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Modeling examples

The diagrams explain the operation. Your result depends on the starting geometry and settings.

Interactive examples

Create & arrange

Add a primitive

Start with a basic mesh. Its vertices, edges, and faces can be selected and developed into a more detailed form.

Add a primitive: An editable starting shape — Concept illustration. The diagrams explain the operation. Your result depends on the starting geometry and settings.

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Move

Translate the object along an axis. Its shape, dimensions, and topology stay the same.

Move: Moved on one axis — Concept illustration. The diagrams explain the operation. Your result depends on the starting geometry and settings.

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Rotate

Rotate the object about its pivot. Vertex distances from that pivot are preserved.

Rotate: Turned about the pivot — Concept illustration. The diagrams explain the operation. Your result depends on the starting geometry and settings.

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Scale

Change the object’s width while preserving its height. This example uses an axis constraint and a fixed pivot.

Scale: Scaled on one axis — Concept illustration. The diagrams explain the operation. Your result depends on the starting geometry and settings.

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Duplicate

Make a separate copy and move it beside the source. Duplicating does not connect their topology.

Duplicate: Two independent objects — Concept illustration. The diagrams explain the operation. Your result depends on the starting geometry and settings.

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Repeat in a line

Arrange repeated parts at a consistent interval. Codex can include repetition in a scene plan.

Repeat in a line: A row of repeated parts — Concept illustration. The diagrams explain the operation. Your result depends on the starting geometry and settings.

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Repeat around a center

Distribute repeated parts around a shared center. The example keeps their radius and angular interval consistent.

Repeat around a center: A radial arrangement — Concept illustration. The diagrams explain the operation. Your result depends on the starting geometry and settings.

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Snap to a grid

Use a grid target to place geometry precisely. Enabling snapping prepares a transform; it does not move an object by itself.

Snap to a grid: Aligned to a grid point — Concept illustration. The diagrams explain the operation. Your result depends on the starting geometry and settings.

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Align vertices

Move selected vertices onto the same world-axis coordinate. The other row remains fixed.

Align vertices: A level edge row — Concept illustration. The diagrams explain the operation. Your result depends on the starting geometry and settings.

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Group objects

Organize objects under a parent while preserving separate meshes. Moving the group can move the assembly together.

Group objects: One parent, two children — Concept illustration. The diagrams explain the operation. Your result depends on the starting geometry and settings.

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Join meshes

Combine mesh objects into one object. Separate islands can remain; joining does not remove overlapping volume like a boolean union.

Join meshes: One mesh object — Concept illustration. The diagrams explain the operation. Your result depends on the starting geometry and settings.

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Set the origin

Move the object’s origin to its geometry center while preserving the world-space position of every vertex.

Set the origin: Pivot at the geometry center — Concept illustration. The diagrams explain the operation. Your result depends on the starting geometry and settings.

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Apply transforms

Bake scale into the mesh data and reset the object scale. The visible shape and world-space dimensions remain unchanged.

Apply transforms: Scale baked into the mesh — Concept illustration. The diagrams explain the operation. Your result depends on the starting geometry and settings.

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Shape & topology

Extrude

Move the selected face outward and connect it to the existing boundary with new side faces. The original base stays fixed.

Extrude: Extend the surface — Concept illustration. The diagrams explain the operation. Your result depends on the starting geometry and settings.

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Bevel

Cut back the four vertical edges to create narrow faces. This single-segment bevel changes the geometry of each corner.

Bevel: Chamfered vertical edges — Concept illustration. The diagrams explain the operation. Your result depends on the starting geometry and settings.

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Select components

Choose vertices, edges, or faces to focus an edit. Selection alone changes no geometry.

Select components: A selected face and boundary — Concept illustration. The diagrams explain the operation. Your result depends on the starting geometry and settings.

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Select a loop

Follow a connected edge pattern to select a useful region. Edge loops and rings are different selection patterns.

Select a loop: A selected edge loop — Concept illustration. The diagrams explain the operation. Your result depends on the starting geometry and settings.

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Extrude a vertex

Extend a selected vertex and connect it to the new vertex with an edge. This wire edit creates an edge rather than a face.

Extrude a vertex: A new connected vertex — Concept illustration. The diagrams explain the operation. Your result depends on the starting geometry and settings.

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Extrude an edge

Extend an open boundary edge and create a connected face between the original and new edge.

Extrude an edge: An extended strip — Concept illustration. The diagrams explain the operation. Your result depends on the starting geometry and settings.

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Inset a region

Create a border inside a face region. The outside boundary stays fixed, and the new inner face can be extruded next.

