu or in the Contextual Menu then trough the Advanced Selection sub menu
35. on the way you have created your material before starting to paint First solution You have created a new material and in the Bump channel you have loaded an existing image from your computer When saving your file the texture will be automatically updated replacing the file loaded into your material The texture remains at the same location as when it was loaded Second solution You have created a new material and in the Bump channel you have loaded a blank image in a predefined format for example 1024x1024 Texture When saving your file the texture will be automatically created in the same folder as the open document The texture will be saved in PNG format using the same name as the open docu ment with a numeric suffix For further saves the created image will be replaced by updates of the texture 267 Hexagon Brushes and Painting 3 3 DISPLACEMENT MAPS The polygon displacement performed by the Displacement Brush Tool as well as associated tools is not handled internally as a texture However all ren dering applications use grey level images displacement maps to re create the dis placement between the control shape and the finest sculpted details Hexagon 2 provides a tool which allows you to convert geometric displace ment information into a displacement map Use Select the object from which you want to export the geometric displacement as a displacement map Take the Displacemen
36. on which elements the snapping to be per formed using the Shift key will operate vertices faces segments middles of segments third of segments and fourth of segments Note it is not possible to cumulate segment snapping and fourth third middle of segment snapping points edges faces The different snapping options The following three icons let you activate respectively the movement on the plane defined by the guides by default or alternatively to constrain to the horizon tal or vertical axis The constraint options of the 3D guides are also available with the Space bar when the guides are activated 272 Hexagon The control panel 4 CENTERING TOOLS You will find two groups of icons which deal with navigation in the 3D works pace The icon View all repositions your camera without changing its orientation so that all the elements in the scene are visible The amp icon View selection repositions your camera so that the selected object is visible The 8 icon View detail shows a red rectangle selector to specify the area of the 3D Workspace to include in the new placement of the camera The icon points the camera at an element by clicking in the 3D Workspace or by inputting coordinates in the Tool properties palette You can also use the tool option Place eye in the same palette to specify interactively or by precise input where you want to place your camera Once you
37. or enter a value in the Tool properties palette Click to validate your first spiral Define the desired number of spirals in the Tool properties palette Define the number of points making up the spiral in the Tool properties palette Validate the tool to create the spiral Watch the video Keyboard shortcut Use the Space bar to change the axis constraints 145 Hexagon Lines 12 2D SYMMETRY Description The 2D Symmetry tool lets you rapidly create a copy of the active line by mirroring the X Y or Z axis and connecting them if needed Left the original curve Right the result of the Symetry Use Select a line or curve to mirror Select the 2D Symmetry tool in the Lines tool palette An axis appears with a vi sual indicator showing a mirrored point on this axis Choose the connection options if needed 3 Do not connect The two lines are independent e 2 End Start connects the end of the line with the start of the mirrored line Start End connects the start of the line with the end of the mirrored line Connect all connects the start and end of each line Click to define the center of the mirror Hold down the Shift key to snap to a point already in the scene Your curve is mirrored and connected following your chosen options Keyboard shortcut Space bar changes orientation of the mirror 146 Hexagon Lines 13 Curve EXTRACTION Descr
38. or faces While holding both the CTRL Command on Macintosh and Shift keys click drag the mouse over the object a blue line appears showing the direction of the extension Change the direction of the extension by moving your cursor to a different area Example of use Once a 1 over N Loop selection is performed it is easy to make stripes of selec tions over the model Remark This tool being based on the topological structure of the objects it may happen that some unexpected results occur especially when the extension encounters a significant change in the topology such as for example a Y intersection Shortcut CTRL Command Shift Right click while draging the mouse 64 Hexagon Selections 5 2 SHIFT SELECTION This function allows you to move an edge or face selection over the object topology Its use 15 similar to the Extend Selection tool previously described Use Select edges or faces While holding the CTRL Key Command key on Macintosh click drag the mou se over the object a blue line appears showing the direction of the extension Change the direction of the extension by moving your cursor to a different area Shortcut CTRL Command click while draging the mouse 65 Hexagon Selections 5 3 RESET SELECTION This is not really a tool Rather this action triggered by a double click enables the user to clear the active selection according to the current selection mode which av
39. pulled The cursor circle turns from red to green CTRL Command held invokes the Soften Tool while notreleasing the Displacement Brush The cursor circle turns from red to blue CTRL Command Shift held allows you to change the influence radius of the tool click and drag from left to right increases the radius and from right to left de creases it From bottom to top increases the strength and from top to bottom decreases the strength The cursor circle turns from red to yellow Hexagon Brushes and Painting 5 Description The Soften Tool allows you to attenuate details on a model as if it was smoothing the surface This tool is very convenient to adjust and refine the result of displacement brushes to get a soften effect on displacements which are too pro nounced The Soften Tool has no effect on painting operations Utilisation Take the Soften Tool located in the UV Paint tool tab Acursor looking like a blue circle appears Click and drag on the object to smooth polygons This tracing will be done according to the different tool s options Validate the tool to end using the Smooth Tool Fichier Modifier Pr sentation Fen tre Aide 00 00 03 sm a Watch the video 256 Hexagon Brushes and Painting Options Real time Symmetry If the Symmetry Mode is on this option will perform all operations in real time on the other side of the model
40. red will give a middle grey A white color will paint transparency since a black color will paint opacity Validate the tool to end using the Paint Tool Options Real time Symmetry If the Symmetry Mode is on this option will perform all operations in real time on the other side of the model This can cause slower performances when working on a complex model If this mode is off the symmetric calculation will be performed at the end of the action e g when the mouse button or the stylus will be released Size Lets you define the size of the brush This value can be handled with the pen tablet Opacity Allows you to define the opacity of the color The most important is the value the most opaque is the color or texture This value will only affect Texture and Transparency channels and can be handled with the pen tablet Hardness Lets you define the brush size attenuation allowing you to make a progressive result between the hardness radius and the influence size Brush Lets you choose a brush pattern Stroke Defines the kind of Tracing Freehand continuous or in Dot mode 263 Hexagon Brushes and Painting Tool Channels The Brush Tool works in the following channels Displacement which allows to sculpt detailed geometry or to reveal a displacement texture Bump which simulates a geometric displacement or to reveal a Bump texture Texture which lets you paint or reveal a texture Transparenc
41. surface However any operations that modify the objects face extrusion thickness chamfer Booleans will collapse the existing construction DG Full DG All steps of construction are memorized and are dynamically modi fiable You have complete access to the construction tree or history of your object 71 Hexagon Dynamic Geometry 2 DYNAMIC GEOMETRY TREE The Dynamic Geometry palette shows and gives access to what is called the Construction Tree or Dynamic Geometry Tree of the selected object This tree 15 a symbolic representation of the steps taken to model an object gi ving access to the different elements that you have combined to create the final object Select for example Full DG then create a circle and extrude tt The Dynamic Geometry palette shows Dynamic Geometry e Form0 The extruded object resembling a tube e Curve0 control The original circle e control The profile generated from the extrusion This means that Form0 has two composites which are the circle and the pro file of the extrusion In the Dynamic Geometry Tree select the object Curvel To have a better view in the 3D workspace select activate the transparent display of subsections icon in the control panel You have selected the curve that is the profile of the tube object In Select Points mode use the Translate manipulator on the points of the profile The points are moving following your cursor and the fin
42. the View selection repositions your camera so that the selection is visible Use the 5 View detail lets you draw with a red rectangle selector to specify the area to include in the new placement of the camera Use the Custom View to point the camera at an element by clicking in the 3D Workspace or by inputting coordinates in the Tool properties palette You can also use the tool option Place eye in the same palette to specify interactively or by precise input where you want to place your camera Once you have placed your target point or the virtual eye Validate the tool to continue working 26 Hexagon Working in 3D space 1 2 MOUSE NAVIGATION While holding down the Alt key click drag with the left mouse button in the 3D Workspace to rotate the camera around the scene like the 4 icon While holding down the Alt key click drag with the middle mouse button in the 3D Workspace to zoom the camera in and out like the lt b icon While holding down the Alt key click drag with the right mouse button in the 3D Workspace to pan around the scene like the icon Additional mouse navigation commands Use the mouse wheel to zoom in and out step by step like the icone Click and hold the mouse wheel button to pan around the scene like the icon Remarks The mouse wheel zoom target is defined by the on screen mouse cursor while Alt key and middle mouse button will zoom in and out t
43. the Tool Property Panel set the value for the selection over n and the offset value In the 3D workspace the updated selection appears Choosing another tool or clicking on the object or 3D workspace will make these options disappear 58 Hexagon Selections Fichier Modifier Pr sentation Fen tre Aide 00 00 03 ee Amn 4 5 9 1 225 mil rum Fichier Modifier Pr sentation Fen tre Aide Fichier Modifier Pr sentation Fen tre Aide 00 00 03 a ee Watch the video The Grow tool lets you expand the active selection and works with faces edges and points Use Make a selection In the Selection sub palette click in the icon In the Selection menu or in the Contextual Menu then trough the Advanced Selection sub menu choose Grow 2 Ae A lt UY TOPS EA 5 m Z ma 2 a R a N Ta Watch the video 59 Hexagon Selections 4 6 SHRINK The Shrink tool lets you reduce the active selection and works with faces edges and points Use Make a selection In the Selection menu or in the Contextual Menu then trough the Advanced Selection sub menu choose Shrink Hexagon subtracts from the selection all elements on the outer limits
44. the Ungroup tool in the tools sub palette of the Utilities Tab The group is automatically ungrouped Second method No group is selected Select the Ungroup tool in the Utilities Tab Only the groups in the scene are shown and all the objects that are ungrouped are temporarily hidden Clicking on the groups selects the groups to ungroup Validate the tool to ungroup the selected groups SSS Watch the video Remarks In the first case if there are no more groups in the scene the tool is automatically 210 Hexagon The Utilities tab validated Since groups can be grouped into sub groups ungrouping an association of groups will only release those sub groups and not ungroup everything at once Apply the un group tool as much as necessary to continue to ungroup the sub elements Keyboard shortcut CTRL Command SHIFT G Zul Hexagon The Utilities tab 15 2 ORIENT NORMALS Description The Orient normals tool lets you define the orientation or the face s front and back of a face or selection of facets This orientation is very important be cause certain tools use the normal to make their calculations such as the Thickness tool for example and certain programs do not show or render the back sides of polygons The front face of the polygon is symbolized as an arrow Use Select the object to modify the normals Select the Orient normals tool in the
45. the Vertex Modeling Tab Click drag on the selection of edges and move them to their new position ins DZ KY J 090000 Watch the video 99 Hexagon Vertex Modeling 4 SYMMETRY Description The Symmetry tool lets you make a copy of an object according to a mirroring plane chosen either on the bounding box around the original object or an offset plane you can define This tool has a Clone option letting the mirrored object be a clone Left the original object Right the mirrored object Use Select the object to be mirrored Select the Symmetry tool in the Vertex Modeling Tab A bounding box appears on the selected object Moving your mouse over a face of this box highlights in blue the plane to be used for the mirror Select the clone option if needed Click on the plane which you want to use or choose in the Tool properties palette the desired plane from the absolute axes X X Y Y etc The mirrored object is created 100 Hexagon Vertex Modeling Options Center of Symmetry mode lets you make a mirrored copy from a plane offset from the object by a chosen distance Use the space bar to choose another axis to offset your plane from Clone with this option the copy you create will be updated along with the original l et 9O60 amp Watch th
46. tool can make polygonal faces that can be added to the current object or to make a new object if there is nothing currently selected Use Select an unclosed surface to which you want to add polygons or deselect everything if you want to create a new object Select the Facet tool in the 3D Primitives tab Click in the scene to define the starting point of the polygon If necessary use the Shift key to snap to an existing point in the scene Repeat the last step as many times as necessary Validate the tool to create the polygon by clicking on the Validate button or the Enter key It is added to the selected object if there is one or if not a new object is created and selected Repeat the last steps to add new polygons to the selected object Validate to finish the operation 09660 amp Watch the video Remark The Facet tool uses 3D rulers You can input coordinates of points in space or snap to existing ones using the Shift key Keyboard shortcut Space bar Lets you apply a vertical or horizontal constraint when you are drawing polygons 4 Hexagon 3D Primitives 4 Cone Description The Cone tool lets you create a cone open or closed Left a Cone Right a truncated Cone Use Select the Cone tool in the sub palette of the 3D Primitives Tab Click in the 3D workspace to create the cone or by entering its coordinates in the Object properties palette
47. two types of strokes Freehand which enables you to draw a continuous tracing of the element selected and Dots which dots the element across the screen if the speed of the pointer is fast or continuously similar to Freehand if you move the pointer slowly In the Freehand tracing mode if the movement speed is too high a blue curve will follow the mouse movement to show you the drawing path The displacement or paint action will be performed with a slight delay Watch the Video 1 7 WORKING WITH THE GRAPHIC TABLET To displace your geometry or paint with more accuracy and ease Hexagon 2 supports all major standard graphic tablets It is possible to link the stylus pressure value with some displacement or pain ting tool parameters It will be possible for example to control the strength or the brush radius thanks to the tablet s stylus You will find on the right of the Parameters Panel of tools a check box aside some parameters These check boxes are called Bindings and checking them will specify that the stylus pressure is bound to the corresponding parameter the harder you press the higher the value will be The stylus pressure will modulate the value of the tool parameter This means that if the default value is 50 for example the pressure will modulate this value from 0 light touch to 100 maximum pressure the maximum pressure fitting this value of 50 If we wish to get a maximum intensity
48. volume Select the Target weld tool in the Vertex modeling tab Select the target entity to be welded to the selection moves and is welded to the target selection Remarks Target weld is not possible with multiple selections Target weld 15 not possible in the case where the result produces an edge shared by more than two polygons Watch the video Keyboard shortcut W Hexagon Vertex Modeling 13 P SWEEP SURFACE amp YJ EXTRUDE SURFACE Description The Sweep surface and Extrude surface tools in the Vertex modeling tab let you sweep or tube and extrude faces edges and vertices either previously selected or once the tool is active These tools let you easily make complex shapes starting from simple ones The tools function the same way only the results change depending on the options used They are used with the technique often called box modeling Left the original object with selected polygons Right the result of the Extrusion Left the original object with selected polygons Right the result of the Sweep Use Select the desired element to work with before or after the tool 1s selected Select the Sweep surface or Extrude surface tool in the Vertex modeling tab the selection is automatically swept or extruded Several methods of sweeping and extruding are possible by changing the defaults of the tools 9 Extrusion The movement of your cursor defines the height and w
49. 1 1 1 290 3 Import Export options 2 4eicccedohwondauakbadaban baa 291 XIX Imports 292 Enjoy 295 14 4 Hexagon General Principles and Concepts of Hexagon Il GENERAL PRINCIPLES AND CONCEPTS OF HEXAGON Hexagon is a program for creating models in 3D It will help you create and model structures smooth or solid starting by drawing its contours inner or outer or by starting with a simple structure which you will extend deform and refine to create before you what is in your imagination You are going to create your models in a window representing a 3 dimensional space and by using a number of tools or functions go from simple forms to more com plex following your own tastes You will be able to edit observe and come back to edit again to your hearts content until you reach your goal Finally you can prepare your models to be textured ready to export to another program to fully texture animate and render a final 3D image with special effects 16 Hexagon General Principles and Concepts of Hexagon 1 THE ORGANIZATION OF THE WORKSPACE C File Edit view Display Window Selection Tools Help Vertex modeling Li Surface mode UY amp Paint 3D Primitives nes ling Utilities Sod gt eg DIAL D te S amp S GOL Foe eG MEZI 7 FE
50. 2 24 Hexagon Working in 3D space III WORKING IN 3D SPACE NAVIGATION WORKING PLANES AND GUIDES You will be working in a three dimensional space XYZ Your mouse is a two dimensional pointing system and your computer screen can only show a flat image so Hexagon proposes different ways of working within these limits 29 Hexagon Working in 3D space 1 NAVIGATION Navigation is the movements of the virtual point of view or camera around the scene When you want to inspect your model from all angles or zoom in you will need to navigate in your 3D space Hexagon offers three ways to navigate by the icons in the Control panel by the mouse and by the keyboard 1 1 NAVIGATION BY THE CONTROL PANEL In the Control panel at the bottom of your workspace you will find two groups of icons which deal with navigation Use the 6 icon to turn your camera around the target point Use the icon to pan around the scene or displace laterally such as camera traveling in film terminology Use the lt icon to zoom in and out Holding down the mouse button on an icon navigates directly on the icon or click on an icon turning your mouse cursor into that icon and navigate directly in the 3D Workspace by click dragging and return to 3D manipulation by clicking on the A icon Use the View all repositions your camera without changing its orientation so that all the elements in the scene are visible Use
51. 5 no maximum Try to have the same number of points on all the curves Although not required it helps avoid crossed surfaces 155 Hexagon Surface modeling tab Select the curves in the same order 1 6 from top to bottom or left to right but not at random Do not mix open and closed curves in the same surface Though possible it can give undesired results 156 Hexagon Surface modeling tab 2 DOUBLE SWEEP Description The Double sweep tool lets you create a surface or volume from a section and two profiles connected to it Example of use A gutter could be created with this tool including rounded edges using an arc for the section and two lines for the profiles On the left three lines making up the gutter and on the right the end result after having clicked on the section line and then selecting the Double Sweep tool and clicking on the two profile lines Modeling a rugby ball is also easy with this tool a circle in the middle for the section and two profiles connected at their ends and to the circle in the middle The end result is a volume 157 Hexagon Surface modeling tab On the left three lines making up the ball with the section in the middle and on the right the end result after having clicked on the section line and then selecting the Double Sweep tool and clicking on the two profile lines Use Create the curves to be used Select the curve that will become the se
52. 7 i i r r i 1 i F i Mg r i J et i F i r s f a i i C DRICHTIROJANI HEXAGON CARRARA a big a WWW GRAPHINC COM Hexagon The scene properties XV THE SCENE PROPERTIES PALETTE The Scene properties palette is in the Properties panel on the right of your screen It is divided into two parts 279 Hexagon The scene properties 1 THE SCENE TREE TAB Scene tree The Scene Tree Tab The Scene tree gives you a symbolic access to all the objects which make up your scene In the Scene tree you can Select an object by clicking on its name instead of in the 3D Workspace See if the selected object is a group and to see what objects make up the group The symbol next to the name lets you unfold and refold the list of sub ob jects Hide or show an object by clicking on the E icon before the name of the object Lock or unlock an object by clicking on the icon before the name of the object Unclone an object by clicking on the icon before the name of the object To sort the object names by increasing ra or decreasing alphabetical order by clicking on the icons located at the bottom of the tree To search for an object by name by entering the beginning of its name and clicking on the search button located at the bottom of the tree Locking an object makes it non selectable and there for non movable or modi fiable just until it is unlocked Thi
53. 71 Hexagon Table of Contents 2 Dynamic Geometry J2 3 Controlling the Dynamic Geometry levels 75 Dil Global 75 3 2 Collapsing the Dynamic Geometry 75 3 3 6 Removing the last dynamic operation jE VIII Modeling with Symmetry 77 1 The Symmetry Mode and the Symmetry Tool 78 1 1 The Symmetry 78 1 2 The Symmetry tool and the Clone function 79 2 Pros a d CONS 4 i206 pbasbeentvacesnecesessisevasecesien 80 IX 3D 81 F UDG 82 Z ROEDE RE EEEE 83 3 D Pa eE E E R 84 4 O EEEE OE EEE EEEE anes 85 iy 86 6 D P Platonic SHADES 55 054 9o4s seus Gores 87 88 8 P OD NG EE E EEEE E E E 89 X 91 l EF Edge LOOMS keprek cbancedaeteuuataductous 92 1 1 E 93 12 94 Hexagon Table of Contents 1 3 95 PA Fast EXUdE 97 3 EF Move in gonudaoneawihadwun taswntipaansed 99 4 H ETETE 100 5 102 5 1 YY Free
54. AY PARAMETERS These parameters are related to the OpenGL 3D display They may be changed for performance reasons or graphic board features Fast transparency for legacy graphic boards not supporting alpha blending transparency Two sided lighting enabled by default When disabled the back faces of ob jects will not be lit Some graphic boards do not support this mode resulting in very slow rendering e Refresh method when in multi view e Refresh all views Refresh only the current active view Using OpenGL Display Lists and VBOs activating these two modes can 1m prove display performances The VBO Display mode is more powerful but is not compatible with all systems and does not work on Macintosh Partial Redraw activated by default this option enables to calculate the display only around the screen cursor Anti aliasing of lines this option improves the display of lines but can slow down the rendering on some graphic boards Clipping planes and buffers these preferences let experienced users to do pre cise settings for optimal display performances 2 4 LIGHTING PARAMETERS 290 Allows you to set e Global light colors e Fog activation and level the fog allows you to make the objects far from the viewpoint fade out and become invisible allowing then to evaluate more accu rately the position of objects in the 3D space Hexagon Preferences 3 IMPORT EXPORT OPTIONS They allow to control several parameters for eac
55. E TOOL IN USE When you select a tool its icon and name show up confirming for you the tool in use 38 Se S rr z C 4 rr Vertex modeling face Adve gig i gO Sig DIGGS wert a Fast extrude Fast extrude selected face or edge egag re F yP OTA Ba Vertex modeling CERIC GONG nN e 4 kk san Be f E BPP Pg Viza nM i 8 gt ms 7 PATRICK TUTEN TUTENGRAPHICS COM Hexagon 3D Manipulator V 3D MANIPULATOR Polygon modeling is essentially based on the manipulation of 3D entities such as points edges and faces whether it is for the creation or editing of surfaces or volu mes Hexagon is based a 3D Manipulator which lets you make 90 freeform models organic forms without precision for example without ever leaving the manipulator to change tools views etc These 3D Manipulators offer incorporated accessories which can be either be called up at any time by keyboard shortcuts or by selecting corresponding icons 40 Hexagon 3D Manipulator 1 THE 3D MANIPULATOR 1 D TRANSLATION This manipulator moves the selected elements The manipulator is symbo lized by arrow points 2D and 3D e If you click on an axis the movement of the selected item is restricted to that axis e Ifyou click on a triangle on the same plane as the two axis the
56. In the case that a Loop cannot be completed Hexagon automatically stops at the problem zone to keep a mistake from being made for example where several connected faces split into a Y intersection The Loop tool works with faces and edges but not with points When working in Select Faces mode if only one face is selected the Loop tool selects one direction and shows the result Clicking once again on the Loop tool will show the other possible selection To determine a direction you must have at least two faces selected to specify the direction to expand the selection Use Select an edge one or two faces to start Click on the Loop icon in the Selection palette Hexagon finishes the selection for you ae gt ig E lz a Za 09000 9 Watch the video Keyboard shortcut L 56 Hexagon Selections 4 2 GERING The Ring tool lets you expand a selection along a surface by continuing it as far as possible in the direction you started as with the Loop tool but in parallel like the rungs on a ladder In the case that a Ring cannot be completed Hexagon automatically stops at the problem zone in order to not make a mistake for example at the tip of a triangle The Ring tool works only on edges Use Select an edge to start Click on the icon Ring in the Selection palette Hexagon selects all the edges parallel to this edge Soh mA f we YS Watc
57. Move the mouse to define the size of the cone base from its center and validate or enter the dimensions in the Tool properties palette Move the mouse to define the height of the cone and validate or enter the dimen sions in the Tool properties palette If needed enter a value for the radius of the cone to create a cone without a tip White edges show the openings which you can click on to close indicated by the edge turning red In the Tool properties palette define the number of horizontal and vertical sections making up the cone and validate the tool to create the cone Options Close all This option closes all openings Remark It is also possible to drag and drop the tool icon into the 3D scene which will create the primitive located where you will have released the mouse button The Primitive dimensions will be automatically defined according to the 3D View size Keyboard shortcut Increase or decrease the number of sections 85 Hexagon 3D Primitives 5 CYLINDER Description The Cylinder tool creates open or closed cylinders Left an open Cylinder Right a closed Cylinder Use Select the Cylinder tool in the sub palette of the 3D Primitives Tab Click in the 3D workspace to create the cylinder or by entering its coordinates in the Object properties palette Move the mouse to define the size of the cylinder base from its center then validate or enter the dimensions
58. This can cause slower performances when working on a complex model If this mode is off the symmetric calculation will be performed at the end of the action e g when the mouse button or the stylus will be released Size Lets you define the size of the brush This value can be handled with the pen tablet Strength Allows you to define the strength of the smoothing This value can be handled with the pen tablet Hardness Lets you define the brush size attenuation allowing you to make a progressive smooth between the hardness radius and the influence size Stroke Defines the kind of Tracing Freehand continuous or in Dot mode Tool Channel The Soften Tool operates only in the Displacement Channel Tool Shortcuts CTRL Command held invoke the Soften Tool within the Displacement Brush Tool or within the Pinch and Inflate Tools CTRL Command Shift held allows you to change the influence radius of the tool click and drag from left to right increases the radius and from right to left de creases it From bottom to top increases the strength and from top to bottom decreases the strength The cursor circle turns from red to yellow 257 Hexagon Brushes and Painting 2 3 PINCH Description The Pinch Tool lets you draw polygons together according to the tracing of the brush creating a geometric pinching It is the ideal tool to create pleats and wrinkles Use Take the Pinch Tool locat
59. Utilities Tab Click on the face that you want to change the orientation of the normal Validate the tool to finish the operation Options Select all selects all the faces of an object in order to unify the normals a Unify normals lets you unify all the normals of an object in the same direction Click on one of the faces to define the direction for all the normals NESE Watch the video Remarks If parts of your object seem to be missing verify that the backfaces are visible by clicking on the icon Show hide backfaces in the Control panel Keyboard shortcut Space bar lets you flip the normal of the selected face 212 Hexagon The Utilities tab 16 DECIMATE Description The Decimate tool lets you simplify an object by deleting polygons while conserving the global aspect of the object From left to right the original object with higher decimation values Use Select the object to simplify Select the Decimate tool in the Utilities Tab Define the amount of decimation by using the keys on the keypad or in the Tool properties palette Validate the tool to finish the operation Remarks The tool simplifies by triangulation of the selected object The amount of decimation from 0 and 1 0 That 15 0 3 is equivalent to keeping 30 of the original object Keyboard shortcut number keypad increases or decreases the amount of decimation TA
60. acement or paint with brushes can be performed either with a single depth intensity respectively color or using a hidden texture which you will reveal according to your mouse movement and pressure respectively as a relief pattern or as a color map This means that you will make an image appear as a texture or a relief which was previously applied onto your entire model KN Wall_Plaster jpg Some paterns This is an efficient way to easily create rich and high quality textures as well as to generate complex displacement patterns by mixing different textures sequentially using a weak and variable strength and opacity In the Hexagon tools that provide this capability you will be able to choose in one or several channels either a color or a texture to reveal 248 Hexagon Brushes and Painting Fichier Modifier Pr sentation Fen tre Aide 00 00 03 JEK 1 3 BRUSH SHAPES In addition to the default brush it is possible to use custom brushes based on patterns in grey levels These brushes allow you to work as you would with inking pads e g with seve ral small strokes to apply your patterns here and there or at the opposite performing a continuous tracing The result will of course be very different Hexagon provides by default a set of various brush shapes allowing you to satisfy directly most of your needs in br_lava png The brushes preview window 249 Hexagon Brushes and Painti
61. agon The Utilities tab 2 amp Lay on Description The Lay on tool lets you reposition one object on another so that the selec ted faces are against each other aligning the center of each face Example of use Positioning objects that are not situated in the traditional 3D axes can be proble matic For example this tool can help you place a logo on an inclined surface so that the angle is a perfect match between the two objects Left the object to Lay on Right the object in its final position Use Select the object you want to displace Select the Lay on tool in the Utilities tab Click on the face which will be the start of the move Multi selection is 1mpossi ble Click on a face of the destination object to define the new position and orientation of the original object 189 Hexagon The Utilities tab Options Inversion on off lets you place the object on one side or another of the newly positioned face Rotation lets you rotate the object around the center axis perpendicular to the newly positioned face Watch the video 190 Hexagon The Utilities tab 3 SNAP ALIGN Description The Snap align tool lets you displace an object by way of a starting point often placed on the object to be moved towards an arrival point or align an object in relation to another object e Snap is placing an object precisely on another object e Alignment is placing one object preci
62. al object is reconstruc ted dynamically in real time 72 Hexagon Dynamic Geometry Choose Select object mode Now add a thickness to the tube In the DG Tree an extra level has been added Dynamic Geometry e Forml The object with a thickness e Form0 The object that was extruded Curvel control The original circle 9 Curvel control The profile generated from the extrusion You can now again edit the points of the profile Curvel as before and the object rebuilds in real time with its thickness You can now apply a smoothing to your object In the DG Tree again another level has been added Form2 symbolizing the new operation producing the smoothed tube and you can always go back and select the first steps in the construction of the tube Dynamic Geometry 73 Hexagon Dynamic Geometry You can also select the thickened object Form1 in the DG Tree and edit the value of the thickness in the Tool Properties palette The thickness changes and the smoothing is automatically recalculated dynami cally with all the previous steps still conserved Note You can also access the parameters of each step by first selecting the level in the DG Tree then you can click on the icon of the tool used which appears in the Object Properties palette This brings up the original options in the Tool Properties palette a4 09 G0 Watch the video All these possibilities are equally e
63. ally refine the aspect of an object like a sculptor refines his sculpture This tool always moves its entities according to the camera plane parallel to the screen Use Select the Tweak tool in the Vertex modeling tab If the selection mode was Select Object the mode changes to Select auto Using click drags with the mouse move vertices edges or faces Validate the tool to finish the operation OO 000900 Watch the video Remark The tool only works on the entity closest to the mouse cursor and it is possible to change the selection while tweaking without leaving the tool e Shift Drag mouse add items to the selection like in paint mode e Shift Click adds toggles item to the current selection e Double click on the object to reset the selection or switch to another object see Select Auto mode e Extend selection such as in the manipulator mode 120 Hexagon Vertex Modeling 15 amp Extract Description The Extract tool lets you separate a selection of faces from an object to obtain a new object from the selected one From left to right the selected polygons the extracted faces and the extracted faces moved Use Select faces on an object Select the Extract tool in the Vertex modeling tab the selection is automatically converted into a new object and subtracted from the selected object Remark This tool does not function on edges and vertices 121 Hexago
64. ample is the creation of a face create a group of vertical sections going from the nose to the outer ear then with the Ruled surface tool select each curve one after the other and the face will be created y From left to right the sections the surface creation and the final result Another example is the hood of a car draw the lateral profile the center profile and maybe one in between if needed and using this tool select one after the other to create the hood 154 Hexagon Surface modeling tab On the left are the sections and on the right the finished hood of car Use Create the curves to be used Select the Ruled surface tool in the Surface modeling tab Click on each curve one after the other the tool creates the surface as you go Validate the tool when finished Options Connect the first and last curve After selecting the last curve click this option so the first curve is added closing the surface 0X 00000 S 09Q 60 2 Watch the video Remarks If you are using closed curves as your sections the point that you choose on each curve is taken into account To avoid getting a crossed surface try to always select points that are aligned on each curve A symbol appears on each selected point If you find that the clicked point is causing problems use Undo Edit Menu or Ctrl Z and choose another point The minimum curves allowed for this tool is two and there 1
65. ation with other 3D tools 242 2 1 Exporting GCOMCILY 3 242 2 2 Displacement Texture 243 2 3 Bump Map Texture 244 2 4 Bump Map and Displacement Texture Export 245 12 Hexagon Table of Contents XVII Brushes and Painting 246 1 Principles of the Displacement and Painting Tools 247 1 1 The Working Channels 247 1 2 Revealing Textures to Paint or to Displace 248 1 3 Brush Shapes pho detec 249 1 4 Load Your Own Brushes or Textures to Reveal 250 1 5 so penne dndanua ged eehwne dae eusen 1 1 6 Types of Strokes 252 1 7 Working with the Graphic Tablet 252 1 8 Working with 5 253 2 Using Displacement and Painting Tools 254 2 1 el Displacement Brush 4 254 WE O E 256 2 3 heey as ten aon reese ae carn pane 258 2 4 et EPE EO N 259 eee nee teen ene tee et te 261 2 6 263 3 Exporting 266 3 1 Color and Transparency 266 3 2 Bump Textures 4 cnc parka raaeshaendigeadiaaenewe wind 267 3 3 D 268 XIV
66. bigger change such as an assemblage moving the whole object in the scene To change from one mode to another just click on the icon for the mode you want in the Selection palette at the top of the screen between the Manipulators palette and the Modeling tools palette Hexagon Selections 1 2 SELECT AUTO Select auto is a fifth mode that lets you work in all the modes without having to use the keyboard shortcuts or clicking on the other mode s icons The first item selected on the object becomes the selection mode by default facets for example until you deselect everything A single click in the 3D workspace next to your object for exam ple turns the mode back to select auto A double click in the 3D workspace changes the mode to select object You can also double click on another object thereby passing on select auto mode for that object SO GO Watch the video 1 3 SOFT SELECTION The soft selection in action Complementing the selection modes there is a specific option that smooth ly increases the influence of a manipulation around the active selection the Soft Selection For example on a face select a polygon corresponding to a part of the cheek 32 Hexagon Selections With no Soft Selection if you move the selected polygon it will be the only element moving Activate the Smooth Selection and an influence area will appear around the selected element represented
67. bject with rotation and movment applied to each copy 199 Hexagon The Utilities tab Watch the video 200 Hexagon The Utilities tab 9 Copy ON A SUPPORT Description Unlike the Multiple copies tool this tool bases itself on a structure to gene rate multiple copies This structure could be a surface volume or 2D curve It the case of a 3D form the tool bases itself on each polygon and with a 2D curve on its vertices Left the object to be duplicated and the support object Right the result of the copy Use Create the form on which the copy will be based Select the object to be duplicated Select the Copy on a support tool in the Utilities tab Click on the form to base the copy on The copies are created Modify the orientation and the copy options in the Tool properties palette With the keys on the numbers keypad increase or decrease the size of your copies Options amp Clone On Off Lets you create a dynamic relationship between the copied ob jects if the topology of one object is modified the same operation is carried out on the clones Orientation lets you choose an orientation of the copies in reference to the sup port Invert orientation lets you mirror the orientation of the copies in reference to the support y Scale when the support is a line this option allows you to create copies of progressively variable sizes with the original size
68. but the grid contour stays visible Texture masks or unmasks the texture applied to the edited object and lets you adjust the opacity of the displayed texture from 0 1 almost invisible up to 100 opaque Color allows you to choose the display color of the UV mesh Repeat Lets you choose the level of repetition of the texture around the grid Split Displays disjoined UVs This enables to display dots at the corner of disjoined UVs when they overlap Click on a dot places the manipulator on the right UV Export UVs texture exports as an image the UVs representation which strictly fits into the UV square limits NOTE the exported texture is based on the screen resolution Do not hesitate to display the UV window in full screen Once you have clicked on the Export button a system dialog box will appear for you to specify the name the format and the location of the image you want to save Hexagon Creating and Managing UVs 3 UNFOLD The Unfold tool is a very convenient tool which allows you to unfold the UV map of any model even the most complex ones To do so we will have to define virtual openings like the zippers of a coat called Seams and if necessary Pinpoints which are points to which the unfolded template will be stitched Such terms related to needlework are commonly used for this tool as the opera tion it performs is in fact the opposite work a tailor does creating a UV template from a finished 3D s
69. choose 1 n In the Tool Properties palette input a value to divide by more that 1 Hexagon automatically makes the selection Validate the tool to keep the selection 4 10 G INVERT The Invert tool lets you invert your selection on an object and works with faces edges and points Invert Make a selection In the Selection menu or in the Contextual Menu then trough the Advanced Selection sub menu choose Invert Hexagon inverses the selection or all the non selected elements become selected and the original selection 15 deselected Watch the video 62 Hexagon Selections 4 11 UNSELECT ALL The Unselect all command lets you cancel any current selection Use In the Selection menu or in the Contextual Menu then trough the Advanced Selection sub menu choose Unselect All Hexagon automatically cancels the selection 63 Hexagon Selections SELECTION EXTENSIONS The Selection is an important concept in Hexagon It is used intensively and to maximize productivity some functions are accessible through specific short cuts and or mouse manipulations These functions will save time while modeling as well as will providing extra features which will allow you to perform advanced selections with ease 5 1 EXTEND SELECTION This function allows you to extend an existing edge or faces selection along the topology of the current object Use Select edges
70. cle Right an Elipse Use Select the Circle from the center tool in the Lines tool palette Click in the 3D workspace to define the start of the circle or by entering its coordi nates in the Object properties palette A second click defines the size or you can enter the dimensions of the circle in the Tool properties palette You can define the number of points that make up the circle by entering a number in the Tool properties palette or by typing or on the numbers pad of the keyboard Validate the creation of the circle 129 Hexagon Lines 3 2 CIRCLE FROM THE BASIS Left a Circle Right an Elipse Use Select the Circle from the basis tool in the sub palette of the Lines tool palette Click in the 3D workspace to define the start of the circle or by entering its coordi nates in the Object properties palette A second click defines the size or you can enter the dimensions of the circle in the Tool properties palette You can define the number of points that make up the circle by entering a number in the Tool properties palette or by typing or on the numbers pad of the keyboard Validate the creation of the circle 130 Hexagon Lines 3 3 CIRCLE FROM DIAMETER Use Select the Circle from diameter tool in the sub palette of the Lines tool pa lette Click in the 3D workspace to define the start of the circle or by entering its coordi nates in the Objec
71. color is not taken into account but its correspon ding value in grey level for example a bright red will give a middle grey A white color will paint transparency since a black color will paint opacity Validate the tool to end using the Paint Tool Options Real time Symmetry If the Symmetry Mode is on this option will perform all painting operations in real time on the other side of the model This can cause slower performances when working on a complex model If this mode 15 off the symmetric calculation will be performed at the end of the action e g when the mouse button or the stylus will be released Size Lets you define the size of the brush This value can be handled with the pen tablet Opacity Allows you to define the opacity of the color The most important is the value the most opaque is the color or texture This value can be handled with the pen tablet Hardness Lets you define the brush size attenuation allowing you to make a progressive result between the hardness radius and the influence size Brush Lets you choose a brush pattern Stroke Defines the kind of Tracing Freehand continuous or in Dot mode Tool Channels The Paint Tool operates in the following channels 261 Hexagon Brushes and Painting Texture which allows you to paint or to reveal a texture Transparency which lets you paint a transparency or reveal a transparency tex ture Remarks In order to paint a mod
72. copy allows you to quickly mask and unmask half the model In the Symmetry Mode you need to select half of the geometry and then use the mask function on this selection Hexagon 3D Primitives IX 3D PRIMITIVES 3D Primitives are objects created by Hexagon to serve as a basis of modeling whether creating simple or complex objects these forms can serve as a good starting point However keep in mind once these forms are created they are no longer editable in the sense of changing the parameters that are available at their creation For example once the creation of a primitive sphere is validated the amount of tessellation can no longer be edited Nevertheless these shapes could still be affected by other tools such a smoothing amp 1 Hexagon 3D Primitives Left a perfect Cube Right a 3D parallepiped Use Select the Cube tool in the 3D Primitives Tab Click in the 3D workspace to create the cube or by entering its coordinates in the Object properties palette If necessary in the Tool properties palette choose create from Center and not by Basis the default Move the mouse to define the size of the cube and validate the tool or enter the dimensions in the Tool properties palette One the cube has been created hit the keys to tessellate the cube or manually enter the tessellation level in the Tool properties palette Remark It is also possible to drag and drop the tool icon into the 3D scene
73. creen To re attach the palette in a side panel move the palette on the top bottom or side until you see a blue line which indicates the location the palette will be placed in when the mouse button is released To minimize a palette click on the down arrow icon located on the right of the title bar To maximize a palette click again on the down arrow icon To close the palette click on the X icon The palette will disappear To make it visible again select it from the Window pull down general menu Fichier Modifier Pr sentation Fen tre Aide MM Vi Ose Watch the video Remark If needed you can reset all User Interface Preferences by selecting in the File menu under User Resources the Reset Interface command 19 Hexagon General Principles and Concepts of Hexagon 1 2 Custom PALETTE In addition to the default palette layout Hexagon 2 provides a custom palette which allows you to create your own collection of the most used tools To add a tool in the custom palette right click on its icon To remove a tool from the custom palette right click in the custom palette on the tool s icon In both cases a dialog box will ask you to confirm the operation The first palette icon lets you detach the palette from the tab A click on the triangle of the title bar of the palette opens a small pull down menu which allows you to close or to switch the orientation of the custom palette P
74. ction Select the Double sweep tool in the Surface modeling tab Click on the two curves to become the profile The selecting order is not impor tant The surface is created If the section is closed for example a circle the tool pro poses to close the surface to make a volume White circles appear on the openings click on them to close the side of your choice Validate the tool when finished Options 9 Orientate the sections lets you choose how the surface is generated in relation to the section If the section is not perpendicular to the profiles the tool can either create the surface perpendicular to the profiles or keep its original position Constant or variable section lets you choose the type of section created oppo site the first section 158 Hexagon Surface modeling tab B90 Coe 2 Watch the video Remarks It is best to have the profiles connected to the section The profiles don t have to start or stop at the section It is possible to have the profile lines going past the section as in the case of the rugby ball However avoid having only one curve going past if possible For ease of further editing try to have the same number of points on all the curves used by the Double sweep tool Do not mix open and closed curves in the same surface Though possible it can give undesired results 159 Hexagon Surface modeling tab
75. des are in the active working plane automatically when using cer tain tools If your camera is facing your object Hexagon shows you only the X axis horizontal in red and the Y axis vertical in green and you can apply constraints to one axis by using the Space bar The incremental measurement snap to the 3D guides can be activated by clic king onthe icon in the Control panel When the snap is active the lines snap to each unit or tenth of a unit depending on the measurement unit chosen To increase or decrease the units use the keys 31 Hexagon Working in 3D space Ga io ae 09Q60 2 Watch the video The last used axis constraint of the 3D guides will continue to apply to current and future tools Using the Space bar you can flip the constraint again to the other plane or again to have no constraints on your cursor the default mode It is important to keep in mind the fact that the Space Bar will allow you to ap ply vertical or horizontal constraints while using a tool which uses 3D Rulers such as Drawing tools or Snap Align or the Symmetry tool 32 Hexagon Working in 3D space 4 PRECISE INPUT RELATIVE MODE ABSOLUTE MODE ORIGINS Hexagon is a program which can work without constraints in a freehand style but can as well use precise number input or parameters for the majority of the tools By default Hexagon works in Relative mode all new values are defined by th
76. ding hidden points such as the midpoint of an edge or the geometric center of a shape Keyboard shortcut Space bar Lets you apply a horizontal or vertical or no constraint when aligning 192 Hexagon The Utilities tab 4 D TAPER BENDER AND TWISTER Description The Taper Bender and Twister tools are global modifiers which let you apply a transformation on the whole object or on a previously made selection on an object The three tools function the same ATH Tom From left to right the original object then tapered bended and twisted Use Select an object to deform If needed in Select point mode make a selection of the area to apply the distor tion Select the Taper Bender or Twister tool in the Utilities tab A red and yellow boun ding box appears In the Tool properties palette modify the axis of deformation of the bounding box if needed Click drag on the yellow rectangles to deform the object or selection in function of 8 ratio of minimum maximum or by using on the numbers keypad or enter a precise value in the Tool properties palette Validate the tool to finish the operation Options Sa Horizontal Axis orients the bounding box to the horizontal axis t Vertical Axis default orients the bounding box to the vertical axis Depth Axis orients the bounding box to the Z axis 193 Hexagon The Utilities tab Watch the video Remarks
77. divide the selec ted faces into respectively a rectangle a triangle or a rhombus These tools allow you to locally refine the geometry to work on it with more accuracy te lt On the left selected polygons On the right the same polygons with an automatic Tesselation applied Pa Use Select the object to edit In faces selection mode select one or several polygons to subdivide Click on the automatic tesselation tool of your choice in the Vertex Modeling palette Quad Tesselation Triangular Tesselation or Diamond Tesselation The faces you selected are automatically subdivided according to the type of tesselation you chose Hexagon Vertex Modeling 6 CONNECT Description The Connect tool creates edges according to a selection made before either vertices or edges but not faces In the case of a selection of edges parallel to each other like a ring selection the Tesselation is made perpendicular to and at the middle of each edge In the case of two points on the same polygon the Tesselation is made between these two points Left points selection Right the final Tesselation Use Select a series of edges parallel to one another or two points on the same polygon Select the Tesselate tool in the sub palette of the Vertex Modeling Tab The Tesselation is automatic 108 Hexagon Vertex Modeling Watch the video Remark The connect tool
78. e previously entered values For certain uses it is necessary to define an origin to your 3D universe which 15 by default in the center of the horizontal grid guide and inputting a value in reference to this point 15 referred to as Absolute mode Changing from Relative mode to Absolute mode e In the Scene properties palette a Relative Absolute icon lets you choose the mode of measurements feedback and input values Remark The center of the universe can be changed from the Preference panel in the Interface tab Rulers parameters J3 Hexagon How tools function in Hexagon IV HOW TOOLS FUNCTION IN HEXAGON A tool is a function of the program that can create manipulate or modify an object or part of an object Tools are organized in six major tool palettes or Tabs and some of them cor responding to advanced or less often used functions are accessible in the sub palette of the corresponding Tool Tab see Chapter II 1 The Organization of the Workspace Tools are accessible by clicking on the respective icon in the appropriate Tools palette or by selecting its name from the Tools menu or by using its keyboard short cut 34 Hexagon How tools function in Hexagon 1 STRUCTURE Each tool has e An operation sequence or order of steps e Eventual options and accessories e The capability to enter precise numbers 2 OPERATION SEQUENCE The idea of an operation sequence is important e Certain tools have an i
79. e text The 2D Text editor appears The Font menu lets you choose your typeface Bold and Italic applies these styles to the chosen typeface Alignment lets you choose center left and right starting at the reference point Scale lets you enlarge or reduce the generated outline of the type Tesselation lets you increase or decrease the number of lines used to describe a curve The higher the number of Tesselation the smoother the text will be The text zone lets you type in the text to be created Hard returns are done with the Enter key Validate the tool by clicking on the Validate button 143 Hexagon Lines Text properties Font Bald Italic Alignment Tesselation 2 e 20 Text Text The 2D Text editor Remark Hexagon uses only the TrueType fonts installed in the system folder of the com puter For efficiency and further editing avoid giving a too high Tesselation 10 maxi mum 144 Hexagon Lines 11 HELIX Description The Helix tool creates a spiral Two kinds of Helix Use Select the Helix tool in the Lines tools palette Click in the 3D workspace to define the start point for the helix or enter its coordi nates in the Object properties palette Define the radius of the starting spiral or enter a value in the Tool properties pa lette The created spiral is perpendicular to the active view Move your mouse to define the height of the spiral
80. e video Remark If necessary use the Shift key to snap the plane of symmetry to an existing object in the scene Keyboard shortcuts Space bar Lets you flip between available planes X Y Z in the case of using an offset plane Aright click lets you go from one symmetry option to another either Symmetry by Bounding box or Center of Symmetry mode 101 Hexagon Vertex Modeling 5 TESSELATE Description The Tesselate tool lets you add detail to the topology of an object by cutting faces or adding edges where desired 5 1 FREE TESSELATE Description The Free Tessellation mode lets you cut a face by adding edges between clicked points located either on edges or directly on the polygon surface This tool is very convenient when creating objects in Box modeling because it allows you to draw new edges directly on a polygon From left to right the Tesselation in action Use Select the object to be edited Select the Tessellate tool in the Vertex Modeling Tab under the Free Tessellation menu Click on an edge or intersection of edges to define the start of the cut Click inside one of the polygons adjacent to the edge or on any edge The new edges are automatically created Double click to validate the tool and start again elsewhere if necessary Validate to finish the operation 102 Hexagon Vertex Modeling Fichier Modifier Pr sentation Fen tre Aide 00 00 03
81. eased five times or Range 7 111 Hexagon Vertex Modeling CLOSE Description The Close tool will close openings on the selected object From left to right the objects with its openings the object being closed and the final Use Select the object of which you would like to close the openings Select the Close tool in the Vertex modeling tab White contours appear around the openings clicking on the contours will turn them red showing that on validation that opening will be closed Click again on a red contour will turn it white and it will be unaffected Validate the tool to finish the operation Options Select all lets you close all openings in one step Note that this option also validates the tool and you cannot choose to deselect an opening Remark This tool only applies to surfaces with an opening surrounded by polygonal objects like the case of an open cylinder Hexagon Vertex Modeling 9 WELD OBJECTS Description The Weld objects tool lets you join several objects together permanently in order to have one object Not to be confused with the Group tool which is only a temporary association of objects This tool is also located in the Surface Modeling Tab Left the two independant objects Right the two objects welded together Use Select all the objects to be welded Select the Weld objects tool in the Vertex Modeling tab Or Select an object
82. eations of complex surfaces often based on very pre cise curves like a custom bottle for example The bottle could be made using a Sweep or Double sweep tool but they may be too limited for a complex project Generally this tool is often used in product design On the left the precise curves with connected sections and profiles and on the right the generated result Use Create all the sections to be used Create the profile curves making sure that each point passes through a point of the section curves to construct a mesh that is connected Use the Shift key when creating the lines to snap to existing points Select the Gordon Surfaces tool in the Surface modeling tab First click on all the sections and Validate by pressing the Enter key or press the 162 Hexagon Surface modeling tab Apply button in the Tool Properties palette Click on all the profiles and validate again Two things can happen e The curves were correctly connected and the surface is automatically genera ted e The curves were incorrectly connected and the surface is generated as best Hexagon can but due to the missing points the results may not be satisfactory You should cancel verify the connections and start again CX B Watch the video Remarks All sections and profiles must be connected All ends of profiles must be connected to the first and last cross sections Unlike the Doub
83. ect which is independent of the initial one This means that when you perform an operation on the original model this operation is not automatically applied to the mirror copy If you want to automatically apply changes to the mirror copy a Clone op tion is available when creating the symmetrical object allowing you to create a true mirror copy any modification on one of the two mirrored object will be applied on the other one up until the clone property is suppressed either by welding the two parts together or by suppressing this dynamic property through the Dynamic Geometry pa nel 00 00 03 s Watch the vid o 79 Hexagon Modeling with Symmetry 2 PROS AND CONS The two above capabilities share numerous similarities but are very different Below is a list of the respective pros and cons of the Mode and the Tool 80 The Symmetry Mode allows you to modify vertices which are located on the symmetry plane since they are constrained to it The Symmetry Tool does not apply any geometric constraint The Symmetry Mode allows you to create asymmetrical objects and enables you to model locally with symmetry which is not allowed by the Symmetry Tool Some tools do not work with the Symmetry Mode in which case you will need to manually apply the operation on both halves of the model This is not the case with the cloned mirror copy which works with all tools Using a cloned mirror
84. ection of a circle or ellipse Use Select the Arc tool in the Lines tab of the Modelling palette Select the arc type in the Tool options palette or Select in the Lines sub palette the arc type you want to create The five options for creating arcs are created in the order indicated by their title In each case it is possible before validation to modify the number of points that make up the arc by entering a number in the Tool properties palette or by typing or on the numbers pad of the keyboard Validate the tool to finish the operation Remark To edit an arc use the Stretch tool in the Utilities tab 133 Hexagon Lines 4 1 233 CENTER START RADIUS ANGLE Pers 00060 6 Watch the video Remark This arc cannot be used to make a Composite Curve because it starts from the center and not from a point on the arc 4 2 25 START CENTER RADIUS ANGLE Watch the video 4 3 g3 3 START END MIDDLE J ww ws a Watch the video 134 Hexagon Lines 4 4 432 START END CENTER RADIUS 6 Watch the video Remark An option to this arc tool lets you create an opposite arc 4 5 i 3 START END TANGENT T SALLO Watch the video Hexagon Lines S POLYLINE Description The Polyline tool let
85. ecvia A DAZ PRODUCTIONS COMPANY HEXAGON M e yo ur way Hexagon Introduction Dear user Tm Hexagon Introduction About this documentation Firstly this document is in PDF format and needs Acrobat Reader version 7 0 or greater Another PDF reader Preview on the Macintosh for example will not let you use this manual to its fullest playing movies You can download Acrobat Reader from Adobe s website here http www adobe com products acrobat readstep2 html In order to illustrate the different explanations presented in this documentation we have used videos Each time you have access to a video an icon for Quicktime appears like this one From a technical point of view they are in Apple Quicktime format and re quire the Quicktime reader version 6 minimum By clicking on these images the default video reader on your computer is launched You can find Quicktime to download from Apple s website here Macintosh http www apple com quicktime download mac html Windows http www apple com quicktime download win html During the playing of the videos you will see red and blue circles appear They symbolize a left click and right click of the mouse respectively This way you know what click was used Hexagon Introduction The program described in this documentation is furnished under license It can only be used or copied in compliance with the terms
86. ed in the UV Paint tool tab A cursor looking like a red circle appears Click and drag on the object to pinch polygons This tracing will be done according to the different tool s options Validate the tool to end using the Pinch Tool Options Real time Symmetry If the Symmetry Mode is on this option will perform all operations in real time on the other side of the model This can cause slower performances when working on a complex model If this mode is off the symmetric calculation will be performed at the end of the action e g when the mouse button or the stylus will be released Size Lets you define the size of the brush This value can be handled with the pen tablet Strength Allows you to define the strength of the pinching This value can be handled with the pen tablet Hardness Lets you define the brush size attenuation allowing you to make a progressive pinch between the hardness radius and the influence size Stroke Defines the kind of Tracing Freehand continuous or in Dot mode Tool Channel The Pinch Tool operates only in the Displacement Channel 258 Hexagon Brushes and Painting Tool Shortcuts CTRL Command held invoke the Soften Tool while not releasing the Pinch Tool The cursor circle turns from red to blue CTRL Command Shift held allows you to change the influence radius of the tool click and drag from left to right increases the radius and from right to l
87. ed to create the lines which can then be used to make simple or complex sur faces There are many tools in the Surface Modeling tab which use lines or curves as their starting base You can draw open or closed curves Open curves can be combined with others by using Composite Curves 126 Hexagon Lines 1 RECTANGLE Description The Rectangle tool lets you create a rectangle by defining its two opposite corners Use Select the Rectangle tool in the Lines tool palette Set the first corner by clicking a point in the 3D workspace or by entering its coor dinates in the Object properties palette Do the same to set the opposite corner or enter the dimensions of the rectangle in the Tool properties palette Hexagon Lines 2 SQUARE Description The Square tool lets you create a square by defining its two opposite cor ners and the Hexagon software constrains the height and width together Use Select the Square tool in Lines sub palette Set the first corner by clicking a point in the 3D workspace or by entering its coor dinates in the Object properties palette Do the same to set the opposite corner or enter the dimensions of the square in the Tool properties palette 128 Hexagon Lines 3 lt CIRCLE Description The Circle tool lets you create a circle or ellipse by clicking on a start and finish point followed by the following options 3 1 CIRCLE FROM THE CENTER Left a Cir
88. eft de creases it From bottom to top increases the strength and from top to bottom decreases the strength The cursor circle turns from red to yellow 2 4 INFLATE Description The Inflate Tool lets you push polygons according to their respective nor mal which will make inflate areas of the surface The Inflate Tool will let you create easily all kinds of puffinesses bulges and swells Use Take the Inflate Tool located in the UV Paint tool tab Acursor looking like a red circle appears Click and drag on the object to inflate polygons This tracing will be done according to the different tool s options Validate the tool to end using the Inflate Tool Options Real time Symmetry If the Symmetry Mode is on this option will perform all operations in real time on the other side of the model This can cause slower performances when working on a complex model If this mode 15 off the symmetric calculation will be performed at the end of the action e g when the mouse button or the stylus will be released Size Lets you define the size of the brush This value can be handled with the pen tablet Strength Allows you to define the strength of the inflate action This value can be handled with the pen tablet Hardness Lets you define the brush size attenuation allowing you to make a progressive inflate between the hardness radius and the influence size Stroke Defines the kind of
89. el it must have a material containing a texture The model must have UVs and if possible UVs which do not overlap With no UVs it is impossible to display and thus paint textures Tool Shortcuts CTRL Command Shift held allows you to change the influence radius of the tool click and drag from left to right increases the radius since from right to left de creases it From bottom to up increases the strength and from up to bottom decreases the strength The cursor circle turns from red to yellow 262 Hexagon Brushes and Painting 2 6 Te BRUSH Description The Brush Tool brings together all Displacement and Painting capabi lities using the Brush Tool you will be able to apply Displacement Bump Color and Texture and Transparency even mixed if needed with textures to reveal For example this combined tool will let you create veins by painting the color simulta neously to the relief Use Take the Brush Tool located in the UV Paint tool tab Acursor looking like a red circle appears Choose if needed the working channel Displacement Bump Texture or Transparency Click and drag continuously on the object to paint displacement bump color transparency or to reveal a texture This tracing will be done according to the different tool s options When painting transparency the color is not taken into account but its correspon ding value in grey level for example a bright
90. er quality displacement texture 269 Hexagon The control panel XIV THE CONTROL PANEL The Control panel is the name of the group of tools on the bottom of the screen It brings together the functions of view navigation assistants and drawing It can be broken down into four parts 270 Hexagon The control panel 1 PRESENTATION In order Organization of 3D workspace 3D guides Centering tools 3D navigation tools 3D drawing styles Faces display Display Utilities 2 ORGANIZATION OF 3D WORKSPACE SPLIT VIEWS my a aB ee You can organize your 3D Workspace with different configurations By default Hexagon has the perspective view occupying the whole 3D workspace With help of the corresponding icons you can organize your 3D workspace in four views perspective above face side or in three combined views or again in one view like the default Hexagon The control panel 3 SNAPPING AND AXIS CONSTRAINTS 3D GUIDES fee E mm EE The 3D Guides are work assistants which let you control certain tools in the 3D space 3D Primitives and lines the Stretch tool the Snap align tool By default movement along these 3D guides is free or the cursor can move without constraints in the plane defined by the 2 axes Using the icon measurement gradations appear along the guide letting you snap the movement of the cursor to the gradations in cm in etc The icon g allows you to choose
91. era In this case these components will be grayed and could not be selected When the camera will move around the grayed components will be reactivated as previously On the left the grayed components and on the right after a camera modification the components are back 47 Hexagon 3D Manipulator 3 ADVANCED OPTIONS FOR THE MANIPULATORS 3 1 SET THE PIVOT The Pivot is the center reference point of the selected object Rotation and scale manipulators use this point as the center of rotation or the point of reference for sca ling This accessory lets you temporarily redefine the pivot as a position other than the default or define the position by modes of semi automatic placement such as Selection World and Bounding Box Use Click on the Set Pivot function in the Context Menu over the Manipulator Define the new pivot position by clicking in the scene on a point already existing on any object in the scene The pivot of the selected object is placed at the chosen point Notes The new position of the pivot isn t visible if there is no selection active on the object The position is only applied to the currently selected object The pivots of the other objects are not affected 48 Hexagon 3D Manipulator 3 2 RS RESET THE PIVOT This accessory lets you reset the pivot of an object if it had its pivot modified Use Select the object to have its pivot reset Click the Reset
92. erspective wiew The Custom Palette in floating mode 20 Hexagon General Principles and Concepts of Hexagon 2 WHAT IS A 3D OBJECT A 3D Object is made of points in space creating faces or facets between those points The faces are polygons in space which are represented on screen in perspective with colors and textures in order to give an illusion of a real object The 3D basic elements from left to right Faces vertices and edges The sides of faces are called edges The points that make up the faces are also called vertices A 3D Object is made up of faces combined together in various complexity which can be open surface or closed volume It is important to note that when modeling with polygons an object can appear curved or rounded but is always composed of few or many faces each having a slight angle giving the illusion of curvature Another type of 3D element you will be working with are called curves or lines or are also sometimes referred to as polylines These are made up of points connected by segments but with no face These are structures like a framework you will be wrapping in fabric to make up a 3D object 21 Hexagon General Principles and Concepts of Hexagon 4 Control vertices Control Curve X Poy Points y Curves components points segments and eventually control points and control curves Lines are the basis of construction letting you create sections and profiles
93. ertex Modeling 1 EpceE Description The Edge tool has three associated tools Extract along Extract around and Extract fillet which work only on the edges of objects Since these tools are very simi lar being combined into one tool makes it easier to use A special manipulator appears on the selection made of three elements each corresponding to a function of the tool 9 lt gt The Extract along manipulator e The Extract around manipulator E The Extract fillet manipulator The Edge Tools special Manipulators Each of these tools is also available individually in order to assign a keyboard shortcut to them Remaks Using one of the Edge tool on a selection of polygons will convert it into a Boundary and will apply the operation on the selection which will have been converted into an edge selection Edge tools work on a simple selection as well as on non contiguous multi selected edges Keyboard shortcut E 92 Hexagon Vertex Modeling 1 1 EA EXTRACT AROUND Description The Extract around tool lets you create two edges parallel and around the original edge or edges depending on the selection made before The original edge stays selected after the operation is finished Use Select one or several edges of a surface or volume Select the Edge tool or Extract around tool in the Vertex modeling tab Click and drag on the manipulator that appear
