AutoCAD® 2012 FOR DUMMIES®

Modifying 3D Objects

Many of the modification techniques and commands that you use in 2D drafting can be applied to 3D modeling. In addition, a specialized set of 3D editing commands is available. All these commands are located on the Modify panel of the Home tab when the 3D Modeling workspace is current.

Selecting subobjects

3D objects themselves are complex objects that can be made up of several hundred — even thousands of — objects. Although these objects never stray from their parent, you can access them individually or in groups through subobject selection. Subobject selection means selecting a vertex, edge, or face of a 3D object. After you select a subobject, you can use grip editing and the 3D gizmos to manipulate it. I discuss the 3D gizmos in the following section.

To make it easier to select subobjects, you can enable subobject filtering from the Ribbon. Vertex, edge, and face filters are located on the Subobject Selection Filter split button on the Selection panel of the Home and Solid tabs.

The CULLINGOBJ and CULLINGOBJSELECTION system variables help limit object selection to the faces that are visible in the current view by ignoring faces around the back of the objects being viewed. By default, both of these variables are turned off, so you can select objects in front and behind. If you have a complex model, turn culling on. To turn culling on, click Culling on the ...