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Modeling > Creating Surfaces > Surface parameters

Surface parameters


All surfaces have the following parameters, which appear in the World Explorer and the Parameter Editor when you create the surface. Parameters that apply only to specific surfaces are described in the links below.

Common Surface Parameters

Position

Distance from the center of the World in units, along the X, Y, Z axes.

Orientation

Orientation in degrees around the X, Y, Z axes.

Scale

Scaling values in X, Y, Z. Scale is a multiplication factor.

Visible

Toggles surface visibility.

Anti-aliasing

Toggles anti-aliasing on/off for the selected surface. It blurs the edge of the object to removes the "jaggies".

To be visible, anti-aliasing must be on for the viewport and the object. To turn on anti-aliasing for the viewport, right-click the viewport and choose Anti-aliasing. Anti-aliasing slows down the refresh rate. For more information, see Estimating download time.

Number of points

Number of points that define the surface. When the surface is published in a web page, the points are downloaded and the AXEL player redraws the surface on the surfer's web page. Increasing the number of points increases download time.

Point positions

The X Y Z coordinates of every point on the surface.

Streamable

Enables web streaming for the surface after it is published to the web. If you turn on Streamable, select a streaming priority. For more information on streaming, see Estimating download time.

Single sided

Displays only the outer face of surfaces. To see both faces, turn off Single-sided. Turning on Single-sided increases the display speed since AXEL has to draw only one side of the surface.

Smoothness

Since polygonal surfaces are not smooth, but a collection of flat planes, smoothness creates an illusion of surface roundness. The sphere on the left shows the true appearance of a polygonal surface, where all the facets are visible. The same sphere on the right, with smoothness enabled, creates the illusion of a round surface.

Crease control

Use crease control for surfaces that have both hard edges and round surfaces, for example, a table top with smooth corners. If you turn on smoothness without crease control, all the angles are rounded. Turn on crease control to disable smoothness for sharp angles.

Crease angle

Defines minimum angle for smoothness to take effect. For example, if you use a low crease angle threshold such as 10, facets will be visible if the angle between 2 faces is higher than 10 degrees. A higher crease angle threshold such as the default 60 degrees will smooth all but the sharpest angles.

Coloring

Determines how color is applied to a surface. You apply color per point, per face, or to the entire surface. For more information, see Color per point, per face.

Frozen

Hides the surface geometry parameters. In addition, if a revolution or extrusion surface is frozen, it is no longer linked to the curve from which it was generated; changing the curve does not change the surface.

A surface freezes if you add, move, or delete points, subdivide it, or simplify. It also freezes if you set the coloring to Per point or it or Per face, or edit texture coordinates.

When the surface is frozen, AXEL draws the surface based on its points, not its parameters. If you turn off Frozen, the surface is redrawn, and any points you modified move back to their original position, and edited point colors revert to the material color.


See also:

Sphere Geometry Parameters

Cube Geometry Parameters

Cone Geometry Parameters

Cylinder Geometry Parameters

Plane Geometry Parameters (Horizontal and Vertical)

Revolution Parameters

Extrusion Parameters

Animating parameters

Copying parameters

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