Inset a region: An inner face and border — Concept illustration. The diagrams explain the operation. Your result depends on the starting geometry and settings.

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Inset individual faces

Give each selected face its own inset border. The separate borders distinguish this operation from a region inset.

Inset individual faces: A border in each face — Concept illustration. The diagrams explain the operation. Your result depends on the starting geometry and settings.

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Bevel a vertex

Replace a selected corner with a small face and connecting edges. Other corners retain their original shape.

Bevel a vertex: A cut-off corner face — Concept illustration. The diagrams explain the operation. Your result depends on the starting geometry and settings.

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Loop cut

Insert a connected edge loop through the quad faces. The surface shape stays fixed while topology gains another control row.

Loop cut: A new continuous loop — Concept illustration. The diagrams explain the operation. Your result depends on the starting geometry and settings.

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Knife cut

Place a deliberate cut across a face. New edges follow the chosen path, giving you control beyond a regular loop cut.

Knife cut: A custom cut path — Concept illustration. The diagrams explain the operation. Your result depends on the starting geometry and settings.

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Connect vertices

Connect vertices across an existing face. The new edge divides that face without moving its vertices.

Connect vertices: A connecting edge — Concept illustration. The diagrams explain the operation. Your result depends on the starting geometry and settings.

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Subdivide a mesh

Split the selected surface into smaller faces. This edit adds topology without the smoothing of a Subdivision Surface modifier.

Subdivide a mesh: A denser quad grid — Concept illustration. The diagrams explain the operation. Your result depends on the starting geometry and settings.

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Triangulate

Divide polygon faces into triangles. The surface and outer boundary remain in place.

Triangulate: Four triangles — Concept illustration. The diagrams explain the operation. Your result depends on the starting geometry and settings.

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Triangles to quads

Merge a suitable adjacent triangle pair into a quad. Matching topology and surface conditions determine which pairs can be combined.

Triangles to quads: One quad — Concept illustration. The diagrams explain the operation. Your result depends on the starting geometry and settings.

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Connect & repair

Bridge loops

Build faces between compatible boundary loops. The example joins two four-edge loops into a continuous side wall.

Bridge loops: Connecting side faces — Concept illustration. The diagrams explain the operation. Your result depends on the starting geometry and settings.

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Fill a boundary

Create a face from a closed boundary. The boundary vertices stay fixed; the opening gains a surface.

Fill a boundary: A filled face — Concept illustration. The diagrams explain the operation. Your result depends on the starting geometry and settings.

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Delete faces

Remove the selected face and expose an opening. The context determines whether associated edges or vertices are also removed.

Delete faces: An opening — Concept illustration. The diagrams explain the operation. Your result depends on the starting geometry and settings.

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Dissolve an edge

Remove an internal edge while preserving the surface. This example merges a flat face pair instead of leaving a hole.

Dissolve an edge: One continuous face — Concept illustration. The diagrams explain the operation. Your result depends on the starting geometry and settings.

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Merge at center

Weld selected vertices at their center. Connected faces adjust to the new shared vertex.

Merge at center: One shared vertex — Concept illustration. The diagrams explain the operation. Your result depends on the starting geometry and settings.

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Merge by distance

Weld nearby vertices within a chosen tolerance. The example joins matching seam vertices without changing the outside boundary.

Merge by distance: A welded seam — Concept illustration. The diagrams explain the operation. Your result depends on the starting geometry and settings.

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Separate geometry

Move selected geometry into its own object. The two pieces keep their world-space positions and become independently addressable.

Separate geometry: Two mesh objects — Concept illustration. The diagrams explain the operation. Your result depends on the starting geometry and settings.

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Slide an edge

Move an edge along existing adjacent topology. The outer boundary stays fixed while the spacing of faces changes.

Slide an edge: The loop moved along its rails — Concept illustration. The diagrams explain the operation. Your result depends on the starting geometry and settings.

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Slide a vertex

Move a selected vertex along an existing connected edge. This constrained edit differs from a free move.

Slide a vertex: The vertex moved along the edge — Concept illustration. The diagrams explain the operation. Your result depends on the starting geometry and settings.

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Recalculate normals

Correct the face directions used for surface orientation. The visible vertex positions stay unchanged.

Recalculate normals: Consistent outward directions — Concept illustration. The diagrams explain the operation. Your result depends on the starting geometry and settings.

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Mark sharp edges

Mark edges that should preserve a hard shading boundary. This changes edge attributes, not the silhouette or topology.

Mark sharp edges: A marked shading boundary — Concept illustration. The diagrams explain the operation. Your result depends on the starting geometry and settings.

