Modeler

208Detail TabLightWave 10 - ModelerThe Detail Tab contains a variety of tools for fine-tuning thepoints, polygons, edges and curves of your geometry.PointsMerge Points Command(default keyboard shortcut M)Use the Merge Points command (Detail > Points: MergePoints) to remove points that occupy the same or very nearlythe same space. Remember, if all of the points along a polygon’sedge are shared, LightWave’s surface smoothing can smoothover the two polygons. Many circumstances exist where you maycreate unnecessary duplicate points, but here is a list of somecommon ones:• After you cut polygons to a separate layer and then pastethem back.The Merge Points command has two Range modes: Automaticand Fixed. These basically determine the criteria for when pointsshould be considered mergeable.Automatic merges the points that share the same space. Forobjects or portions of objects that you have cut from the mainobject with the intention of merging later (back into their originalpositions), use Automatic.Fixed merges any points within the specified Distance of oneanother. When merged, one point will move to the location ofanother — Merge will not average the distance between pointsto create a new point midway between them. As such, the relatedpolygon may be stretched as necessary.HINT: To speed the operation, select the points youwish to merge before using this command. (It’s OKif you select more than you need.)NOTE: See also the Weld command, describednext.• After you use the Mirror tool and Drill operations, becausethe complex mathematics involved often generate extrapoints.Before MergeAfter MergeIf the Keep 1-Point Polygons option is disabled, polygons areautomatically deleted if they become single points (due to theirvertices merging together). The default is for these polygons to beretained.