Editing Brushes

With a brush selected and the Brush tool active, press 1, 2 or 3 to edit its vertices, edges or faces, and Esc to return to Object mode. The mode strip in the viewport's top left corner shows the current mode and switches modes when clicked. Below it, an info line shows measurements: the length of a single selected edge, the number and area of the selected faces, and the amount of an operation while it runs.

The first edit of a generated shape (a box, stairs, ...) turns it into an Editable brush that stores its polygon mesh.

Handles

Every selectable element carries a small box handle: vertices at their position, edges at their midpoint, faces at their centre. Handles are grey when idle, highlighted under the cursor and coloured when selected. Clicking a handle selects exactly that element.

Handles behind the brush's own surface are hidden and cannot be picked. Enable Show hidden handles in the panel's Select section, or press Alt+X, to show them all.

Selected edges and faces are outlined. Selected faces also show their triangles, as they are rendered: for a brush carved by cutters these are the pieces of the face around the openings.

A brush carved by cutters is edited as its uncut shape. The uncut shape is shown as a grey cage, and the info line says so.

Selecting

• Click an element or its handle to select it, or drag a box to select everything inside it.
• Hold SHIFT to add to the selection, CTRL to remove from it.
• Box selection only takes elements facing the camera. Select through (X) includes the hidden sides.

CSG Faces and Mesh Faces

Cutters split a face into pieces and leave new faces behind, for example the sides of a doorway. In Face mode, the CSG / Mesh switch next to the mode strip (also in the panel's Select section, or Alt+3) sets what a click selects:

Setting	A click selects
CSG (default)	A whole face as rendered: all pieces of a cut face, and the faces cutters leave behind. Pieces that lie in one plane, touch and share a material count as one face. Use it for materials and texturing.
Mesh	One polygon of the brush's own mesh. Faces left behind by live cutters cannot be selected, because the brush has no polygon for them.

Materials and texture settings belong to a face, not to its pieces. When you select a single piece in Mesh mode, the piece is first given its own face so it can be textured and edited alone. Its look does not change, and this adds an undo step.

Moving and polygon operations only change polygons of the brush's own mesh. Faces left behind by live cutters change when you move the cutter.

Command	Default key	Description
Select All	Ctrl+A	Every element of the current mode.
Select None	Alt+A	Clears the selection.
Invert Selection	Ctrl+Shift+I
Grow Selection	Ctrl+=	Adds the neighbours of the selection.
Shrink Selection	Ctrl+-	Removes the selection's border.
Select Loop	L	The edge or face loop through the selection.
Select Ring	Alt+L	The edge ring through the selection.
Select Same Material	Shift+M	Every face with the material of the selected faces.

Moving, Rotating and Scaling

• G grabs the selection and S scales it: move the mouse, press X, Y or Z to lock an axis, type a value for an exact amount, then Enter or click to commit, or Esc to cancel.
• W, E and R show the translate, rotate and scale gizmos on the selection.

Snapping

Hold Ctrl while grabbing (G) or dragging the translate gizmo. The selection's centre snaps to a vertex of any brush close to the cursor, otherwise to the nearest grid point. The grid step is the editor's translation snap setting, or 0.25 m when snapping is switched off. An axis lock or a gizmo axis or plane still applies, so only that part of the movement snaps. The info line shows what was snapped to.

Without Ctrl a move goes in whole snap steps from where it started, as other editor gizmos do. Holding V while grabbing snaps to vertices from further away and never to the grid.

Pivot

A brush's pivot is the origin of its object. