Vertex Tools¶

Reference

Mode:     Edit Mode
Menu:     Mesh ‣ Vertices
Hotkey:   Ctrl-V

This page covers many of the tools in the Mesh ‣ Vertices menu. These are tools that work primarily on vertex selections, however, some also work with edge or face selections.

Merging¶

Merging Vertices¶

Reference

Mode:     Edit Mode
Panel:    Tool Shelf ‣ Tools ‣ Mesh Tools ‣ Remove: Merge
Menu:     Mesh ‣ Vertices ‣ Merge...,
Specials ‣ Merge
Hotkey:   Alt-M

This tool allows you to merge all selected vertices to a unique one, dissolving all others. You can choose the location of the surviving vertex in the menu this tool pops up before executing:

At First: Only available in Vertex select mode, it will place the remaining vertex at the location of the first one selected.
At Last: Only available in Vertex select mode, it will place the remaining vertex at the location of the last one selected (the active one).
At Center: Available in all select modes, it will place the remaining vertex at the center of the selection.
At Cursor: Available in all select modes, it will place the remaining vertex at the 3D Cursor.
Collapse: Every island of selected vertices (connected by selected edges) will merge on its own median center, leaving one vertex per island. It is also available via the Mesh ‣ Edges ‣ Collapse menu option...

Merging vertices of course also deletes some edges and faces. But Blender will do everything it can to preserve edges and faces only partly involved in the reunion.

Note

At First and At Last depend on that the selection order is saved: the order is lost, for instance, after changing selection mode.

UVs: If UVs is ticked in the Operator panel, the UV mapping coordinates, if existing, will be corrected to avoid image distortion.

AutoMerge Editing¶

Reference

Mode: Edit Mode

Menu: Mesh ‣ AutoMerge Editing

The Mesh menu as a related toggle option: AutoMerge Editing. When enabled, as soon as a vertex moves closer to another one than the Limit setting (Mesh Tools panel ‣ Double Threshold), they are automatically merged. This option affects interactive operations only (tweaks made in the Operator panel are considered interactive too). If the exact spot where a vertex is moved contains more than one vertex, then the merge will be performed between the moved vertex and one of those.

Remove Doubles¶

Reference

Mode:     Edit Mode
Panel:    Tool Shelf ‣ Tools ‣ Mesh Tools ‣ Remove: Remove Doubles
Menu:     Mesh ‣ Vertices ‣ Remove Doubles,
Specials ‣ Remove Doubles

Remove Doubles is a useful tool to simplify a mesh by merging the selected vertices that are closer than a specified distance to each other. An alternate way to simplify a mesh is to use the Decimate Modifier.

Merge Distance: Sets the distance threshold for merging vertices, in Blender units.
Unselected: Allows vertices in selection to be merged with unselected vertices. When disabled, selected vertices will only be merged with other selected ones.

Separating¶

Rip¶

Reference

Mode:     Edit Mode
Menu:     Mesh ‣ Vertices ‣ Rip
Hotkey:   V

Rip creates a “hole” into a mesh by making a copy of selected vertices and edges, still linked to the neighbor non-selected vertices, so that the new edges are borders of the faces on one side, and the old ones, borders of the faces of the other side of the rip.

Examples¶

Selected vertex.	Hole created after using rip on vertex.
Edges selected.	Result of rip with edge selection.
A complex selection of vertices.	Result of rip operation.

Limitations¶

Rip will only work when edges and/or vertices are selected. Using the tool when a face is selected (explicitly or implicitly), will return an error message “Cannot perform ripping with faces selected this way” If your selection includes some edges or vertices that are not “between” two faces manifold, it will also fail with message “No proper selection or faces include”.

Rip Fill¶

Reference

Mode:     Edit Mode
Menu:     Mesh ‣ Vertices ‣ Rip Fill
Hotkey:   Alt-V

Rip fill works the same as the Rip tool above, but instead of leaving a hole, it fills in the gap with geometry.

Edges selected.

Result of rip fill.

Split¶

Reference

Mode:     Edit Mode
Menu:     Mesh ‣ Vertices ‣ Split
Hotkey:   Y

Splits (disconnects) the selection from the rest of the mesh. The border edge to any non-selected elements are duplicated.

Note that the “copy” is left exactly at the same position as the original, so you must move it G to see it clearly...

Extend Vertices¶

Reference

Mode:     Edit Mode
Menu:     Mesh ‣ Vertices ‣ Extend Vertices
Hotkey:   Alt-D

This tool takes any number of selected vertices and duplicate-drags them along the closest edge to the mouse, When extending an edge loop, it extends the vertices at the endpoints of the loop. Which is similar behavior like Extrude tool, but it creates a n-gon.

It helps to easily add details to existing edges.

