Use edit form and create basic manipulations

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Use edit form and create basic manipulations.

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After completing this video, you'll be able to use edit form,

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translate edges and vertices and enable soft modification.

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In fusion 3 60. We want to begin with the supply data set, edit form dot F 3D.

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We're going to be taking a look at the edit

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form tool and better understand how we can translate,

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rotate and scale specific entities on our free form bodies.

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This design contains two separate bodies a basic and a complex.

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And for now we want to hide complex and focus our attention on the basic.

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This is a primitive box form that was created similar

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if you were to just start by using create box,

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but we want to begin by going to modify an edit form.

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Once we're in the edit form dialogue,

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it wants us to select the T spine entity that we want to move, rotate or scale.

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This can be a single vertex, multiple vertices, a face

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an edge or any grouping of those selections.

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And there are certain things that we can do such as box selecting

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or double clicking on edges to get an entire loop.

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But for the most part,

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we want to understand what these selections and the effects of transforming

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or scaling things in 3D is going to have on our design.

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So to get started, let's begin by making a single selection.

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And let's note that the widget that displays on the screen

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has three separate things that we can do.

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We have arrows that represent pulling in a single direction.

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This is going to be part of the translation.

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We also have these squares which represent translation but moving in plane,

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then we can also select the center point which

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allows us to scale the position in all three directions

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and we can scale in plane

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or in a single direction

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and then we can also rotate.

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Now some of these make more sense based on your specific selection.

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For example,

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scaling or rotating a vertex doesn't make as much sense

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as it does when we select edges or faces.

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So for example,

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let's go ahead and hold down the shift key and select the four faces on the end.

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With these four faces selected, we can scale in a single direction

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and begin pulling them closer together.

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We can select the corner if we want to scale in plane.

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This allows us to scale up and down

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or we can select the point in the center

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and scale them in three dimensions.

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Now,

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the main difference here is that when scaling them in three separate directions,

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we're going to be reducing the position

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in the X coordinate system,

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if we were just to scale them in plane,

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we would only be moving in the Y and Z directions.

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So each of these are going to have a slightly different effect on the overall design.

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We can also use the manipulators to begin rotating these faces.

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And in this case, we're rotating about the Y axis, we can rotate about the Z axis

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or we can rotate about the X axis.

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We can expand the numerical inputs.

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And we can take a look at the specific inputs that we're using.

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For example, we can reset X and Y angles to put it back to its original position.

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And we can reset that Z angle.

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We can also use these numerical inputs for precise inputs.

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But keep in mind that when we're freeform modeling,

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generally, we're not looking at a precision type of modeling.

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We're not linking anything to a specific sketch or feature.

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Instead, we are manipulating things in 3D directly.

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If we do the selection with edges instead of faces,

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the selection still works the same.

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We can scale edges,

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we can change their position

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and we can change their rotation.

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These are all going to have an overall effect on the design.

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Depending on your selection process, it'll have more or less of an effect.

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For example, if we select the entire loop and I begin scaling that down in 3D,

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you can see how it affects the overall shape.

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This allows us to quickly and easily

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create and manipulate complex organic shapes that

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would otherwise take a lot of time to define with sketches and features.

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Now that we understand the basics,

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let's talk a little bit more about some of the options we have.

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Let's make a single selection such as this face.

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And let's take a look at the transform mode.

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By default, the transform mode is set to multi,

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which means that we're gonna show transform, rotate and scale altogether.

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However, if you're only looking to do translations,

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you can switch it to a translation mode.

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If you only want to do rotations or if you only want to scale,

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you can switch back and forth between each of these.

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There are hot keys for these.

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In the case of a Windows machine, it would be Alton Q for all Alton

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W alton E and Alton R for the other three

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on a mac machine, you would use the option key instead of the alt key.

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We also have selections for coordinate space, view space,

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selection space or local per entity.

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Now, this typically has to do with the direction in which we're pulling for XY and Z.

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If we change this to the view space,

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then we'll be manipulating our design in the direction

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based on its current orientation on our view.

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If we do it per entity,

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it'll be normal to the curvature at the center of our selection.

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And same thing for local per entity,

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it's going to be normal to the selected curvature.

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In most cases, it makes sense to either use world space or view space.

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It's always a good idea for us to manipulate along the XY and Z directions

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or to stay in plane rather than moving things in 3D.

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But there are certain instances where you might want to do that.

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Next,

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let's left click in the canvas to deselect everything and note that

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we have a selection filter that allows us to focus on vertices,

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edges

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faces or all.

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When we use just a vertex selection, notice the display changes.

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And when we click on a vertex,

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you can see that we're seeing them displayed on

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the screen at all positions that are selectable.

