Autodesk AUTOCAD 2010 - PREVIEW GUIDE Manual page 41

AUTOCAD 2010 PREVIEW GUIDE
Figure 72. Example of free-form shapes
The new Mesh Modeling ribbon tab provides easy access to the mesh creation and editing tools. The Primitives
panel includes a tool to create primitive mesh shapes (Box, Cone, Cylinder, Pyramid, Sphere, Wedge, and
Torus) as well as revolved, ruled, tabbed, and edge mesh surfaces.
Figure 73. Mesh Modeling ribbon tab
A mesh object can be incrementally smoothed to create curved shapes, even when starting with a traditional
primitive shape. The process of creating smooth mesh primitives is similar to creating their solid equivalents.
For example, creating a smooth mesh cylinder provides the same prompts and options as creating a solid
cylinder. By default, mesh primitives are created with no smoothness. You can adjust the smoothness level as
you create the mesh by specifying the Settings option. Entering a smoothness equal to 0 produces a shape with
straight edges. Higher smoothness values produce increasingly more rounded edges. You can convert existing
3D solids, 3D surfaces, 3D faces, polygon meshes, polyface meshes, regions, and closed polylines to Mesh
objects using the Smooth Objects tool. Even after you've created a Mesh object at a specified smoothness, you
can easily increase or decrease its smoothness using the Properties palette or the mesh editing tools available
in the Mesh ribbon panel. The maximum Smoothness value of an object is Level 4. You can use the Mesh
Refine tool to set the object's current smoothness level as the new baseline thus increasing the smoothness
capability of the remaining levels. However, increasing smoothness and refinement adds complexity to the
object and can affect performance. For the best of both worlds, you can develop your model at low levels of
smoothness and increase the level of smoothness when the basic modeling is complete. In addition, you can
refine individual faces without resetting the baseline level of smoothness. This allows you to confine the
complexity to the areas where detail work is required.
Figure 74. Incrementally smoothed objects
You can control the behavior of subobjects within a mesh using the Crease tools. For example, imagine the
task of designing a modern new building to fit between two existing buildings on a crowded urban street. You
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