Separate¶

Reference

Mode:     Edit Mode
Menu:     Mesh ‣ Vertices ‣ Separate
Hotkey:   P

The Separate tool will Split mesh elements in another mesh object.

Selection: Separates the selected elements.
By Material: Separates fragments based on the materials assigned to the different faces.
By loose parts: Creates one object for every independent (disconnected) fragment of the original mesh.

Vertex Slide¶

Reference

Mode:     Edit Mode
Panel:    Tool Shelf ‣ Tools ‣ Mesh Tools ‣ Deform: Vertex
Menu:     Mesh ‣ Vertices ‣ Vertex Slide
Hotkey:   Shift-V

Vertex Slide will transform a vertex along one of its adjacent edges. Use Shift-V to enter tool. Highlight the desired edge by moving the mouse, then confirm with LMB. Drag the cursor to specify the position along the line formed by the edge, then LMB again to move the vertex.

Even E: ToDo.
Flip F: ToDo.
Clamp Alt or C: Toggle clamping the slide within the edge extents.

../../../_images/modeling_vertexslide1.png

Selected vertex.

../../../_images/modeling_vertexslide2.png

Positioning vertex interactively.

../../../_images/modeling_vertexslide3.png

Repositioned vertex.

Smooth Vertex¶

Reference

Mode:     Edit Mode
Panel:    Tool Shelf ‣ Tools ‣ Mesh Tools ‣ Deform: Smooth Vertex
Menu:     Mesh ‣ Vertices ‣ Smooth Vertex,
Specials ‣ Smooth

This will apply once the Smooth Tool.

Convex Hull¶

Reference

Mode: Edit Mode

Menu: Mesh ‣ Vertices ‣ Convex Hull

The Convex Hull operator takes a point cloud as input and outputs a convex hull surrounding those vertices. If the input contains edges or faces that lie on the convex hull, they can be used in the output as well. This operator can be used as a bridge tool as well.

Delete Unused: Removes vertices, edges, and faces that were selected, but not used as part of the hull. Note that vertices and edges that are used by other edges and faces not part of the selection will not be deleted.
Use Existing Faces: Where possible, use existing input faces that lie on the hull. This allows the convex hull output to contain n-gons rather than triangles (or quads if the Join Triangles option is enabled.)
Make Holes: Delete edges and faces in the hull that were part of the input too. Useful in cases like bridging to delete faces between the existing mesh and the convex hull.
Join Triangles: Joins adjacent triangles into quads. Has all the same properties as the Tris to Quads operator (angle limit, compare UVs, etc.)
Max Face Angle: ToDo.
Max Shape Angle: ToDo.

Make Vertex Parent¶

Reference

Mode:     Edit Mode
Menu:     Mesh ‣ Vertices ‣ Make Vertex Parent
Hotkey:   Ctrl-P

This will parent the other selected object(s) to the vertices/edges/faces selected, as described here.

Add Hook¶

Reference

Mode:     Edit Mode
Menu:     Mesh ‣ Vertices ‣ Add Hook
Hotkey:   Ctrl-H

Adds a Hook Modifier (using either a new empty, or the current selected object) linked to the selection. Note that even if it appears in the history menu, this action cannot be undone in Edit Mode – because it involves other objects...

When the current object has no hooks associated, only the 2 first options will appear on the menu.

Hook to New Object: Creates a new Hook Modifier for the active object and assigns it to the selected vertices; it also creates an empty at the center of those vertices, which are hooked to it.
Hook to Selected Object: Does the same as Hook to New Object, but instead of hooking the vertices to a new empty, it hooks them to the selected object (if it exists). There should be only one selected object (besides the mesh being edited).
Hook to Selected Object Bone: Does the same as Hook to New Object, but it sets the last selected bone in the also selected armature as a target.
Assign to Hook: The selected vertices are assigned to the chosen hook. For that to happen, a list of the hooks associated to the object is displayed. All the unselected vertices are removed from it (if they were assigned to that particular hook). One vertex can be assigned to more than one hook.
Remove Hook: Removes the chosen hook (from the displayed list) from the object: the specific Hook Modifier is removed from the modifier stack.
Select Hook: Selects all vertices assigned to the chosen hook (from the hook list).
Reset Hook: It’s equivalent to the Reset button of the specific Hook Modifier (chosen from the hook list).
Recenter Hook: It’s equivalent to the Recenter button of the specific Hook Modifier (chosen from the hook list).

Blend From Shape, Propagate Shapes¶

Reference

Mode: Edit Mode

Menu: (Vertex) Specials ‣ Blend From Shape and Mesh ‣ Vertices ‣ Shape Propagate

These are options regarding shape keys.

Shape Propagate: Apply selected vertex locations to all other shape keys.
Blend From Shape: Blend in the shape from a shape key.