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And we can use box select as well.

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If we use edge,

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you can see only the edges are selectable and face only the faces are selectable.

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The multi or all option will allow us to select all of those.

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However, when we do a box selection,

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it will focus its priority on faces and edges and it won't focus on vertices.

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You can use your selection filter drop down for the

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selection filters and decide what you want to select here.

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But note that select all is on by default. When you're using this option,

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there is 1/5 option for bodies.

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If you want to select an entire body and move the entire thing

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for the most part, you're likely going to leave this set to all.

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We have object snap options which allow us to

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use snaps to other objects inside of our design.

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In

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this instance, we're not going to focus our attention on object snaps.

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But we do want to move over to soft modifications

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for soft modifications. I'm gonna hide the basic and show the complex body.

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We want to focus our attention on what soft modifications do.

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And we also want to get an idea of some of the best practices when using edit form.

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So when we toggle on soft modification,

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notice that we have three extent types,

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distance face count and a rectangular face count.

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Let's start with the rectangular face count and let's select

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the vertex right in the middle of the design.

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What we'll notice is that on screen, we have the vertices are now displayed in red,

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pink or white.

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Anything that is red is going to move more,

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anything in pink will move slightly less and

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anything in white will move the least amount,

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anything that's not currently highlighted will not move at all.

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This is a great way to maintain your overall design intent.

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While making more global changes to the design,

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you also can change the transition

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having it be a linear fall off at the end of those selected

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vertices or you can have it bulge or have a smooth transition.

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We can also determine the length and width face

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counts or if you're using the total face count,

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it'll be based on a single number.

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If you're using a distance,

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this will use more of a circular distance amount and this

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will be based on a radius away from your selected vertex.

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In this case,

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I'm going to use undo or control Z to put it back and turn off soft modifications.

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These are great once your design has become more complex

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and you need to make minor changes or tweaks.

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Now that we've seen this,

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let's go ahead and talk a little bit about some of the

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best practices and ways in which we want to use this tool.

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It's always a good idea for us to work between smooth and box display

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under the selection options at the very bottom.

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You can see that the display options will show us the box display

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the control frame display as well as the smooth display.

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We also still do have those shortcut keys that

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will allow us to toggle back and forth between those

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in this instance. What I want to do is take the vertices in the center position

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and bring them back down to their original level.

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For that.

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I'm going to select the vertices noting that

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I have symmetry based on that green line.

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So we'll simply hold down, shift and select the middle and this position here.

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Next, what I'd like to do is I would like to bring them down to this horizontal level.

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There are a few different ways that we can do this

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one of the easiest ways is to use scaling.

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Now, when we're using scaling, we need to have a pivot point or a selected position

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in order to get this to be accurate.

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What I want to do is select the single vertex,

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reset my pivot point to the position where I want that vertex to go.

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And then I want to begin scaling it down in this direction.

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I'm gonna use zero as the scale amount and hit. Enter

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when I do this, it's gonna move that vertex down to that position.

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You can see that we left this one behind which is OK. We still need to make that change,

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but we can repeat that process by using right click and repeating our edit form.

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We'll select this vertex.

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Once again, we're gonna set our pivot point as the location where we want this to go

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and begin scaling this down manually entering a value of zero

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instead of hitting. Enter this time, let's left click in the canvas to deselect

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and then we'll select that top center position, resetting our pivot point.

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And once again scaling this down in Z

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setting this value at zero and left clicking to OK.

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Now, if we take a look at this from our front view,

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everything is back in line how it would have been originally when it was created.

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So if you have a design where you need to have your edges in line, in this case,

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along the X axis.

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We can use those scaling techniques to help manipulate the design.

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We can also go back and forth between the box and smooth

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display just to ensure that we haven't made any drastic changes.

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Let's go back into edit form one more time.

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And let's talk a little bit about using our tools for things like rotating.

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I'm gonna double click this edge, hold down, shift and double click this edge.

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We're gonna reset our pivot point to this back corner.

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And then we're gonna use our rotation to rotate both of those edges together.

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Once again,

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using that pivot point at the back edge ensures

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that this back edge stays at the right location.

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If the default five degrees is too much,

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you can always manually enter a value and hit enter to accept.

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Once again using the entire edge and resetting that pivot

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point allowing us to rotate relative to a selected entity

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helps us maintain the overall design intent

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without drastically changing the structure or shape of our design.

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From here.

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I strongly suggest you continue to play around with edit form and

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get a good idea of how you can select individual vertices,

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edges or faces

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and also how you can use your translate, rotate and scale tools.

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Once you get comfortable with that,

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make sure that you've saved this design before moving on.