Show Me: Move a Face and an Edge on a 3D Solid

Click the Play arrow to start the animation.

When you move, rotate or scale a subobject, the subobject is modified in a way that maintains the integrity of the 3D solid. For example, when you move an edge (in red in the following illustration), the faces adjacent to the edge adjust so that the faces remain adjacent to the edge.

Sometimes there are several possible results when you modify a solid. When you move, rotate, or scale subobjects, you can press CTRL while you drag to cycle through modification options. The illustration below shows the modification options for moving a face (in red).

For more information about modification options see the following:

• Move, Rotate, and Scale Faces on 3D Solids
• Modify Edges on 3D Solids
• Modify Vertices on 3D Solids

Move, Rotate, and Scale Subobjects on Composite Solids

When a composite solid’s History property is set to Record, you can only select and move, rotate, and scale faces, edges, and vertices on the individual primitives that make up the composite.

When a composite solid’s History property is set to None, you can only select and move, rotate, and scale faces, edges, and vertices of the whole composite (not the individual primitives that make up the composite).

Rules and Limitations When Moving, Rotating, Scaling Subobjects

You can only move, rotate, and scale subobjects on 3D solids if the operation will maintain the integrity of the solid. The following rules and limitations apply to moving, rotating, and scaling subobjects:

• When you use grips to modify subobjects, grips are not displayed on the subobjects that cannot be moved, rotated, or scaled.
• In most cases, you can move, rotate, and scale both planar and non-planar faces.
• You can only modify an edge that is a straight line and that has at least one planar adjacent face. The planes of the adjacent planar faces are adjusted to contain the modified edge.
• You cannot move, rotate, or scale edges (or their vertices) that are imprinted inside faces.
• You can only modify a vertex if it has at least one planar adjacent face. The planes of the adjacent planar faces are adjusted to contain the modified vertex.
• When you drag a subobject, the final result may be different than the preview displayed during the modification. This is because the solid may have to adjust how it’s been modified in order to maintain its topology. In some cases, the modification may not be possible because it may change the topology of the solid too severely.
• If the modification causes spline surfaces to extend, the operation is usually unsuccessful.
• You cannot move, rotate, or scale non-manifold edges (edges that are shared by more than two faces) or non-manifold vertices. Also, if some non-manifold edges or vertices are present near faces, edges, and vertices that you modify, the operation may not be possible.