94. es humps and to add very fine details using brushes with pre defined patterns enabling you to reach results which are much more realistic than using traditional 3D modeling techniques All the displacement modeling features are based on an important concept multi resolution smoothing This technique is independent from the basic structure of the 3D mesh which is the support of displacement modeling It is entirely possible to model for example an animal or a human head from a simple sphere The user is emancipated from a complex model to reach a complex result However although the use itself of the displacement modeling tools is pretty simple and obvious there are some issues to keep in mind in order to get a quality result These issues are mainly linked to the concepts behind displacement modeling as well as to the way to work Hexagon Surface Displacement Modeling 1 CONCEPTS Before starting any modeling process which involves displacement tools it is important to consider several points 1 1 STRUCTURE MESH DENSITY AND SMOOTHING It is first necessary to understand how the Displacement works and its rela tionship with mesh density and with the smoothing concept Displacement tools base themselves on a mesh which to the tools will modify according to several parameters The less compact the mesh will be the less detailed the deformations will be To increase the precision of the displacement sculpture it is
95. ess to your models The Dynamic Geometry palette lets you control and edit your objects history letting you fine tune to get the final result you want The Control Panel gives access to the principal functions of view display navigation and the style of how your 3D objects are represented in the 3D Workspace The Materials panel contains the Materials properties and domain properties palettes giving you control over how you texture your model The Contextual Menu which provides direct access to various options and ac cessories and whose content depends on the type of element on which it 15 activated by default right click The Contextual Menu 15 available on a 3D object and on Manipulators Reset pivot point ioe et m i it ot i nt O14 2 3 4 7 Symmetry Lasso selection Edge loop Edge ring Connect selection Select all Ctrl 4 Unselect all Ctrl Shit 4 Advanced selection The Hexagon contextual panel Hexagon General Principles and Concepts of Hexagon 1 1 USER INTERFACE CUSTOMIZATION It is possible to customize the Hexagon 2 user interface in order to organize it according to the specific needs of your current creation You can detach palettes which are located in the side panels resize them re organize them or even lay them out on two columns Click and drag the palette to detach it Move the palette window where you want on the screen or on a second s
96. exagon a 16 1 The organization of the workspace 005 17 1 1 User Interface Customization 005 19 1 2 The Custom Palette s cqutcxcatade heeet ine en tastes 20 2 What is a 3D object 0 cee eee 21 3 How do you create a 3 23 3 1 Construction 6 4 465044 04 0s 540 nannaa aeara 23 A E E E E 23 3 3 Assembly 5 ote ose lod ap dead aa eyo Bh ee 23 4 Hexagon on Mac OS X 0 ees 24 4 1 Keyboard keys and 5 5 24 4 2 Navigating with the mouse 05 24 Working in 3D space Navigation Wor king Planes and Guides 25 eehus aeeuus 26 1 1 Navigation by the Control panel 26 1 2 Mouse navigation 0 0 27 1 3 Keyboard navigation 00 0 c eee 21 1 4 Space Mouse 28 2 The three working PANES 29 2 1 The absolute 29 2 2 The camera 8 30 2 3 Specific 65 30 Oy ol EE 31 4 Precise input relative mode absolute mode origins 33 Hexagon Table of Contents IV How tools function in Hexagon 34
97. f a face the edges around a plane for example the manipulator by default stays the same move rotate scale or universal but when the edge is moved a new face 15 created from the selected edge 97 Hexagon Vertex Modeling From left to right an extrusion on edges on a border of a face Use Select one or several edges or faces on a surface or volume Select the Fast extrude tool in the sub palette of the Vertex Modeling Tab According to the extrusion desired click drag on the element of the manipulator to create the extrusion Remark The extruded face or edge remains selected making it easy to continue to Fast extrude again as many times as desired 00060_ amp 09 60 amp 0960 Watch the video Keyboard shortcut Ctrl different extrusion possibilities exist depending on the selection 98 Hexagon Vertex Modeling 3 L Move ALONG Description This tool lets you move an edge along its adjacent face It is a very useful tool for fine tuning for example moving an edge loop on an existing surface like around an eye ie a ARE A P BINS yw aa ZANE O nee From left to right the initial edges the move along operation and the final result Use Select one or several edges on an surface or a volume Select the Move along tool in
98. f faces to hide Then click on the Hide selected faces icon from the control panel G To reveal the hidden faces on an object select the object and click on the Show hidden faces icon from the control panel 9 You can also click on the Show hidden faces icon from the Scene tree dialog near the object s name To reveal the hidden faces on all objects click on the Show hidden faces icon from the control panel GP Remarks Selecting entities on an object with hidden faces will not affect the hidden vertices edges or faces For example a Loop selection will only include the edges displayed on the screen not the invisible ones Subsequently all operations performed will not affect masked polygons However global operations such as moving rotating smoothing objects will affect all polygons even the masked ones 00 00 03 pmm 22 WA Watch the video 68 Hexagon Selections 7 ISOLATE SELECTION When there are numerous objects in the scene it is sometimes difficult to navigate the scene or to work on a specific object The Isolate Selection function temporarily masks all the objects in the scene except the selected one making a more comfortable working environment Use Select the object to isolate In the Selection pull down menu choose Isolate Selection All unselected objects disappear from the scene To have the whole scene displayed again just c
99. ferent ways they work with points edges and faces selection tools 2 1 PAINT This mode lets you draw a selection by clicking and dragging the cursor over the form like a brush on an object leaving behind it the selected elements Any click on the object outside the selection deselects the existing selection and starts a new one The default mode for the left click of the mouse is available in the selection menu LR Watch the video 2 2 BDRAG This mode lets you move the selection according to the last movement made by the manipulator without even clicking on it Hexagon software keeps in memory the last operation and applies it to the new element when you click and drag This is very practical for making fast changes and fine tuning When dragging over unselected items it selects these items like it does in paint mode Alternative mode for the mouse left click which can be used by clicking the Drag icon in the Selection palette 54 Hexagon Selections 2 3 RECTANGLE LASSO This mode lets you make a selection with a rectangular lasso Frame the ele ments to select with a click and drag of the mouse When the mouse button is released all the items within the rectangle are selected The default mode for the right click of the mouse is available in the selection menu When using the rectangular lasso the Shift key adds and the CTRL key sub tracts from the selection However you must first la
100. ffective for more complex operations such as a using one volume to cut into another Boolean operations where an adjustment of the scale or position of one volume is updated instantly on the final shape The power of Dynamic Geometry offered by Hexagon permits the fine tuning of each step and parameter of construction even after the model 15 well advanced Obviously conserving all the steps of construction can mean that editing an early step can use a lot of computer resources reducing the interactivity as well as consuming more memory 74 Hexagon Dynamic Geometry 3 CONTROLLING THE DYNAMIC GEOMETRY LE VELS 3 1 GLOBAL CONTROL As described above to better control this powerful tool Hexagon proposes to either work without DG only keep the DG for the creation of surfaces and of course keeping the full DG history 3 2 COLLAPSING THE DYNAMIC GEOMETRY It is also possible to collapse the DG This operation means that you can flatten all or only part of the DG Tree Hexagon will forget the steps for the levels which you no longer are able to edit later do this use the icon which is next to each level of the DG Tree Click on the icon at the level you want to become the new base of the Tree On clicking on the icon a the highest level you collapse the entire tree including the smoothing making the points edges and faces available for individual editing 3 3 6 REMOVING THE LAST DYNAMIC OPERATION Inversely
101. g on the way you have created your material before starting to paint First solution You have created a new material and in the texture channel you have loaded an existing image from your computer When saving your file the texture will be automatically updated replacing the file loaded into your material The texture remains at the same location as when it was loaded Attention If the texture you loaded into your material 15 in a format which does not support Alpha channel not in RGBA format all the transparency information will be lost when you will reload your file Please take care to load all your textures with images which are in a format which supports alpha channel such as PNG Second solution You have created a new material and in the texture chan nel you have loaded a blank image in a predefined format for example 1024x1024 Texture When saving your file the texture will be automatically created in the same folder as the open document The texture will be saved in PNG format using the same name as the open docu ment with a numeric suffix For further saves the created image will be replaced by updates of the texture Remark As mentioned in the first method the transparency is considered as an Alpha Channel of the color Both data will be stored in the same file 266 Hexagon Brushes and Painting 3 2 BumP TEXTURES Regarding the export of textures two solutions are available depending
102. g process to get a more and more detailed shape 1 3 TRUE OR FAKE MODELING For performances issues some micro details do not necessarily need to be modeled It 15 absolutely possible to cheat using a bump texture For example it would not be necessary to model the skin grain except maybe for extremely close up views So before starting to highly smooth your model consider what must be modeled with geometry and what can be simulated with bump 239 Hexagon Surface Displacement Modeling 1 4 PREPARING THE 3D BEFORE DISPLACEMENT MODELING The polygonal structure which will be used as support to the displacement mo deling is very important Even if you do not have to worry about the topology while sculpting with brushes the polygon arrangement can have a significant impact Basically displacement tools push and pull the polygons of the smoothed ob ject at the highest level of geometry There is no local creation of additional polygons Just working with highly subdivided surfaces will allow you to create more and more fine details Thus if the base polygons are not really square but rather rectangular or even stretched the displacement deformations could produce faulty results Below is an example of a brush used on two grids the first one only has square cells since the second one has rectangular cells You can notice the difference of results between both Of course this issue will be e
103. h format e Additional extensions allows you to add more file extensions Extension to the default one For instance dxf dxf2D for Autocad files e Export scale factor works for import and export For instance setting this value to 100 for the 3DS format means that the size of models created in Hexagon will be multiplied by 100 and the size of models imported from 3DS into Hexagon will be divided by 100 e Unit of the file to import or export e Coordinate system mapping Each 3D file format and each 3D software appli cation may have a different orientation of the coordinate system In Hexagon the X axis is the width Y is the height and Z is the depth Depending on the orientation required set the axis accordingly and Hexagon will apply the cor responding transformation during import or export e Export Uvs some file formats supports exporting UVS coordinates for texture mapping This option allows you to choose to export them or not e Export Normales some file formats supports exporting vertex normals This option allows you to choose to export them or not e For the Hexagon native file format it is possible to define if the textures created within Hexagon will be embedded in the data file or saved as external files by default 291 Hexagon Imports Exports XIX IMPORTS EXPORTS Hexagon allows you to communicate with other 3D software products for other modeling operations or obviously for preparing materials te
104. h the video Keyboard shortcut K 4 3 G SELECT BETWEEN The Select between tool lets you connect a selection on a surface after defi ning its start and finish The tool only works on simple cases like a direct path Since this tool is based on Loop and Ring it will stop at the same types of problems which would stop those other tools The Select between tool works with faces and edges but not with points Use Select edges or faces to mark the beginning and end Click on the icon Select between in the Selection palette 57 Hexagon Selections Hexagon adds to the selection all the edges or faces found between your indicated start and finish Note If the Select between tool gives no result it is because there was no result possi ble such as the start and finish selection were not aligned on the surface in the same loop ring Kapp ny e Watch the video Keyboard shortcut J 4 4 ONE OVER N FOR Loop RING AND SELECT BETWEEN After extending the selection with the Loop Ring and Select Between tools it is possible to set the selection step to select One over N elements in the loop This feature allows you for example to have one entity selected over 3 along a loop which will help you in doing specific operations and avoid having to do complex selection operations Use In edge or face mode do a Loop Ring or Select Between selection In
105. hape 3 1 PRINCIPLES To use this tool the major thing to define is the Seam s on the mesh A Seam is a Selection of contiguous edges on the 3D model from which the UV mesh will be unwrapped These Seams must be defined in specific areas They must be created in order to get the optimal unfolded model avoiding UVs distortions which are too obvious Additionally Pinpoints will help the tool to make a uniform and well propor tioned unfolding according to the fact that this unfolding will be performed around these Pinpoints A set of seams on a face 233 Hexagon Creating and Managing UVs Sz UNFOLDING UVS Use Before starting to use the Unwrap tool select the edges which will define the Seam lines Selection can be done entirely or updated within the Unwrap tool Select the Unwrap tool located in the UV amp Paint tab if edges are already selec ted they will be converted into Seams and will be displayed in dark blue color In the Properties Panel choose in the Define pull down menu the type of ele ments to add Seams or Pinpoints e In the first case the Selection Mode will turn to Edge Mode allowing you to complete the selection which has been previously done Alternatively create your Seams selection now e In the second case the Vertex Selection Mode is activated letting you add Pinpoints The selection works in auto reverse mode a click will select a point a click on a selec
106. have placed your target point or the virtual eye Validate the tool to continue working 273 Hexagon The control panel 4 3D NAVIGATION TOOLS The os icon turns your camera around the target point Keyboard shortcut Alt left mouse button The icon pans around the scene or displace laterally such as camera traveling in film terminology Keyboard shortcut Alt right mouse button Or Ctrl Option right mouse button on Macintosh or the mouse wheel button The iy icon zooms in and out Keyboard shortcut Alt the mouse wheel button or the mouse wheel Holding down the mouse button on an icon navigates directly on the button or click on a button turns your mouse cursor into that icon letting you navigate directly in the 3D Workspace by click dragging Use the A icon to return to your Manipulators 274 Hexagon The control panel 5 3D DRAWING STYLES You can control how your 3D objects are displayed on screen Wireframe Lit wireframe Flat solid Flat solid and edges Smoothed solid Smoothed solid and edges e OOGO O With lightmap none by default Holding down and this button functions as a pop up menu with other lightmap choices Release the mouse button on the icon of your choice These lightmaps accentuate the perception of relief by simulating multiple light sources or showing reflections m Advanced lighting two options are available Real time Shadows or Ambient Occl
107. he Font menu lets you choose your typeface Bold and Italic applies these styles to the chosen typeface Alignment lets you choose center left and right starting at the reference point Depth sets the amount of extrusion of the type Scale lets you enlarge or reduce the generated outline of the type Tessellation lets you increase or decrease the number of lines used to describe a curve The higher the number of tessellation the smoother the text will be Bevel lets you apply a bevel to the face and back of the type The text zone lets you type in the text to be created Hard returns are done with the Enter key Validate the tool by clicking on the Validate button 8 amp 9 Hexagon 3D Primitives Text properties Font Bald _ _ E Italic E Alignment Tesselation a Bevel Text 30 Text The 3D text editor Remark Hexagon software uses only the TrueType fonts installed in the system folder of the computer For efficiency and further editing avoid giving a tessellation too high 10 maxi mum 90 Hexagon Vertex Modeling X VERTEX MODELING The Vertex modeling tab of the Modeling panel contains tools for creating and editing polyhedric shapes in a freehand style by starting off with basic 3D forms Polygons or 3D Primitives Most tools in this section do not support Dynamic Geometry no matter what DG mode is chosen 91 Hexagon V
108. herical Gizmo The Cylindrical Gizmo 9 The Planar Gizmo The Cubic Gizmo The Gizmo Editor Y The UV Unfold Tool XA The UV Stretch Manipulator Each Gizmo corresponds to the same tool but with a different starting shape spherical cylindrical planar or cubic You will project the texture map onto the object as if it was wrapped on the geometry of the object Use Select the gizmo of which the shape matches closest the shape of your object A manipulator appears around the object and the image 15 projected on the object following the shape chosen The Gizmo Manipulator functions like the Universal Manipulator In the Tool properties palette you have access to e A scrolling menu of gizmos already used in order to reuse its basic characte 226 Hexagon Creating and Managing UVs ristics A new button allowing you to create a new Gizmo either based on the Gizmo chosen from the list or one of the default Gizmos e Three axis buttons for placing the Gizmo s orientation to the X SY thy ou Z amp Except for the Cubic Gizmo which has its own UV mapping one UV space for the whole cube one UV space for each pair of opposite faces of the cube and one UV space per face of the cube e Use these to reinitialize the Gizmo to the correct plane e Buttons Invert U Invert V and Exchange UV which allow you to flip the image Use these tools and options to globally place your texture o
109. his object You can edit materials in the Materials Palette in the Materials panel on the left of the screen by default or through the Windows pull down menu then choosing Materials 219 Hexagon Materials in Hexagon Material The Material Panel Note Ifno material has been created the window is empty 220 Hexagon Materials in Hexagon 3 MATERIALS MANAGEMENT There must be a selected object in the scene in order to create a new material 3 1 CREATING A NEW MATERIAL e Select the object to which you want to apply a new material e Click on the New button creating a new material e Hexagon 2 shows the parameters of the material diffuse and highlight color transparency highlight spread material type e If you choose a material type Checker or Image texture map you can use the parameter U and V repetition which will let you activate or not the repetition of this texture map on your model e If you want to create a new blank image type texture you can choose from different predefined sizes from 128x128 up to 4096x4096 This image will be saved in the same folder than the Hexagon document in PNG file format e If you choose an Image texture map Hexagon 2 will present a standard file import window to locate your file and you can choose whether to mix your imported image with the base color modulate or override the base color with your image decal 221 Hexagon Materials in Hexagon
110. hoose a symmetry plane based on the X Y or Z axis The Symmetry parameters in the Object Property Panel Of course this function works only if the object is already totally or partially symmetrical a small tolerance value being applied This plane is represented by a green rectangle If the object is largely asymmetrical this function will be deactivated If the object is symmetrical only on one plane the symmetry is activated only on that plane In case of an object having several symmetrical planes if the plane acti vated by default is not the one you want just switch to the desired one by clicking in the X Y or Z icons The Symmetry Mode can be deactivated at any time turning the displayed Symmetry plane from green to grey This can be useful to perform a specific operation that you do not want to be applied symmetrically You will then be able to reactivate it with Hexagon memorizing the symmetry plane Remark The symmetry axis is based on the object axis and not the world axis 78 Hexagon Modeling with Symmetry Fichier Modifier Pr sent Sacco Watch the video 1 2 THE SYMMETRY TOOL AND THE CLONE FUNCTION CLONE DFF The Symmetry tool options and the Clone feature Contrary to the Symmetry Mode the Symmetry Tool allows you to create a copy of the current object according to a plane specified within the tool and eventually with an offset By default the symmetry tool creates a new obj
111. ic domain S290 G60 2 Watch the video 220 Hexagon Creating and Managing UVs 2 THE UV EDITOR The UVs are the projection of 2D information onto a 3D mesh It 15 pretty convenient and useful to be able to visualize and work on them in an abstract 2D view Hexagon 2 delivers a specific UV Editor which displays the UV information and lets you work on UVs using specifically appropriate tools manipulators and options 2 1 INTERFACE The UV Editor is composed of several parts UWY Grid Ss Repetition i on Ll o ee Color 5 Split 5 t At the center the workspace where U Vs of the selected object will be displayed A square representing the UV space The texture of the model will be displayed 229 Hexagon Creating and Managing UVs here It is possible to modify the display in order to use texture repetitions and to in crease the workspace A tool bar is displayed on the top of the window containing the tools that will allow you to works on UVs Apreferences and utilities bar is displayed at the bottom of the window This working environment is slightly different from the 3D Views especially since we are working here with a 2D View like in a drawing or image editing software Even if the displayed UV mesh may look like an orthogonal 3D view it is of course impossible to turn around the model The navigation works in a similar way as in the 3D Orthogonal V
112. ical plane XY and the transversal plane YZ The axis indicator on the lower left of the 3D Workspace is the 3D trihedron When you move around the 3D space you can see that the active working plane is sym bolized by a white square touching two of the axes By default Hexagon automatically chooses the best working plane for your view or the one that is the most perpendicular to the camera position Z The 3D trihedron You can force Hexagon to make another working plane active that is not auto matically proposed by clicking on the faces of the 3D trihedron to work in that plane Click again on that same face to return to automatic mode 29 Hexagon Working in 3D space 2 2 THE CAMERA WORKING PLANE You also might not want to work with the default XYZ planes but with what is called the Camera plane This can be compared to having a piece of paper that is always held out in front of you turning as you change your view always staying perpendicular to your field of view The Default and Camera planes switch button Activate this plane by clicking on the Camera button on the Manipulators pa lette Come back to the three absolute working planes by clicking on the XYZ button 2 3 SPECIFIC WORKING PLANES In some cases you may want to work on a plane defined by the face of an object the side of a pyramid for example in order to manipulate an element on this plane or perpendicular to it Usage Click on the Custo