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Smooth shading

Smooth the surface shading without adding vertices or rounding the silhouette. Use Subdivision Surface when the geometry itself needs smoothing.

Smooth shading: Interpolated shading — Concept illustration. The diagrams explain the operation. Your result depends on the starting geometry and settings.

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Modifiers & solids

Mirror

Reflect one side across the center plane. Edit the source half to develop a symmetric form; applying the modifier commits the evaluated result.

Mirror: Reflected across the plane — Concept illustration. The diagrams explain the operation. Your result depends on the starting geometry and settings.

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Subdivision Surface

Evaluate a denser, smoothed surface from the control cage. Unlike mesh Subdivide or Smooth Shading, this changes the evaluated geometry and silhouette.

Subdivision Surface: A smoothed surface — Concept illustration. The diagrams explain the operation. Your result depends on the starting geometry and settings.

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Boolean union

Combine the volume occupied by either solid and remove interior surfaces. This differs from grouping or joining object records.

Boolean union: One combined volume — Concept illustration. The diagrams explain the operation. Your result depends on the starting geometry and settings.

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Boolean difference

Subtract the overlapping cutter volume from the first solid. The example produces a visible notch with new interior walls.

Boolean difference: The cutter volume removed — Concept illustration. The diagrams explain the operation. Your result depends on the starting geometry and settings.

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Boolean intersection

Keep only the space occupied by both input solids. Their non-overlapping portions are removed.

Boolean intersection: Only the shared volume — Concept illustration. The diagrams explain the operation. Your result depends on the starting geometry and settings.

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Remesh

Rebuild the surface with a different mesh density. The illustration shows an approximate shape-preserving target, not a guarantee of automatic production topology.

Remesh: A coarser triangle surface — Concept illustration. The diagrams explain the operation. Your result depends on the starting geometry and settings.

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Curves & profiles

Edit curve points

Move curve control points to adjust a path. A small change to its controls shapes the smooth curve between them.

Edit curve points: A revised curve — Concept illustration. The diagrams explain the operation. Your result depends on the starting geometry and settings.

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Extend a curve

Extrude an endpoint to continue the curve. The original path remains, with a new control point and segment at its end.

Extend a curve: A new connected segment — Concept illustration. The diagrams explain the operation. Your result depends on the starting geometry and settings.

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Give a curve thickness

Sweep a round cross-section along a path. The centerline remains the guide for the resulting volume.

Give a curve thickness: A tube along the path — Concept illustration. The diagrams explain the operation. Your result depends on the starting geometry and settings.

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Extrude a profile

Extend a closed two-dimensional profile through a depth. The side walls follow the outline and caps close its ends.

Before

A flat profile

After

A solid profile extrusion

Concept illustration. The diagrams explain the operation. Your result depends on the starting geometry and settings.

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Revolve a profile

Revolve a profile around an axis to make a rotational form. The chosen profile includes wall thickness and a rim.

Before

A radial cross-section

After

A hollow revolved form

Concept illustration. The diagrams explain the operation. Your result depends on the starting geometry and settings.

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Reference Explore interactive example

Extrude 3D text

Turn a letter profile into a dimensional object. Show3D exposes text content, font, size, depth, and bevel parameters.

Extrude 3D text: A letter with depth — Concept illustration. The diagrams explain the operation. Your result depends on the starting geometry and settings.

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Sculpt & surface

Sculpt with clay

Build up or remove surface volume with a brush stroke. This simplified height-field example shows a clay-like raised strip.

Sculpt with clay: A raised brush stroke — Concept illustration. The diagrams explain the operation. Your result depends on the starting geometry and settings.

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Sculpt along normals

Displace the brush region along its sampled surface normal. The surrounding region stays fixed.

Sculpt along normals: A locally inflated surface — Concept illustration. The diagrams explain the operation. Your result depends on the starting geometry and settings.

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Flatten a surface

Move the brush region toward a plane. The illustrated stroke flattens the top of a bump while preserving the outside patch.

Flatten a surface: A flattened local patch — Concept illustration. The diagrams explain the operation. Your result depends on the starting geometry and settings.

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Change a material

Adjust the surface response using material properties. The geometry stays the same; the illustrated highlight only explains the finish change.

Change a material: A metallic surface — Concept illustration. The diagrams explain the operation. Your result depends on the starting geometry and settings.

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Assign a face material

Assign a material slot to selected faces. Other faces keep their existing assignment.

Assign a face material: A different finish on one face — Concept illustration. The diagrams explain the operation. Your result depends on the starting geometry and settings.

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Adjust texture mapping

Change how an existing texture is repeated and oriented on the surface. This example explains mapping; it does not unwrap a mesh or load a new texture.