Search TipsCreating Geometry
Modo offers a variety of different tools for quickly generating geometry. Primitive items, such as spheres and cubes, are a good way to build basic forms, which can then be edited, added to, modified, and otherwise molded into the form you want, using any of the deform or mesh editing tools. Drawn curves are useful for creating wireframe skeletons of a form, where patches are then used to define the final surface. Functions, such as Solid Sketch, allow you to explore forms more readily without needing to manipulate specific geometry.
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Primitives |
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The Cube primitive provides a simple method for creating boxes or cubes. Tip: The Cube primitive tool can also be used to create 2D quadrilaterals by clicking and dragging in the viewport. |
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The Sphere primitive provides a simple method for creating sphere or balls. |
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The Cone primitive provides a simple method for creating conical shapes. |
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The Cylinder primitive provides a simple method for creating cylinders or tubes. |
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The Capsule primitive provides a simple method for creating capsules or rounded-edge tubes. |
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The Torus primitive provides a simple method for creating toroids or "doughnuts". |
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The Ellipsoid primitive provides a simple method for creating ellipses or "pills". |
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The Tube primitive provides a simple method for creating spline curve-based tubes. |
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The Teapot primitive provides a simple method for creating a teapot. |
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Drawing |
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The Pen tool allows you to create geometry vertex by vertex. You can use the Pen tool to create polygons, lines, vertices, spline patches, or subdivision surface polygons. |
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The Curve tool allows you to create a spline curve. This is a hermite curve type and can be very useful for creating modeling guides, quickly roughing out a shape, or setting up an outline for lofting with the extrude, lathe, or other multiply tools. |
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The Bezier tool allows you to create a type of curve defined by off-curve control handles. |
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The B-Spline tool allows you to draw B-spline curves, which are spline curves defined by at least four vertices and a weight map. |
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The Sketch tool allows you to quickly create a curve by drawing in the 3D view. |
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The Arc tool allows you to make closed segments of a disc (like the shape of a pie wedge, or a pie with a piece missing). |
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Curves |
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The Circle tool allows you to create a circle using a Bezier or Hermite spline curve. |
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The Star tool allows you to create a star shape using a Bezier curve or a polyline. |
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The N-Sided tool allows you to create a regular polygon with a give number of sides. it can be drawn using a Bezier curve or a polyline. |
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The Rectangle tool allows you to create a rectangle or square, using a Bezier curve or a polyline. |
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The Ellipse tool allows you to create an ellipse using a Bezier or Hermite spline curve. |
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The Diamond tool allows you to create a diamond shape using a Bezier curve or a polyline. |
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Other |
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The Solid Sketch tool provides a quick method for roughing out organic shapes - building up basic geometry. |
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The Text tool simplifies the process of creating 3D text using system fonts. |
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The Vertex tool provides a method for quickly plotting points in 3D space. |
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The Make Polygon tool uses the currently-selected vertices to create a polygon. Alternatively, use the Make tool to automatically create a polygon from two selected edges. |
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The Patch Curves tool generates a smooth surface from three or four curves that define the contour edges of the surfaces. |
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