113. ick the y icon in the Manipulators palette to hide or show the manipula tors Keyboard shortcut Space bar 45 Hexagon 3D Manipulator 2 4 DELETE Lets you delete the selected 3D entity This function is available only by the Edit menu or by pressing the Delete key 90GC0 2 Watch the video 2 5 DISSOLVE Lets you delete a selected entity but reconstruct the geometry around it This function works on Select points Select edges and Select faces mode This function is available only by the Edit menu or by pressing the Backspace key Watch the video 46 Hexagon 3D Manipulator 2 6 COPY FROM THE MANIPULATOR In Object selection mode when holding the CTRL key Command on Macintosh while moving rotating or scaling the transformation 1s applied to a copy of the original object This allows you to speed up simple copy operations Remark This operation does not work on curves because CTRL key Command on Macintosh with the manipulators is a shortcut of the Fast Extrude tool and as such it will generate an edge extrusion 2 7 DISPLAYING THE UNIVERSAL MANIPULATOR COMPONENTS The Universal Manipulator has numerous components displayed in a small screen area According to the point of view it will sometimes be that case that theses components can hinder visibility especially when a Manipulator axis 1s oriented toward the cam
114. ide of the model This can cause slower performances when working on a complex model If this mode 15 off the symmetric calculation will be performed at the end of the action e g when the mouse 254 Hexagon Brushes and Painting button or the stylus will be released Size Lets you define the size of the brush This value can be handled with the pen tablet Strength Allows you to define the depth height of the displaced polygons This value can be handled with the pen tablet Hardness Lets you define the brush size attenuation allowing you to make a blur between the hardness radius and the influence size Brush Lets you choose a brush pattern Stroke Defines the kind of Tracing Freehand continuous or in Dot mode Tool Channels The Displacement Brush Tool works on the following channels Displacement which allows you to displace the geometry Bump which lets you simulate a geometric displacement Important working in this channel necessitate that the UV mapping has been previously performed Remarks To be able to paint Bump on a model it needs to have a material affected to it If there is no texture in the Bump channel a default texture will be automatically created The model must also have UVs and if possible UVs which do not overlap With no UVs it is impossible to display textures Tool Short Cuts Shift key held performs the opposite operation polygons will be pushed instead of being
115. idth of the current section from the precedent one 9 Sweep The movement of your cursor defines the height and angle of the current section from the precedent one 118 Hexagon Vertex Modeling e Axial The movement of your cursor defines the height of the current section from the precedent one and keeps the same angle creating an extension e Radial The movement of your cursor defines the width of the current section from the precedent one keeping it at the same height creating an inset Click to create as many new sections as necessary In the Tool properties palette enter in exact numbers for the height and width of each section Validate to place the last section and finish the operation Options Block On Off lets you join or not the polygons that are next to each other while sweeping or extruding Left the original object with selected polygons At the center the result of the Block On option Right the result of the Block off option E Clone On Off lets you clone or not an extrusion or profile when several ex trusions are made at the same time of selections that are not adjacent Available only in Full Dynamic Geometry mode a a E eoo0oo amp 94 Watch the video 119 Hexagon Vertex Modeling 14 TWEAK Description The Tweak tool can quickly modify geometry of an object by moving its structure The goal of this tool is to visu
116. iews It means that it is possible to make pans and zooms using the mouse the keyboard or dedicated navigation icons Remark On low resolution screens 1024x768 it may happen that the default layout which splits the screen into two vertical columns could mask a part of the preferences and utilities toolbar located at the bottom of the window On such configurations for a better comfort choose the layout which splits the screen into two horizontal rows or a full screen display of the UV view 230 Hexagon Creating and Managing UVs 2 2 SELECTION AND MANIPULATORS The selection within the UV space 15 similar to that within the 3D space and the selection modes operate the same way Turn to Face selection mode for example by clicking on the appropriate icon in the Selection Palette and you will be able to select your UVs by faces This is the same with the Vertex Edge and Auto Selection Modes Furthermore selecting an item in the 3D View will select the corresponding UVs in the UV Editor and conversely This way it will be sometimes easier to perform selections in the UV view and sometimes in the 3D View Once you have selected the desired elements you can use the 3D Manipulators to edit your UVs either to Translate Rotate Scale your elements or using the Universal Manipulator The only difference is that they will work in two dimensions only Remark The Loop Ring and Select Between selection utilities ope
117. if needed Validate the tool to terminate the operation When applying thickness to a 2D curve Select the curve Select the Thickness tool in the Surface modeling tab Define the thickness value in the Tool properties palette or use the keys In the Tool properties palette define the number of sides making up the tube Validate the tool to terminate the operation Option The Orientation option lets you change the side the thickness is created on from interior to exterior if needed Watch the video Remarks The orientation by default 15 set by the Normals of the object If the Normals are not unified crossed surfaces could appear Use the Inverse Normals tool to fix this In the case of a closed volume a cube for example if you apply a thickness to the interior it will not be visible and will increase the amount of polygons for the object Avoid doing this unless for example you are planning to apply texture with transpa rency and refraction for the illusion of glass later in a rendering program such as DAZ Carrara ra Hexagon Surface modeling tab 0 Y OFFSET Description The Offset tool lets you create an offset surface at a constant distance to the original Example of use When you need an identical form offset by a certain distance from the origi nal form the Offset tool is very useful Unlike the Thickness tool this one does not connect the two elements together which le
118. ight the two inserted points Use Select the line or curve that you want to add a point to Select the Insert Points tool in the Lines tool palette Click on the segment of the line you want to insert a point to The point will be added on the clicked spot Repeat as many times as needed Validate the tool to stop inserting points Remark By default the points insertions are performed on the lowest Dynamic Geometry level 149 Hexagon Lines POLYLINE TESSELATION Description This tool divides a segment of a polyline in its middle from a previously done selection This function is quite similar to the Insert point tool but can be used on multiple selections On the left the original Polyline with 3 edges selected On the right the same edges subdivided and the vertices selected Use Select the polyline you want to edit Choose Edge Selection mode and select the edges to subdivide Click on the Line Tesselation tool in the Lines tab The selected edges are automatically subdivided by their middle Remark This tool can be used to control curves of objects built with the Dynamic Geometry 150 Hexagon Lines 17 CLOSE Description The Close tool closes open curves Left the open curve Right the closed curve Use Select the curve you want to close Click on the Close tool in the sub palette of the Lines tool palette If the curve i
119. in the Tool properties palette Move the mouse to define the height of the cylinder and validate or enter the di mensions in the Tool properties palette White edges show the openings which you can click on them to close indicated by them turning red In the Tool properties palette define the number of horizontal and vertical sections making up the cylinder and validate the tool to create the cylinder Options Close all This option closes all openings Remark It is also possible to drag and drop the tool icon into the 3D scene which will create the primitive located where you will have released the mouse button The Primitive dimensions will be automatically defined according to the 3D View size Keyboard shortcut Increase or decrease the number of sections 86 Hexagon 3D Primitives 4 PLATONIC SHAPES Description Platonic Shapes are primitives corresponding to certain mathematical prin cipals which would be difficult to model from scratch Hexagon proposes four kinds Platonic Shapes Tetrahedron Octahedron Icosahedron and Dodecahedron From left to right the differnts kinds of Platonic Shapes Use Select the desired Platonic Shape in the sub palette of the 3D Primitives Tab Platonic Shapes are created in the same way as cubes Remark It is also possible to drag and drop the tool icon into the 3D scene which will create the primitive located where you will have released
120. iption The Curve Extraction tool lets you create a curve from a selection of points on a surface mesh Left the selected edges Right the extracted curve Use Select the item from which you want to extract the curve Use the Select points mode in the Selection palette Select on the mesh one or several points that are connected between them they have to be continuous representing an open or closed contour Click on the Curve Extraction tool in the sub palette of the Lines tool palette and a polyline will be created out of each selected point if your selection is valid 147 Hexagon Lines 14 CURVE OFFSET Description The Curve Offset tool creates a curve next to the original curve at a given distance which stays parallel to the original curve for the length of the curve Left the original curve In the middle an external offset Right an internal offset Use Select the curve that you want to be offset Select the Offset Curve tool in the Lines tool palette The tool creates the offset curve with a default amount By using the Tool Properties palette you can change the offset amount and whether the offset is interior or exterior Keyboard shortcuts More or less offset Space bar Choice of orientation 148 Hexagon Lines 15 A INSERT POINTS Description The Insert Points tool lets you fine tune a curve or its control polyline Left the original curve R
121. ith muscles veins and prominent sinews To sculpt the base e g the global shape of the muscles we will work with a low smoothing range Since there are few details to handle the modeling is performed on a global shape Then we add a smoothing range which lets us refine the shape of the muscle to furrow spade it more precisely and add details and definition to the shape To continue it will be possible to add very fine details such as veins or pro minent tendons under the skin For this step we need a lot of polygons to work with acuteness and detail We thus need to add one or two maybe more smoothing ranges Should we see any global shape issue on the model it is still possible thanks to the multi resolution smoothing to work back on a less detailed level of the object such as in our case the smoothing level in which the muscle has been modeled Then with the appropriate tools we can modify the global shape as wanted If we go back to the highest level of smoothing the one where veins and tendons have been sculpted we will see that they have been kept unchanged They even followed the global deforma tion of the muscle So keep in mind this concept of working at different level of smoothing from a 241 Hexagon Surface Displacement Modeling rough shape to a detailed one You will always have the possibility to go back to modify a more global aspect of your shape without loosing the fine details you will have mo deled
122. just make the rectangle for the window and subtract it from the wall in your scene On the left the wall form with a polyline for the size of the window and on the right the resulting form Use Select the A element which will be the first operator Select the Boolean tool in the Surface modeling tab Select the B element which will be the second operator By default Hexagon subtracts B from the A object Choose the type of operation union difference intersection in the Tool proper ties panel or look at a preview of all the possibilities with the keys Validate the tool to finish the operation Hexagon Surface modeling tab Note you can also choose for element B a curve which can punch a hole in the form of element A For example to create a perforated grid Make multiple copies of circles over a plane then use the Boolean tool on them and in a few clicks get the desired results The circles are automatically transformed into a volume cutting into the first shape In this case the depth of the cut can be regulated using the Stretch tool Options A Boolean operation creates a surface or volume by combining in different ways the two elements There are 12 possible combinations accessible in the Tool options panel either by clicking on the chosen icon or by using the keys to cycle through the choices Oj Remove A from B Union of A and B Q Intersection shared part of A and B
123. le sweep tool it is impossible to have a profile go past a section The tool does not have a close option However you can use the Close tool but this will flatten the Dynamic Geometry For ease of editing later on use the same number of points between sections and between profiles even 1f it is not mandatory 163 Hexagon Surface modeling tab 9 e EXTRUDE LINE Description The Extrude line tool lets you create a surface or volume from a section or a profile previously created The result gives an object which the profile is positio ned on each point of the section in alignment with the center of the section Not to be confused with a lathe operation which places the section at each point on the profile while modifying its radius With the Extrude line tool it is possible to extrude from a star shape square etc Example of use The Extrude line tool is one of the most common and basic tools of surface modeling A well known example is a glass of wine just draw a circle for the section and draw a profile matching the curve of the glass and you will quickly have a perfect result From left to right the section and profile curves and the resulting surface Two methods of use First method Extrusion from a profile Create a section and a profile Be sure the section is perpendicular to the profile Select the section Select the Extrude line tool in the Surface modeling tab Click
124. lection deselects the active selection and makes a new selection This avoids having to manually deselect the previous weld if several welds are necessary 115 Hexagon Vertex Modeling 11 Q AVERAGE WELD Description The Average weld tool lets you define a zone of influence or distance on a selection of points If within the selection there are points within the distance they will be welded together Example of use This tool is very useful after a Symmetry operation where you want to weld the two parts together In many cases the points around a symmetry plane are not aligned and it is necessary to weld them one at a time With this tool you only need to select the whole area of the plane of symmetry and to input a low value for the zone of influence so that only the very close points are welded Use Select the Average weld tool in the Vertex Modeling Tab Select the points to weld In the tool properties palette input a distance value The higher the number the more the vertices will be welded together The preview is updated in real time Validate to finish with the tool Bk IRISI Watch the video 116 Hexagon Vertex Modeling 12 amp TARGET WELD Description The Target weld tool lets you weld a vertex or edge to another of the same From left to right the edge to be welded The target selection and the final result Use Select a vertex or an edge on a surface or a
125. let you better appreciate the curvatures by projecting a spherical image simulating a lighting environment A set of default Lightmaps is available which offers a range various effects to light your models well according to the specific need Activating the Lightmaps is performed through the Control Panel It 1s possible to replace existing lightmaps with custom ones you will create Please note that it is not possible to add new lightmaps it is only possible to replace default ones with new ones of your choice The lightmap files are located in the data pic Default folder of the application installation folder and are named rt_lightmap png and rt_lightmap h png for the thumbnail 6 2 ws REAL TIME SHADOWS To better visualize the relief of your objects as well as their respective positions in the 3D space it is possible to activate the shadows display The display engine will project a shadow generated by a virtual lightsource located up and left to the camera Thus according to the navigation the shadow pro jection will be updated since shadows will be projected from a lightsource which will follow your movement in space Note objects in the scene project shadows between each other Activating the Real time Shadows is performed through the Control Panel Remark It is possible to cumulate Real time Shadows with Lightmaps 276 Hexagon The control panel 6 3 AMBIANT OCCLUSION It is often nece
126. lick again on Isolate Selection in the menu The hidden objects will reappear immediately Remark Isolate Selection does not make the objects invisible like the Mask tool does So using the Unmask tool will not make the objects hidden by the Isolate Selection function visible 00 00 03 _ DOMAN Watch the video Shortcut CTRL Command Shiftt l 69 Hexagon Dynamic Geometry VIL DYNAMIC GEOMETRY IN HEXAGON Dynamic Geometry DG permits Hexagon to memorize all the construction steps of an object giving you the ability to change an earlier step and update automati cally dynamic all the following steps to recreate the finished form geometry 70 Hexagon Dynamic Geometry 1 MODES Dynamic Geometry The Dynamic Geometry palette This is a very powerful concept which can also make modeling more complex because the form is more abstract and is recalculated Hexagon gives you the choice of working with three levels of Dynamic Geometry that are appropriate to the object you are modeling balancing the tradeoff between power and simplicity You can choose one of the following levels of Dynamic Geometry No GD no Dynamic Geometry means no steps are memorized Only smoothing remains dynamic Restricted DG Only the steps of surface construction are memorized You can then modify dynamically all the sections and profiles that construct a
127. m plane enabled EA button on the Manipulators sub pa lette Click on a face of the object corresponding to the plane you want to work in Hexagon changes the working plane to match it Click on the Reset the working planes planes This functions FA button to come back to the default Either by flipping the grid guide representing the working plane a or by giving the impression of flipping the scene with the grid guide staying the same These two actions have the same result and you can choose whichever you are most comfortable with When you have no further use for the Custom working planes reset the planes to the default so that further created objects will not be created in an unwanted orien tation The working planes are taken into account when lines and forms are created or certain tools are used The 3D manipulators is an exception If the manipulators are on Selection or Bbox mode these planes are ignored See the chapter on the 3D 30 Hexagon Working in 3D space Manipulators for more details The three modes of the 3D Manipulators in the Sub palette 3 3D GUIDES The 3D Guides while drawing a Polyline Hexagon uses in some cases 3D guides two perpendicular axes T that can also show incremental measurements They permit you to work precisely with distance measurements within certain tools They also let you restrict your work to one axis only These 3D gui
128. metry mode 15 activated on the selec ted object To select faces on distinct objects select first both objects Shift click for the mul ti selection then switch to face selection mode and click on faces which will serve as bases for the Bridge while holding the Shift key 123 Hexagon Vertex Modeling 17 S DISSOCIATE Description The Dissociate tool disjoins the object structure around an edge a vertex or a face This splits for example two faces that share an edge and allows you to open a geometry such as to insert an eye in a face and so on Use Select vertices edges or faces of an object In the Vertex Modeling tab select the Dissociate tool The selected entities are automatically disjoined Remarks In case of edge selection it is necessary to select two adjacent edges to be able to dissociate the surrounding topology The Dissociate Tool does not change the visual aspect of the edited object You will see the result of the Dissociate Tool once you will move parts of the dissociated geometry to visualize the created openings When you dissociate a face it is detached from the topology but still belongs to the selected object A new object 15 not created i 0000 Sa Watch the video 124 fan P fi nN 4 i Hexagon Lines LINES Hexagon offers several types of line and curve tools which you can use alone or combin
129. mmediate effect so their sequence of operations is only a single step For example increasing the smoothing of an object takes only one click on the smoothing icon e Certain tools have a number of fixed steps For example creating a cube has two steps define its starting point and then its dimension e Most tools have any number of steps and it is the user that decides when to stop For example drawing a polyline the creation of each point of the polyline is a Step in the operation sequence but the number of points you can create is infinite In this case you need to Validate the tool or finish its operation by validating its action You can validate a tool with any of the following four methods e By clicking on the Validate button on the Tool properties palette e By using the Enter key which is the keyboard shortcut for the Validate button e By selecting another tool the action in progress is then validated e By selecting a 3D Manipulator 33 Hexagon How tools function in Hexagon The Validate and Abort buttons You can also cancel the use of a tool thereby canceling all the steps already ta ken by clicking the abort button in the Tool properties palette or by using the Escape key on the keyboard For example if you are in the middle of drawing a polyline canceling will make the line disappear If you are in the middle of extruding a face of an object canceling will cause it to revert to its initial stage
130. moothing the exported mo del will have 1 million polygons as well but all statically embedded in the model Few products easily handle so many polygons especially if bones rigging operations must be performed This can slow down certain software hardware configurations Please read the chapter about 3D models export for more information 242 Hexagon Surface Displacement Modeling 2 2 DISPLACEMENT TEXTURE EXPORT The most convenient and efficient solution is to export your model with no smoothing control shape and to ask Hexagon 2 to generate a displacement texture This displacement texture or Displacement Map is in fact a grey level image 16 bit encoded corresponding to the difference of elevation of displacement between the control shape the object with no smoothing and the maximum level of smoothing that you used to sculpt the finest details Then in your rendering software you will just have to apply the Displacement Map in the corresponding material channel This texture will push or pull the poly gons at rendering time thus re creating the detailed relief It will of course be absolutely mandatory to specify the same smoothing level used at the time of export in Hexagon A displacement texture example The main advantage of this rendering technique is to be able to work with a low resolution model in your 3D rendering animation software and to generate only for each rendering frame the high resoluti
131. movement is restricted to that plane The Translation Manipulator Keyboard shortcut T 41 Hexagon 3D Manipulator 1 2 6 ROTATION This manipulator rotates the selected elements The manipulator is symbo lized by circles e If you click on a circle corresponding to an axis the rotation of the selected element is limited to that axis The Rotation Manipulator Keyboard shortcut R 42 Hexagon 3D Manipulator 1 3 SCALE This manipulator scales the selected elements The manipulator is symbo lized by cubes e If you click on a cube on the end of an axis the scaling of the selected element is limited to that axis e If you click on one of the grey cubes on the same plane as the two axes the scaling is restricted to that plane This manipulator also shows a global interactive box which surrounds the e Click on a face of this box to scale the object as if you were pulling on the face e Click on an edge of this box to pull on both faces that touch that edge e Click on a corner of the box to scale the box proportionally away from the opposite corner The Scale Manipulator SP OOG8 6 Watch the video Keyboard shortcut 5 43 Hexagon 3D Manipulator 1 4 g UNIVERSAL This manipulator is a combination of the three fundamental manipulators It lets you perform moves rotations and scalings without changing the tool Using this manipulator is practical to move the objects globally
132. n The Bend tool lets you bend an object with reference to a 2D line Left the object before and the deformation curve Right the Bended object Two methods of use First method Draw a curve to be used as the guide to the deformation Select the object to bend Select the Bend tool in the Utilities tab Click on the curve to bend the selected object Second method Select the object to bend Select the Bend tool in the Utilities tab Draw a curve to be used as the guide to the deformation using a tool in the Lines tab without leaving the Bend tool Validate the tool to finish the curve and apply the deformation 196 Hexagon The Utilities tab Watch the video Remarks This tool works only with curves in a 2D plane 197 Hexagon The Utilities tab 7 Cory Description The Copy tool lets you create a copy of an object with the clone option if needed Left The original object Right the same object and its copy Use Select the Copy tool in the Utilities tab Click on the object to copy the object stays at its initial position but a copy ap pears and moves in relation to your mouse Click to validate the new position of the copy Options amp Clone On Off Lets you create a dynamic relationship between the two objects if the topology of one object 1s modified the same operation 15 carried out on the cloned copy Remarks Not to be confused wi
133. n Vertex Modeling 16 N7 BRIDGE Description The Bridge tool builds a connecting surface between two selections This tool is very useful to create surfaces joining two existing parts of an object for example to connect the extremity of the handle of a vase onto its base If faces are selected they will be removed and a surface will be created between the two holes If the object is smoothed the Bridge operation is performed on the control shape and the result is automatically smoothed If both selections belong to different objects the bridge is created and both objects are automatically welded together into a single object Use Do a faces or edges multi selection on an object Note To create a bridge with the Bridge tool you need to make two disjointed selections the Bridge tool will have no effect if two adjacent polygons are selected Take the Bridge Tool located in the Vertex Modeling Tab the bridge surface connecting both selections together is created Adjust the different options if necessary Watch the videos Options Twist Performs a rotation of the Bridge surface between both selections Invert Inverts the Bridge surface orientation Num slices Adds cross sections perpendicular to the connecting surface allowing you to refine the Bridge mesh in order to add further details to it 122 Hexagon Vertex Modeling Remarks The Bridge tool does not work when the Sym
134. n the object Use also the Manipulator 3D to place orient and dimension your texture directly in the 3D Workspace Validate the tool when the texture is correctly placed OXN l ee ty 1 LT Watch the video 227 Hexagon Creating and Managing UVs 1 2 THE Gizmo EDITOR This tool lets you edit a Gizmo which has been already applied on an object It also allows you to change the projection type Ifno gizmo has been applied to the object the Gizmo Editor will create a default one Spheric Projection The Editor also displays the list of all existing gizmos allowing you to apply the Gizmo of one object to another one This enables applying the same projection to a set of objects Furthermore modifying one of the Gizmos will update it on all the objects on which it 15 applied 1 3 THE Gizmo UV STRETCH Select an object where the UV textures have already been applied Select the entities points edges faces of which you want to locally modify the UVs Select the tool UV Stretch A specific manipulator appears next to your selection which lets you move rotate or scale in the same way as the Universal Manipulator modifying the UV values of the selection Validate the tool to fix the updated UV coordinates Remark The Gizmo affects the Shading Domain if there is one selected Select one before using this tool if you want to affect a specif
135. ng 1 4 Loap Your Own BRUSHES OR TEXTURES TO REVEAL There are two ways to load in a permanent way your own images into Hexagon to be used as a base to create custom brushes and textures to reveal First method Launch a Paint Displacement tool Click on a thumbnail of a brush or a texture to open the window showing all brushes and textures of the application At the bottom of the window click on the Load button Asystem dialog box appears Choose the brush or texture image you want to import and click on the Open button Your image 15 loaded and its preview thumbnail 15 created br_lava png The Load button on the bottom of the brushes window Second method On Windows open the Hexagon installation folder and go the Data brushes sub folder On Macintosh right click on the Hexagon application icon then choose Show package content Then go to the Contents MacOS Data brushes sub folder A list of folders appears e brushmasks contains all images used as brushes These images are in PNG format e bumpmaps contains images used as bump textures to reveal e textures contains images used as color textures to reveal e transparencies contains images used as transparency textures to reveal Copy in this folder the images you want to use Relaunch the application to have these new brushes textures available in Hexagon Remarks For be
136. npoints as well as move the existing Pinpoints in the 2D view to uniformly deform the UV map Use Select an object having previously been unfolded through the Unwrap tool Choose the Unwrap tool Add update or remove Seams and Pinpoints as described in the Unwrap tool use description above Click on a Pinpoint in the UV view to make the Manipulator appear on it Move Pinpoints to recompute the entire UV unfolding in real time It is also possible to do a Pinpoints multi selection to move scale or rotate Pinpoints at the same time Validate to release the tool Remarks Seams and Pinpoints are not saved with the 3D document It is as such not possible to re edit Seams and Pinpoints when the document has been saved closed and re 235 Hexagon Creating and Managing UVs loaded Pinpoints can be manipulated only in the Unwrap tool Once the tool is done these points are not accessible in the UV View Fichier Modifier Pr sentation Fen tre Aide 00 00 03 ALETE ISIN Watch the video 230 Hexagon Surface Displacement Modeling XVI SURFACE DISPLACEMENT MODELING Hexagon 2 brings a new dimension to 3D modeling by adding the possibility to sculpt your object in a natural way a bit like a sculptor would do using clay It is possible to create caviti
137. object without using the hide tool Hexagon The Utilities tab Keyboard shortcut CTRL Command SHIFT H 206 Hexagon The Utilities tab 12 SHow Description The Show tool unhides previous hidden objects Use Select the Show tool in the Utilities Tab Only the hidden objects in the scene are shown and all the objects that are already visible are temporarily hidden Clicking on the objects selects the objects to show Validate the tool to show the selected objects and return to the rest of the scene Options Select all selects all the hidden objects in the scene and shows them 6 Watch the video Remarks Hidden objects are still in the Scene Tree with the X symbol next to them This symbol is also a button for showing or hiding the object without using the show tool Keyboard shortcut CTRL Command H Hexagon The Utilities tab 13 amp Group Description The group tool lets you temporarily associate several objects together to create one manipulatable element or to simplify and organize a complex scene It is also possible to make groups of groups for example make two groups into one group Example of use When creating a 3D model of a car it would be useful to create a group for the body wheels motor parts etc organizing your model in a logical fashion You would also then be able to hide and show whole groups at a time
138. odify the width of the current section if neces sary Validate with the Enter key to fix the last section If the section is a closed curve for example a circle the tool shows white circles to indicate the openings Click on the opening to close it and it becomes red 168 Hexagon Surface modeling tab Validate the tool to finish the operation Options Section alignment Three kinds of alignment are available for the Sweep tool These options are available once the surface is generated at the time Hexagon proposes to close the ope nings but are not modifiable once the tool is validated gt Irregular sweep default each section is the same size but the appearance may not be regular depending on the angle gt Regular sweep each section size may vary by angle in order to give the tube a unified size parallels contours Sweep with parallel sections all the sections are parallel to the original These options are available for both methods of sweeping Modes of sweeping For the freehand method there are four modes of extrusion where the height is the distance of the new section to the previous and the width is the size of the new section GY Sweep default the movement of the mouse defines the height of the current section and the angle between the new and precedent section Click the right mouse button to modify the width of the current section 3 Extrude the movement of the mouse define
139. oes not support any kind of topology for example software that does not handle faces with more than 4 points The following options are available under the Selection pull down menu e Select faces with more than 4 points e Select Triangles Useful to detect triangles that could eventually cause troubles with smoothing etc e Select non quadrangular faces e Select non planar faces allows you to detect twisted faces that can create unexpected visual effects at rendering time e Select non manifold edges select edges sharing more than two polygons e Select points sharing more or less than 4 edges enables you to detect potential unwanted topology structures Use Select the object you want to apply the specific selection on Call the appropriate selection command either in the Selections pull down menu or through the contextual menu in the Advanced Selection section Jow Fichier Modifier Pr sentation Fen tre Aide 67 Hexagon Selections 6 9 HIDE SHOW SELECTED FACES It is often necessary to temporarily hide some faces of an object when wor king on smaller or internal details Three icons located in the control panel allow you to hide the selected faces to reveal hidden facets of the currently selected ob ject or to reveal all hidden faces Objects having hidden faces have a small icon near their name in the scene tree Use To hide a list of faces Select the group o
140. of this license This documentation cannot be reproduced archived or transmitted in any way except with the pre approval of Eovia This manual is provided for informational purposes only It is susceptible to change without notice It is not to be considered as a commitment by Eovia who cannot be held respon sible for errors or inaccuracies which might have occurred in the text This documentation is written by Laurent Billy Pascal Doux and Thomas Roussel with the help of Andy Beverly for the English translations Bob Stockwell for the proof reading Chryst le Mercadier for the dubbing A big thanks also to Cedric Trojani Francois Rimasson Gilles Brai Glen Southern Grendel Hugo Pruvot Kagi Marc Thierry Mike Moir Moxstudios Olivier Draussin Olivier Drion Piem Steph3D and Wayne Kilgore Yann Alien Vaugne and to all our beta testers Thank you of course to our developers and the team at Eovia as well as Max Xavier Mickael Pascal Laurent Emmanuel Philippe Florence Chryst le Stefan and Mamie Carmen Thomas Roussel Documentation version 2 1 Copyright 2005 EOVIA a DAZ Production Company Microsoft Windows are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corp Mac OSX and Macintosh are registered trademarks of Apple Computer Corp All other trademarks belong to their respective owners Hexagon Table of Contents II General Principles and Concepts of H
141. oids in some cases having to click in an empty area of the 3D scene In some cases when the user camera is very close to an object and when the screen is covered by the geometry of the model clearing the selection with a simple double click avoids the need to zoom out click in the empty space and zoom in again Use With some edges vertices or faces selected double click on the current object to clear all selections 5 4 SET SELECTION AUTO MODE This function is a quick way to activate the Selection Auto Mode Hyperlink when the current selection mode is set to Vertex Edge or Face without having to click on the corresponding icon in the Selection panel Use If the current Selection Mode is Vertex Edge or Face and if there is an active selec tion double click on the current object or click outside to clear the selection Double click on the object to activate the Auto Mode Remark If the current selection mode is Vertex Edge or Face and if there is an active selec tion you can set the Auto Mode back by doing two subsequent double clicks 66 Hexagon Selections 5 4 SELECTION BY TOPOLOGY This set of functions enables you to perform selection according to the topology of the objects They are useful to identify potential mesh structure issues for example unseen triangles in a mesh which you want to be perfectly quadrangular or to validate a model before exporting it to another software product that d
142. omain e This material is automatically open for editing in the Materials palette where it can be fine tuned e You can also apply an existing material to the new domain Open the pull down menu by clicking on the small arrow located to the right of the domain name and then select an existing material in the list e The created or chosen Shading domain is now the selected domain notably for use of Gizmos to place the UV coordinates Shading domains The Shading Domains Palette Remark Domains are linked to an object not to the scene two different objects cannot share the same domain Watch the video 223 Hexagon Materials in Hexagon 4 2 OPERATIONS ON DOMAINS Once a domain has been created several operations can be performed They can be accessed through a pull down menu by clicking on the small arrow located to the right of the domain name 224 Select selects faces corresponding to this domain on the object Set adds the face selection to the domain Show domain faces displays the faces belonging to the domain which have been previously hidden through the function Hide domain faces Hide domain faces masks all the faces corresponding to the domain on the object They can be unmasked by the above Show domain faces function NOTE this visibility status is not saved with the document When the docu ment will be re opened hidden faces will be visible again Rename opens a dialog box th
143. on and the angle between the new and preceding section Click the right mouse button to modify the width of the current section 8 Axial the movement of the mouse defines only the height of the current sec tion which stays the same size and is paralleled to the last section Radial the movement of the mouse defines only the size of the current section The current section stays at the same level as the previous 165 Hexagon Surface modeling tab Ee E PIEUX r 9 amp Watch the video Remarks It 15 highly recommended to have the sections on one plane and the profile on another plane It is best to start the profile on one of the quarters of the section if the section is a circle start the profile on the top bottom right or left instead of on the diagonals in order to have a profile in alignment with the center of the circle Although it is not necessary to have a point of contact between the section and the profile in certain cases like the wine glass having the curves in contact will get the best results 166 Hexagon Surface modeling tab 6 SWEEP LINE Description The Sweep line tool lets you generate a surface or a volume from a section and eventually a profile curve already drawn and at its center The result is an ob ject where the section is repeated along the profile without modification of size Exam
144. on model with all its details thus making the assembly rigging animation process easier The main disadvantage is that the model is somehow re generated A slight loss of information may occur if your control shape is not detailed enough From a practical point of view these result variations are barely noticeable most of the time Another 243 Hexagon Surface Displacement Modeling possible disadvantage is that each rendering software handles the displacement ampli tude its own way It 1s important when first testing import and export of displacement textures between Hexagon 2 and your 3D rendering software to check the displacement map amplitude settings corresponding to your rendering software and to use them af terwards Please read the chapter about Displacement Textures export for more informa tion 2 3 BumP Map TEXTURE EXPORT Hexagon 2 proposes to create embossing textures more generally called Bump Maps which simulates but does not create at display time an impression of relief While this system is used a bit less now because it is frequently replaced by displace ment thanks to the recent graphics board performances it has the big advantage of very fast computing and generally suffices to create all very fine details of a model With Hexagon 2 it is possible to export all details painted using the Bump chan nel as an image But it is also possible to export geometric displacement information as Bump Map Thi
145. on the profile and the surface is automatically generated If the section is a closed curve for example a circle the tool shows white circles to indicate the openings Click on the opening to close it and it becomes red Validate the tool to finish the operation 164 Hexagon Surface modeling tab Second method Extrusion by freehand Create a section Select the Extrude line tool in the Surface modeling tab Click on the section and move the mouse The tool creates a second section which follows the mouse connected to the first section by faces where the radius and the hei ght vary with the movement of the mouse Click to create as many sections as necessary Enter precise measurements for the height and radius for each new section in the Tool Properties palette if necessary Validate with the Enter key to fix the last section If the section is a closed curve for example a circle the tool shows white circles to indicate the openings Click on the opening to close it and it becomes red Validate the tool to finish the operation Options For the freehand method there are four modes of extrusion where the height is the distance of the new section from the previous and the width is the size of the new section Extrude default the movement of the mouse defines the height and the width of the current section Sweep the movement of the mouse defines the height of the current secti
146. oward the center of the 3D Workspace Combine the shortcuts Alt CTRL and the left mouse button to rotate the camera around the current selection object vertices edges or faces You can choose the mode as default by changing the preference Dolly Around Selection in the User Interface tab under section Misc 1 3 KEYBOARD NAVIGATION The Arrow keys turn the camera in the direction of the keys The Arrow keys with the Alt key pressed will pan the camera in the direction of the keys On the number keypad use the 3 key to zoom in and the key Period key to zoom out Finally use the 2 4 6 keys to directly view the scene from the front left right and back respectively The keys 5 and 9 are the bottom and top views respec tively gt or conn 5 Cylinder Create a cylin SOS BOAO E AJLO i OQO o Watch the video 27 Hexagon Working in 3D space 1 4 SPACE MOUSE SUPPORT 3Dconnexion motion controllers allow you to navigate more efficiently in the 3D scene while modeling These devices have a single controller that transforms your movements into camera movements There are several types of motion controllers from 3Dconnexion SpaceMouse SpaceBall SpaceTraveler Cadman SpacePilot and more They are all based on the same architecture and use the same device driver which is supported by Hexagon 2 Installa
147. ple of use The Sweep line tool can be used for all sorts of tube forms such as a door han dle or shower head On the left the section and profile and on the right the resulting surface The tool is most often used in a freehand method which lets you change the size of each section for example the shower head 167 Hexagon Surface modeling tab The creation of a shower head Two methods of use First method sweep from an existing profile Create a section and a profile Be sure the section is perpendicular to the profile Select the section Select the Sweep line tool in the Surface modeling tab Click on the profile and the surface is automatically generated If the section is a closed curve for example a circle the tool shows white circles to indicate the openings Click on the opening to close it and it becomes red Validate the tool to finish the operation Second method Sweep by freehand Create a section Select the Sweep line tool in the Surface modeling tab Click on the section and move the mouse The tool creates a second section which follows the mouse connected to the first section by faces where the height and angle vary with the movement of the mouse Click to create as many sections as necessary Enter precise measurements for the height angle and radius for each new section in the Tool Properties palette if necessary Click the right mouse button to m
148. point to move it e CTRL click and drag on a handle to break the symmetry of the B zier han dles e CTRL Shift click on a handle to retract it and delete its prescribed curve e CTRL Shift click on a point to delete it To close a polyline use one of these two methods e Click on the starting point to close it with a corner e Click and drag on the starting point to pull out the B zier handles You can now validate the curve or continue to modify the points and handles as shown above Hexagon Lines Watch the video Remark To edit a B zier curve use the Stretch tool in the Utilities tab 138 Hexagon Lines 7 INTERPOLATED CURVE Description This tool allows you to draw a smooth curve by creating a control polyline of at least 3 points The curve goes through the points of the polyline An Interpolated curve with its control polyline Compare with the Curve tool Use Select the Interpolated Curve tool in the Lines tool palette Click in the 3D workspace to define the first point of the control polyline for the Interpolated Curve or by entering its coordinates in the Object properties palette Repeat this step as many times as necessary If needed close the polyline using the close option in the Tool properties palette or by holding down the Shift key while clicking on the start point Validate the creation of the Interpolated Curve when finished Options Close
149. proaching the range 5 and more Of course on close ups the result will be less accurate than using a displace ment texture encoding the whole geometric displacement from the control shape range 0 and the highest modeling level range 6 245 Hexagon Brushes and Painting XVII BRUSHES AND PAINTING In order to sculpt and paint your objects Hexagon provides a set of tools which have their respective specificities and workflow It is however important to note that these tools share common parameters making it easier to learn and to use these tools 246 Hexagon Brushes and Painting 1 PRINCIPLES OF THE DISPLACEMENT AND PAINTING TOOLS To generate polygon displacement or to paint colors and textures Hexagon uses a concept of virtual paintbrushes They can be compared as mentioned in the previous chapter Surface Displacement Modeling to the tools of traditional painting and sculpting In Hexagon 2 these virtual paintbrushes are called Brushes both for pain ting and sculpting When you use these brushes they are always oriented perpendicu larly to the surface you are working on and never aligned with the view plane Brushes will be used to push and pull the geometry of your model according to predefined or custom patterns and to apply colors textures and transparency You will thus be able to sculpt and paint objects as you would do in the real life Some parameters are similar for all tool
150. rate in the UV view It is possible to perform a selection in the 3D View and then to further edit selected UVs in the UV Editor 2 3 TOOLS WORKING WITH UVs Although UVs are in two dimensions operations which can be performed on them are very close to operations on 3D meshes To make learning and use easier the tools in the UV Editor are the same as the corresponding 3D tools The way they work is absolutely similar except they only handle 2D data These tools are 9 Dissociate disjoins UVs according to the selection mode Vertex Edge Face If the option Split UV is on blue dots will be displayed around disjoi ned UVs allowing you to select overlapping points e 4 Relax expands the UV map by slackening them smoothly e Target Weld welds a selected UV on another This tool works on vertices and edges as the 3D tool 9 Unfold Unwraps the UV map of a model For a more detailed description please read the following information 231 Hexagon Creating and Managing UVs Fichier Modifier Pr sentation Fen tre Aide TIILI VIDEO Watch the video 2 4 OPTIONS AND UTILITIES To make easier to view and work with UVs the UV Editor offers some specific preferences and utilities 232 Grid 3 Eo PE o 0 100 P Grid masks or unmasks the background grid in the UV Editor and lets you adjust the grid density When the value is 0 the grid disappears
151. rges the extra facets Remarks Use this tool when the Smooth tool produces unexpected results Hexagon Materials in Hexagon XIV MATERIALS IN HEXAGON Hexagon 2 is a 3D modeler and does not have a built in renderer You can however prepare your models with textures in order to advance the texturing at the same time as you finalize the form of the model Defining materials on an object is also needed to paint colors and textures 218 Hexagon Materials in Hexagon 1 DEFINITION A material is the visual characteristics of an object regrouping e Aname e A base color diffuse color e A highlight color specular color e A highlight spread value shininess e Transparency value e A material type flat color checkers imported image or new blank image with predefined size e A Bump image mapped in grey level a Normal Map or a new blank image with predefined size In these last two types you can control the repetition of a pattern or image and the way it merges with the base color of the object Remark Only objects with UVs can support image type textures Please refer to the UVs chapter of this manual for more information 2 MATERIALS PALETTE When you create an object it has applied to it a default material of a flat light grey color This material cannot be modified and does not appear in the material list To customize the object material it is necessary to create a new material attached to t
152. rough which it is possible to change the domain name Remove Domain removes the domain from the domain list as well as on the object on which it has been affected Change Material lets you affect an existing material from the material list re placing the current material associated with the active domain Hexagon Creating and Managing UVs XV CREATING AND MANAGING UVS Hexagon 2 lets you apply some basic attributes of textures to your model color highlight transparency etc and also applies what are called UV coordinates or how a texture or image will be projected along the surface of the object These UV coordinates are saved with the geometry of your objects when you export in a standard exchange file format such as CAR and OBJ to take it into a ren der and animation program such as Carrara Hexagon Creating and Managing UVs 1 TEXTURE MAPPING Texture mapping is an operation which determines how a texture 15 projected onto an object and is only useful if the material to be used 15 a Checker or Image texture map texture mapping does not make sense with a uniform color This operation will apply UV coordinates a 2D point on the image to each 3D point on the object For this you will use UV mapping Gizmos which are special manipulators let ting you place orient scale and position the UVs on the object 1 1 USING THE GIZMOS The UV amp Paint tab in the Tools panel contains seven tools e The Sp
153. rp edges To get this effect use the Chamfer tool to round off the angles An example is right in front of you look at your computer screen whose shell probably has rounded edges whether for safety or design or both On the left a corner of a computer screen before the chamfer and on the right the corner after being rounded The tool can also be used in making simple or complex curves The simpliest method of making a square with rounded edges is by applying a chamfer to the four comers 181 Hexagon Surface modeling tab On the left a rectangle and on the right with rounded corners Two methods of use The first method pre selecting your elements Select an object Select the points or edges to apply the chamfer Select the Chamfer tool in the Surface modeling tab Change the radius in the Tool Options palette and adjust the range of the chamfer if necessary While the tool is in action you can select or deselect other entities to be chamfered Clicking on an entity selects it and clicking on one already selected deselects it Validate the tool to finish the operation The second method selecting elements while in the tool Select an object Select the Chamfer tool in the Surface modeling tab Select the edges or points to be chamfered Clicking on an entity selects it and clicking on one already selected deselects it Change the radius in the Tool Options palette and adjust the range of
154. s function can be very useful by allowing you to keep an object in the 3D workspace but block any further modification To facilitate the management of the elements of the tree view it 15 possible to move them in the list using drag and drop 280 To do a multiple selection in the scene tree use the usual system shortcuts Hexagon The scene properties CTRL to add or remove an element to the scene tree selection Shift to do a multiple selection by selecting all objects between the previously se lected element and the current element or to deselect if they were already selected Ctrl Shift to add a multi selection to a partial selection 2 THE SCENE PROPERTIES TAB Scene Scene tree Properties ar o E o Y BE The Scene Properties tab This lets you control Whether coordinates are relative or absolute e The unit of measurement used in the file for precise positioning and modifying mm cm inches etc e The units used to measure angles and rotation degrees or radian e Grids and working planes orientation e Show hide grid guides in the scene e Show hide an image instead of the grid guides to act as a visual guide to cons truct your model for example to reproduce a contour of an object or face Remark The proportions of these images should be square or have the same height and width pixel dimensions to avoid distortion 281 Hexagon Object properties XVI
155. s geometry names scene and groups lines DWG Format The Autodesk s Autocad native binary file format Used mostly for exchanging technical data sets architecture More com pact than DXF e Imports objects geometry names scene and groups lines 293 Hexagon Imports Exports e Exports objects geometry names scene and groups lines STL Format export only Format used for stereolithography rapid prototyping This format produces only a list of triangles with normals and so should not be used for other purpose than stereolithography e Export object geometry as a set of triangles A3D Format Native file format of Eovia s Amapi Designer Hexagon is an evolution of the Amapi Designer product family and so supports its file format e Imports objects geometry dynamic geometry names scene and groups lines e Exports objects geometry names scene and groups lines AI Format v 3 2 import only Native file format of Adobe Illustrator version 3 2 Illustrator is a very well known 2D illustration program Hexagon can read 2D vector Illustrator 3 2 files and so can create models from curves and drawings recorded in this format such as logos contours e Imports 2D lines and curves as B zier curves 294 Hexagon Enjoy The Hexagon Team
156. s on the selection and move it to define the offset of the newly created edges In the case of the Extract around tool and not the Edge tool it 15 also possible to click directly on the edge and not just on the manipulator to effect it With the original edge still selected it is now easy to manipulate it for example creating a raised button or a pushed in zone Bk oe eee Watch the video 93 Hexagon Vertex Modeling 1 2 EXTRACT LONG Description The Extract along tool lets you extract a selected edge along the edges next to it This tool is useful for fine tuning a model for example adding a loop of edges around an existing edge Use Select one or several edges on a surface or volume Select the Edge tool or Extract along tool in the Vertex modeling tab Click and drag on the manipulator that appears on the selection and move it to define the placement of the newly created edges In the case of the Extract along tool and not the Edge tool it is also possible to click directly on the edge and not just on the manipulator to effect it Frem left ot right the edges selection the Extract Along operation and the final result 94 Hexagon Vertex Modeling Watch the video Keyboard shortcut SHIFT A 71 3 FILLET Use The Extract Fillet tool lets you extract a selected edge along the edges next to it The result is like the Chamfer tool set to range 0
157. s open it will now be closed Remark This operation deletes the Dynamic Geometry or Composite Curve 31 Hexagon Lines 18 REVERT A CURVE Description The Revert a curve tool lets you redefine the curve s starting point This is a useful tool when using Composite curves or connections Use Select the curve you want to reverse the direction Click on the Revert a curve tool in the sub palette of the Lines tool palette A little white circle showing the start of the curve appears Click on the other end of the curve to move this indicator to the other end of the curve thereby defining that end as the new start of the curve The direction of the curve is now changed 152 Hexagon Surface modeling tab XII SURFACE MODELING TAB The Surfaces modeling tab of the Modeling palette contains a number of tools for creating surfaces and polyhedral volumes These tools let you build complex surfa ces very simply using 2D lines and curves as the basis of sections and profiles Most of these tools support Dynamic Geometry so you can return and edit the original curves if you are working in Full or Partial DG and have your complex sur faces updated in real time 153 Hexagon Surface modeling tab 1 RULED SURFACE Description The Ruled surface tool lets you create a surface between several existing curves which will become the sections of that surface Example of use The most common ex
158. s second possibility is far less accurate than exporting the geometric displa cement but for objects far off in the scene it could be more than enough Please read the chapter about Bump Map Export for more information 244 Hexagon Surface Displacement Modeling 2 4 BUMP MAP AND DISPLACEMENT TEXTURE EXPORT There is a last export solution allowing you to reduce rendering time in 3D pro ducts when you import objects and textures from Hexagon 2 Displacement generates at rendering time an important count of polygons which can make rendering computa tions rather long The solution consists of exporting from Hexagon a displacement texture corres ponding to a smoothing range n and then a Bump texture between this range n and the highest smoothing range the highest level of detail In the previously mentioned example with the arm which has a range 6 smoo thing for the highest level where the veins and tendons are sculpted it will be possible e To export a displacement texture between the control shape range 0 and the smoothing range 4 which will generate the geometry of the muscles at rende ring time To export a Bump texture between the range 4 and the range 6 This will simu late the veins and tendons and will refine the muscles aspect Visually at rendering time this trick will give a very realistic aspect to the ren dered model while saving two smoothing ranges which 1s significant when they are ap
159. s several types of smoothing results of which vary depending on the chosen type Example of use In the majority of cases this tool is applied as a finishing touch to give it a smoo ther appearance In this way a vase made of a section of six points and a profile of four points can be made less angular by applying this tool On the left is the original object and on the right the object with smoothing applied 178 Hexagon Surface modeling tab The original object and the five kinds of smoothing Use The first method on an element that has no smoothing Select the surface or volume Select the Smooth tool in the Surface modeling tab Change the type of smoothing in the Tool Parameters palette e There are five possible choices of smoothing for surfaces and volumes In most cases the default is the best for polygonal surfaces e There are five possible choices of smoothing for curves The smoothing by B zier interpolation as well as Subdivision are often the best Use these options as necessary to change the results of the smoothing The second method on an element that has already had Smoothing applied Select the surface or volume that has already had smoothing applied Hexagon shows the parameters of smoothing as they were last applied You can now modify the tool as above 179 Hexagon Surface modeling tab Options P Smoothing Range the range of smoothing determines the number of facets prod
160. s the height and the width of the current section Q Axial the movement of the mouse defines only the height of the current section which stays the same size and 15 paralleled to the last section Radial the movement of the mouse defines only the size of the current section The current section stays at the same level as the previous 169 Hexagon Surface modeling tab o Watch the video Remarks It is strongly recommended to have the profile at the center of the section to have the most regular sweep possible Ifthe section is not perpendicular to the profile the section might be automatically repositioned depending on the type of sweep chosen Although it is not necessary to have a point of contact between the section and the profile in certain cases like the shower head having the curves in contact will get the best results 170 Hexagon Surface modeling tab 7 BOOLEAN OPERATIONS Description The Boolean tool generates a surface or volume by using two objects or group of objects in an operation such as difference union subtraction addition etc between the two objects The tool works on 2D lines as well as surfaces Example of use Boolean operations have always been used in 3D modeling because this ope ration lets you add and subtract 3D objects easily therefore make complex forms rapi dly An easy example is making a hole in a wall for a window you
161. s which use brushes such as Size and Strength some other parameters are specific such as Opacity which makes sense only with Paint tools and so on 1 1 THE WORKING CHANNELS Hexagon 2 brushes allow you to work on several information layers called Channels The cumulative work performed in each channel will give you the final result on the 3D model Hexagon provides the following channels e The Displacement Channel allowing you to modify the object s geometry e The Bump Channel which lets you simulate a geometry displacement on your model e The Color Channel allowing you to paint some color on an object e The Transparency Channel which lets you paint transparency areas on an ob ject All displacement and painting tools do not necessarily work on the same chan nel For example it will not be possible to use a polygon displacement tool on the Transparency Channel of an object In the same way the Paint Tool will not work on 247 Hexagon Brushes and Painting the Displacement Channel You will find the list of the channels in which a tool operates in each tool des cription section of this manual m Ee pom fae Displacement The four channels Note Some channels need textures to work and thus need the UV mapping to be completed In that case it is mandatory to perform the UV mapping before being able to work using these channels 1 2 REVEALING TEXTURES TO PAINT OR TO DISPLACE Doing displ
162. s you create a series of straight lines by placing points in your scene The polyline tool lets you create quickly polylines Use Select the Polyline tool in the Lines tool palette Click in the 3D workspace to define the first point of the polyline or enter its coor dinates in the Object properties palette Repeat the first step as much as needed If necessary hold down the Shift key while clicking on your first point to close the polyline Validate the creation of the polyline when finished Options Close Connects the last point with the start point the same as holding down the shift key Remark Aclosed polyline cannot be used in a Composite Curve 136 Hexagon Lines 6 BEZIER Description The B zier tool lets you create straight lines and curved lines with precise control over the tangents and the curves With this tool you can create complex lines without the need of Composite Curves A Bezier curves with a corner point and two handles Use Select the B zier Curve tool in the Lines tool palette Click in the 3D workspace to define the first point using one of these two methods e A short click to create a corner point e Click and drag to pull out a B zier handle Create your second point using the same 2 methods You can edit your curve using the same tool e Click and drag on a handle to change the curve that is affected by that point e Click and drag on the
163. sely in relation to another object Example of use e Snap it can be useful to precisely position an object on another This tool will easily place a cushion on a chair or a teacup on its saucer Left the objects before snapping Right the objects in their final position e Alignment is useful for placing one object precisely in relation to another ob ject Use this tool to align wheels on a car together Left the objects to align Right the objects are aligned along the vertical AXIS Use Select the object you wish to move Select the Snap align tool in the Utilities tab 19 Hexagon The Utilities tab Click on a reference point of the object to be moved Click on another point present in the scene including the currently selected object or enter a precise location in the Tool properties palette If necessary use the space bar to apply a horizontal or vertical constraint in which case the object would move along that plane while also taking in account the arrival point To make an alignment it 15 sometimes necessary to make several axis constraints in a row am ans pee B I ws 09000 090000 Watch the video Remarks The Snap align tool works on selections of points edges and faces If a selection 15 made before you select the tool the alignment 15 made only on this selection Use the Shift key to snap to a point in the scene inclu
164. sic 3D Manipulators This tool is more used for modifying curves or surfaces cons tructed with curves This tool also is the only one to modify certain Dynamic Geometry like the construction forms for an arc or the depth of a Boolean Punch From left to right a series of edges stretched with a horizontal constraint Use Select the form or curve to be modified Select the Stretch tool in the Utilities tab Click on the structure of your object curve or control form to affect it The movement could be done in two ways a short click to select the entity move it and then another short click to define the final position or a click drag on the entity to move it releasing the mouse to define the new position Validate the tool to finish the operation Options Stretch along the Normal Moves the selected entity perpendicular to the sur face or line to which it belongs Hexagon The Utilities tab 2 00ece Watch the video Remarks When you select the Stretch tool if the Select object is the current selection mode the mode will change to Select auto If several entities such as facets are selected together and the option Stretch along the Normal is activated the entities are deformed in a way that respects the move Keyboard shortcut Space bar Lets you apply a horizontal vertical or no constraint when moving a selection See the use of 3D rulers 158 Hex
165. sition and then combine it with another form 23 Hexagon General Principles and Concepts of Hexagon 4 HEXAGON ON Mac OS X Most of the actions tools and way of use are exactly the same on both Mac OS X and Windows There are however some slight differences which are important to know 4 1 KEYBOARD KEYS AND SHORTCUTS To perform a keyboard shortcut the usual combination is CTRL key On Mac OS X the Control CTRL key is replaced by the Command Apple key In this manual when you will read a shortcut written as CTRL key this will mean that on Mac OS X you have to perform Command key Except this difference regarding the keyboard all other key actions and combi nations are identical 4 2 NAVIGATING WITH THE MOUSE Historically mice provided with Macintosh computers have been one button mice until the Mighty Mouse has been released by Apple with several buttons and a mouse wheel Hexagon 2 has been designed to use utilize a 3 button mouse with wheel in cluding the Mighty Mouse both for 3D navigation using the contextual menu and more If your system has a one button mouse please note that the Right Click is performed by the holding the CTRL Click on your keyboard Furthermore we re commend that you to get a 3 button mouse a good quality optical mouse with 3 buttons can be found for very little cost for a more efficient workflow and more comfort not only with Hexagon
166. ssary to have a quality preview of the scene in order to export the scene to an application dedicated to rendering such as Carrara This preview ren dering step can now be performed inside Hexagon 2 thanks to the Ambient Occlusion display This lighting technique simulates a SkyLight rendering by approximation The image is calculated with a lighting half sphere which will compute the ratio of visible light on each object point The image is not calculated as it would usually be with a software rendering engine but instead uses specific capabilities of your graphic board The more powerful the graphic board the faster the rendering will be It could even be instantaneous on the most recent graphic boards Activating the Ambient Occlusion is performed through the Control Panel either as one pass display further action will de activate the Ambient Occlusion or as permanent display mode not recommended on low level graphic boards Remarks It is possible to combine Ambient Occlusion and Lightmaps For better results press 0 on the numeric keypad to fit the whole scene to view The calculation time depends on the number of polygons in the scene The more po lygons there are in your scene the longer the calculation with take Ambient Occlusion calculation takes 512 times longer than the default display It is thus not recommended to use this advanced display mode on a scene with several million polygons 27
167. t Map Tool located in the UV Paint tool tab In the Properties Panel specify the appropriate values corresponding to the different parameters Exported Geometry the object smoothing level which will be exported If you export the control shape model with no smoothing the value to specify will be 0 Smoothing Range The smoothing range you intend to apply to the exported model in the rendering application Displacement Level The maximum smoothing level on which you want to compute the displacement map If the highest smoothing level on your model is 5 specify 5 for this parameter Map Size the size ofthe image which will be generated and exported as displacement map The image will be square thus only one value must be specified such as 1024 2048 etc Validate to quit the Displacement Map tool At this time a system dialog box will appear and you will be asked where you want to save the displacement map as well as the wanted image file format The file name will be followed by a suffix indicating the intensity value of the map to be reported in the parameters of your rendering applica tion 268 Hexagon Brushes and Painting The Displacment Map tool properties Remark For better results it 15 recommended that you choose an image file format which supports 16 bit grey levels such as the TIFF format Other formats propose only 8 bit grey levels which will encode a poor
168. t properties palette A second click defines the diameter or you can enter the dimensions of the circle in the Tool properties palette You can define the number of points that make up the circle by entering a number in the Tool properties palette or by typing or on the numbers pad of the keyboard Validate the creation of the circle Watch the video Remark Use the shift key to snap to points already in the scene for the creation of new lines 131 Hexagon Lines 3 4 CIRCLE FROM THREE POINTS Use Select the Circle from three points tool in the sub palette of the Lines tool palette Click in the 3D workspace to define the first point of the circle or by entering its coordinates in the Object properties palette Click again to define the second point or enter the dimensions of the circle in the Tool properties palette Click again to define the third point or enter the dimensions of the circle in the Tool properties palette You can define the number of points that make up the circle by entering a number in the Tool properties palette or by typing or on the numbers pad of the keyboard Validate the creation of the circle OQO Watch the video Remark Use the Shift key to snap to points already in the scene for the creation of new lines 132 Hexagon Lines 4 ARC Description The Arc tool lets you create a s
169. t the rotation path of the camera By default when moving the mouse to the left the camera turns to the right Some users may find more natural to the contrary Hexagon Preferences Universal manipulator size in pixels Space Mouse activation Moving the camera around the selection instead of around the center of the scene ALT CTRL Command Left Click shortcut Overwriting the default settings of the tablet 2 DISPLAY PREFERENCES 2 1 ENTITIES DISPLAY Allows you to set Create colored objects each created object as a different color taken from a set of predefined colors Color used when creating objects if the previous option 15 turned off Color used for displaying the edges on surfaces Color used for displaying the points on objects Size of points Line width 2 2 SELECTION Allows you to set The selection color when the previous option 15 set Display a bounding box around the selected objects Display the geometric center of the selected object Display edges on the selected object Edge width of the selected edges Control shape color for Dynamic geometry Color of selected edges points and facets Toggles the highlighting of selection items when the cursor hovers selectable entities Highlight color DG highlight color Highlight color for selected entities Color of the bounding box Opacity factor for objects being selected or when editing DGs 269 Hexagon Preferences 2 3 ADVANCED DISPL
170. t with the 3D manipulators A green line appears representing the depth of the cut which by default goes past the object Move the extremities of this line to adjust the depth dynamically When using the Stretch tool to modify the depth of multiple cuts one manipulator appears for all forms The cut is always made on a perpendicular plane XY XZ YZ or perpendicular to the camera plane if you are in a corresponding work mode 73 Hexagon Surface modeling tab 8 THICKNESS Description The Thickness tool lets you give a thickness to a surface volume or a cur ve Example of use In the example of a building the walls can be extruded from flat planes and then the Thickness tool is used to give volume to the walls You can also enter precise numbers among other options On the left a simple plane of the walls and on the right with the added thickness To rapidly create plumbing electric cables or springs simply give a thickness to any 2D line e l On the left a 3D spiral and on the right the spring obtained with the Thickness tool 174 Hexagon Surface modeling tab Use When applying thickness to a surface or 3D volume Select the surface or 3D volume Select the Thickness tool in the Surface modeling tab Define the thickness in the Tool properties palette or use the keys Use the Orientation option to change the side the thickness is created on from inte rior to exterior
171. tain programs that do not support an object made up of polygons that are not triangles or quadrangles Use Select an object where the polygons have more than four points Select the Triangulate n gons tool in the Utilities Tab the tool triangulates any polygons with more than four points Hexagon The Utilities tab 20 lt i MERGE DUPLICATED POINTS Description The Merge duplicate points tool lets you delete any points that might be overlapping or are one on top of another This tool is useful when exporting to certain programs that do not support overlapping points Use Select an object where there are extra points to delete Select the Merge duplicate points tool in the Utilities Tab the tool deletes the extra points 21 lt MERGE DUPLICATED UVS Description The Merge duplicated UVs option enables you to remove UV coordinates that could be duplicated e g one on the other Use Select the object for which you want to merge duplicated UVs Take the Merge Duplicated UVs tool located in the Utilities tab The tool automa tically removes redundant UV coordinates 216 Hexagon The Utilities tab 22 U MERGE COPLANAR FACETS Description The Merge coplanar facets tool lets you combine any facets that share an edge and are in the same plane Use Select an object where there are coplanar facets to merge Select the Merge coplanar facets tool in the Utilities Tab the tool me
172. ted point will deselect it In the Properties Panel click on or icons to add or remove the current selection to Seams or to Pinpoints However it 15 not possible to add at the same time a selection both to Seams and to Pinpoints The two operations must be performed in dividually Define the margin between each UV group by adjusting the Margin value The weaker the margin value the closer the UV groups are to each other Define the Projection Axis of the Unwrap tool Hexagon 2 uses a planar projection to perform the unfolding operation Generally the best axis is the one perpendicular to the planar projection Define the orientation of the Pinpoints axis in U or V which lets you perform a 90 rotation when unfolding Once all the parameters have been set click on the Unwrap icon located left to the and to get a preview of the unfolding in the UV view Do the previous steps again if necessary before validating the tool Validate to release the tool 234 Hexagon Creating and Managing UVs Fichier Modifier Pr sentation Fen tre Aide 2IC Watch the video Remark For better results try as much as possible to close the open parts of the model such as for example eyes and mouth for a face 3 3 RE EDITING THE UNFOLDING Once you have used the Unwrap tool it is still possible to re edit the unfol ding in different ways add or remove Seams and Pi
173. th Copy and Paste or Clone because it lets you copy an ob ject with a precise numerical placement if necessary Use the Duplicate function from the Edit menu to create a cloned copy of the cur rent object Keyboard shortcut Space bar Lets you apply a horizontal vertical or no constraint when moving the copy 198 Hexagon The Utilities tab 8 2 MULTIPLE Copies Description The Multiple copies tool lets you make multiple copies of a selected object with the clone option if needed You can also apply precise multiple modifications to all copies if needed Use Click on the object to copy Select the Multiple copies tool in the Utilities tab Define any options as needed In the Tool properties palette define e The number of copies wanted in addition to the original e The X Y and Z movements to be applied to each copy e The X Y and Z rotations to be applied to each copy e The X Y and Z scale to be applied to each copy Validate the tool to finish the operation Options amp Clone On Off lets you create a dynamic relationship between all the copied objects if the topology of one object 15 modified the same operation is carried out on all the clones Rotation pivot this reference point to be selected on the initial object to be copied will be the point on which the eventual rotations are performed on each copy Left the original object Right the multiple copies of this o
174. the chamfer if necessary Validate the tool to finish the operation Options SY Variable radius Lets you input a value of a chamfer around the corners e Select the option Variable radius e Select the corner which you want to have a different radius e In the Tool properties palette enter a value for the radius 182 Hexagon Surface modeling tab Select all Lets you select all the elements to apply a bevel to at once Remarks Do not use too high of a range on the chamfer if you are going to later apply a smoothing This will make the topology too dense If you are beveling corner vertices making Dice corners the bevel could have strange results use a low range range 0 153 Hexagon Surface modeling tab 12 Q WELD OBJECTS Description The Weld objects tool lets you join several objects together permanently in order to have one object Not to be confused with the Group tool which is only a temporary association of objects This tool is also located in the Vertex Modeling Tab Left the two independant objects Right the two objects welded together Use Select all the objects to be welded Select the Weld objects tool in the Utilities tab Or Select an object Select the Weld objects tool Now select the other objects to be joined The selections are made in inverse mode clicking on a selected object deselects it and clicking an unselected object selects it Validate the tool to
175. the mouse button The Primitive dimensions will be automatically defined according to the 3D View size 87 Hexagon 3D Primitives 7 GRID Description The Grid tool lets you draw a grid made up of cells The proportions of the first cell define the proportion of the grid Three kinds of Grids with more or less cells Use Select the Grid tool in the Vertex Modeling Tab Click in the 3D workspace to create the first corner of the cell of the grid or by entering its coordinates in the Object properties palette Move the mouse to define the opposite corner of the cell and validate or enter the dimensions in the Tool properties palette Move the mouse to create other cells as the bounding box expands to accommodate them then validate or enter the number of desired cells in the Tool properties palette in lines U and columns Remark It is also possible to drag and drop the tool icon into the 3D scene which will create the primitive located where you will have released the mouse button The Primitive dimensions will be automatically defined according to the 3D View size Hexagon 3D Primitives 8 W 3D TEXT Description The 3D text tool puts type in volume by extruding the font outlines A 3D text Use Select the 3D Text tool in the sub palette of the Vertex Modeling Tab Click in the 3D workspace to define the starting point of the text The 3D Text editor appears T
176. the pivot function in the Context Menu over the Manipulator Hexagon replaces the pivot to its original place 2 Watch the video 49 Hexagon Selections VI SELECTIONS Hexagon software 5 modeling tools vary according to the type of object selected Certain tools work with edges and not faces where other tools adapt their behavior to the chosen selection mode Therefore it is important to choose the right selection mode before you choose a tool 50 Hexagon Selections 1 GENERAL Loop RING BEW Pe ch Oiler The complete Selection palette 1 1 TYPES OF SELECTIONS There are four types of selections O vertices or Points the basis of all 3D construction 5 Edges made up of at least 2 points e Faces made up of at least 3 edges with no maximum K Object several faces making up a surface or segments making up a line Selection modes as the name implies select only certain elements In select point mode you can affect only points e In select edge mode you can affect only an edge and the two points that make it up e In select face mode you can affect only a face including the edges and points that make it up e In select object mode you affect the whole object The same tool Move or Translate for example can have very different results depending on whether you want to retouch a detail move a point on the object or make a
177. thout welding the curves together and losing the dynamic aspect of certain curves such as control points polylines If the current selection is open when creating a new curve three options allow you to connect or not the new curve with the current selection to create or add to a Composite Curve A Composite curve made of a Curve and an Arc of Circle Use Select an existing open curve Select a drawing tool Select the option do not connect if you want the two curves to be independent Or Select connect to the beginning of the last selected curve to make the new curve connect to the start of the existing curve Select connect to the end of the last selected curve to make the new curve connect to the end of the existing curve Then either Select a new tool without leaving the current tool the Hexagon software validates the current curve and activates the new tool automatically connecting the new line with the existing one Or Validate the tool to finish the curve once the different options have been chosen if needed 14 Hexagon Lines Watch the video Remark To edit a Composite Curve use the Stretch tool in the Utilities tab 142 Hexagon Lines 10 T 2D TEXT Description The 2D Text tool creates outlines of type F text A 2D Text Use Select the 2D Text tool in the Lines tools palette Click in the 3D workspace to define the starting point of th
178. tion Install the software provided with the 3Dconnexion motion controller and test it with the provided tools If needed you can download the drivers at http www 3dconnexion com Once you have installed the 3Dconnexion software you will be able to use the device with Hexagon You must first enable the device in the preference panel located in the User Interface Misc tab Camera movements The possible camera movements are Pan left and right move controller left and right Pan up and down pull controller up and down Zoom in and out push controller forward or pull backward Rotate left and right twist controller clockwise or counterclockwise Rotate up and down tilt controller forward and backward 28 Hexagon Working in 3D space 2 THE THREE WORKING PLANES To work in 3D space to draw a profile move an object the proposed method used by most 3D programs is to work always on one plane in 3D space 2 1 THE ABSOLUTE WORKING PLANES RETR if EEA ae 2 Ni a ree 18 4 Se N ee 22S ee SES SoS SoTa SaN OS The three reference grid guides By default Hexagon lets you work in the so called absolute planes symbolized in the 3D Workspace by three reference grid guides The horizontal plane XZ the vert
179. ts you make a custom connection later 1f necessary On the left is the original surface and on the right is the offset surface Use Select the surface or 3D volume Select the Offset tool in the Surface modeling tab Define the distance of the offset in the Tool properties palette or use the keys Use the Orientation option to change the side of the offset Validate the tool to terminate the operation Options The Orientation option lets you change the side of the offset from interior to exterior 176 Hexagon Surface modeling tab Remarks The orientation by default 15 set by the Normals of the object If the Normals are not unified crossed surfaces could appear Use the Inverse Normals tool to fix this In the case of a closed volume a cube for example if you apply an offset to the interior it will not be visible and will increase the amount of polygons for the object Avoid doing this unless for example you are planning to apply texture with transparency and refraction for the illusion of glass later in a rendering program such as Eovia s Carrara The created surface does not support Dynamic Geometry 177 Hexagon Surface modeling tab 10 SmoorHinc Description The Smoothing tool gives a smoother appearance to your polygonal objects whether a surface or curve The result increases the number of facets describing the surface or segments describing a curve This tool offer
180. tter quality it is recommended that you use only square images and not rectangular both for brushes and textures to reveal Feel free to get inspired from the default content provided with Hexagon 2 If you decide to manually copy image files into the application folder second method as above you ll also want to add a thumbnail of the image as a 64364 pixels 250 Hexagon Brushes and Painting image named your file name with the thumb suffix This will for example give for the texture named old wood jpg old wood thumb jpg as the name of the thumbnail Hexagon 2 supports as textures to reveal the BMP JPG PNG TIFF and GIF file formats although GIF is not recommended since it can only handle 256 colors which is too weak a resolution for quality textures As specified in the second method description images to be used as brushes must be in PNG format non destructive format 1 5 BRUSHES DISPLAY To work more efficiently with brushes Hexagon 2 uses a specific display which is different from the default cursor and includes Two color circles which can vary according to the usage corresponding to the diameter of the brush and its hardness and A plain blue circle corresponding to the strength or the opacity of the brush The brush display Hexagon Brushes and Painting 1 6 TYPES OF STROKES To use brushes on models both for Displacement and Painting Hexagon 2 pro vides
181. uced The higher the value the finer the smoothing To increase or decrease the smoothing use the keys or input the values directly in the Tool properties palette lig Smoothing Tension the smoothing have a control over the tension or the con centration of edges or points when a smoothed object comes in contact with a non smoothed object Watch the video Remarks It is recommended to always work in low resolution or with a low polygon count to see the model better and not slow down the program Do not flatten the Dynamic Geometry at the smoothing level except as a last step It is impossible to cancel smoothing if it is no longer dynamic unless you use Undo If at all possible avoid applying a range above three or four on the object The hi gher the range the slower the editing of the object will be Choose a lower range 1 or 2 when editing and when necessary or when you have finished choose a higher range 150 Hexagon Surface modeling tab 11 SY CHAMFER Description The Chamfer tool lets you create smooth angles and corners by rounding chosen edges or vertices of a surface volume or vertex of a 2D polyline The tool needs input of the Radius which is the circular section that makes the edge or vertex rounded and the Range which is the quality of the rounded edge or how many facets points will be created to describe this curved edge Example of use Most real objects seldom have truly sha
182. unch the Rectangle Lasso tool before pressing the mofidier key Ctrl or Shift 2 4 BPOLYGON LASSO This mode lets you make a selection with a polygon drawn around the elements in a series of clicks Finish your lasso selection by hitting the Enter key or click on the Validate button in the Tool Properties palette The alternative mode for the right click of the mouse is available by clicking on the button drag lasso icon in the selection menu When using the polygon lasso the Shift key adds and the CTRL key subtracts from the selection However you must first launch the Polygon Lasso tool before pressing the mo fidier key Ctrl or Shift 3 SELECTION OPERATIONS Hexagon has basic operations like adding or subtracting an element from the selection These operations are accessed with the Shift key which switches back and forth depending on the selection e Shift Click a selected item to deselect it e Shift Click a non selected item to add it to the existing selection oD Hexagon Selections 4 SELECTION ACCESSORIES Hexagon software has several accessories which make selecting easy and save time It is important to remember their respective keyboard shortcuts to have quick access during modeling although their functions are accessible by icons in the Selection palette 4 1 The Loop tool lets you expand a selection along a surface by continuing it as far as possible in the direction you started
183. usion The display mode stays active until it is changed to a new mode Please read the following chapter on the real time display for more detailed informa tion Ambient Occlusion Preview Displays the scene using the Ambient Occlusion technique which simulates the effect of a simplified Global Illumination This advanced display mode 15 not real time and may take several seconds depending on your hardware configuration So as soon you start to navigate again use any tool or perform any selection operation the display will turn back to default display mode without Ambient Occlusion Please read the below chapter on the real time display for more detailed information Gy Transparent display of sub selection when working on a selection of vertices edges or faces or within a level of Dynamic Geometry EP Show hide backfaces displays or not the faces that may have their normal oriented away from the camera 5 3D projection mode by default the camera is in perspective mode but you can also choose to work in orthographic mode or no perspective Hexagon The control panel 6 REAL TIME DISPLAY In addition to the default surface display Hexagon 2 offers several advanced display capabilities providing a better perception of volumes and reliefs These display capabilities are the Lightmaps the Real time Shadows and the Ambient Occlusion 6 1 LIGHTMAPS These Lightmaps emphasize the relief perception and
184. variation we will have to set this value to the maximum possible e g to 100 252 Hexagon Brushes and Painting 1 8 WORKING WITH SYMMETRY As for the usual modeling Hexagon 2 can use the Symmetry Mode available from the Property Panel in order to replicate in a symmetrical way the polygon displa cement as well as the painting operations 00 00 03 Watch the video 253 Hexagon Brushes and Painting 2 USING DISPLACEMENT AND PAINTING TOOLS You will find below the description of the Displacement and Painting Tools You will notice as you read through this document that these tools globally share the same functions and a similar user interface 2 1 DISPLACEMENT BRUSH Description The Displacement Brush Tool allows you to displace polygons on a mo del either toward the inside or the outside of the surface based on the normal to the surface Use Take the Displacement Brush Tool located in the UV Paint tool tab Acursor looking like a red circle appears Choose the working channel if needed Displacement or Bump Click and drag on the object to push and pull polygons This tracing will be done according to the different tool s options Validate the tool to end using the Displacement Brush Watch the video Options Real time Symmetry If the Symmetry Mode is on this option will perform all displacement operations in real time on the other s
185. works on two points on the same polygon and not on a series of points 109 Hexagon Vertex Modeling 7 Gt I SMOOTH MORE LESS Description The Smooth more less tools lets you define the quality of the object whether they are lines or polygon objects These tools are like the Smoothing tool in the Surface modeling tab except only the default smoothing of Catmull Clark surface subdivision is applied with no options of other types offered The tool lets you rapidly go from high to low resolution and back again preferably while using the Keyboard shortcuts ym From left to right The object with no smoothing then a range 1 smoothing and the range 2 smoothing Use Select the object of which you want to affect the smoothing Select the Increase Smoothing tool or the Decrease smoothing tool in the Vertex modeling tab or by clicking on the range level in the Object property panel 2e 09 60 amp Watch the video 110 Hexagon Vertex Modeling Keyboard shortcut Page up key increases smoothing Page down key decreases smoothing At 0 smoothing the tool is no longer present on the object Remarks The smoothing is always dynamic and shows up on the Dynamic Geometry Tree All smoothing options type range etc are available by clicking on the edit dynamic smoothing icon in the Object properties palette while the object is selected The smoothing can be incr
186. xactly the same on models that are more complex than the simple grids above As this point making sure that you have a control mesh that is already dense uniform and precise enough will help you to avoid having to smooth the model too heavily in order to sculpt it in a very detailed way 240 Hexagon Surface Displacement Modeling Finally brushes can be used on triangles quadrangles or n sided polygons also called n gons Choose however if possible quadrangles in order to get better quality results To conclude try to keep in mind the following three important rules e Try to have polygons as square as possible e Try to have a mesh with a density as uniform as possible e Try to have as many quadrangles as possible 1 5 MULTI RESOLUTION SMOOTHING This expression hides a powerful feature the geometry displacement is dynami cally stored at each level of smoothing It means that when using displacement tools at one level of smoothing displacements performed at higher levels are kept And what s even better is they are naturally affected by modifications performed at lower levels In other words you can sculpt details working at a high level of smoothing and then mo dify the more global aspect of the shape working at a lower level while keeping your details and having them follow your global displacements It is best to illustrate this concept through an example Let s take the example of an arm to be modeled w
187. xtures rendering and ani mations of the models created by Hexagon To do this Hexagon can read and write several 3D file formats 292 Hexagon Imports Exports 4 Format export only The DAZ Carrara native file format Carrara 15 the natural companion of Hexagon for rendering and animation of Hexagon models So the Hexagon to Carrara export is very complete File created by Hexagon are compatible with Carrara 4 1 or more recent e Exports objects geometry names scene and groups materials Color transpa rency bump UVs shading domains OBJ Format The Wavefront OBJ format This format developed by Wavefront is becoming a de facto standard for ex changing 3D polygonal data This 1s the recommended exchange file format to and from Hexagon e Imports objects geometry names scene and groups materials Uvs shading domains e Exports objects geometry names scene and groups materials Uvs shading domains IDS Format The file format of the Autodesk s 3D Studio rendering and animation to ols Like OBJ 3DS is considered as a de facto standard To be used only if OBJ does not give good results e Imports objects geometry names scene and groups e Exports objects geometry names scene and groups DXF Format The Autodesk s Autocad clear text file format Used mostly for exchanging technical data sets architecture e Imports objects geometry names scene and groups lines e Exports object
188. y which allows you to paint transparency or to reveal a transparency texture Remarks In order to paint a model it must have a material containing a texture The model must have UVs and if possible UVs which do not overlap With no UVs it is impossible to display and thus paint textures 264 Hexagon Brushes and Painting Tool Shortcuts Shift key held performs the opposite operation polygons will be pushed instead of being pulled The cursor circle turns from red to green This action is only active in the Displacement and the Bump channels CTRL Command held invoke the Soften Tool while not releasing the Brush Tool The cursor circle turns from red to blue CTRL Command Shift held allows you to change the influence radius of the tool click and drag from left to right increases the radius since from right to left de creases it From bottom to up increases the strength and from up to bottom decreases the strength The cursor circle turns from red to yellow 265 Hexagon Brushes and Painting 3 EXPORTING TEXTURES Hexagon 2 does not offer image rendering As such you need to export the crea ted 3D models along with associated textures toward a rendering solution You will find additional information regarding materials and their export in the corresponding section of this User s Manual 3 1 COLOR AND TRANSPARENCY TEXTURES Regarding the export of textures two solutions are available dependin
189. you to set Display the 3D rulers on the full space or only on the quarter where the cursor is located Display gradations on the entire rulers or only on the current quarter Displays or not the numerical values on the 3D rulers Displays the value of the current tool parameters in the 3D workspace near the cursor allows you to control precisely a value without looking at the property palette Origin of the world coordinates 1 4 Misc 288 Allows you to set Enable or Disable the display of a dialog during import and export showing the parameters available for the selected format Enable or Disable the Tooltips display Maximum number of undo actions memorized Setting a high value may re quire a huge amount of memory Display the rendering speed as the number of frames displayed per second fps in the 3D workspace near the document name This can be useful to evaluate the performances of a computer Display the current document name in the 3D workspace Activation of the Eovia news service a dialog launch when the application starts showing the news about Eovia and Hexagon tutorials updates Don t show the same news twice Display a flying palette showing the icon and name of each command executed useful for recording training videos Camera rotation speed when navigating using the keyboard arrow keys Camera translation speed when navigating using the keyboard arrow keys Invert camera rotation allows to inver

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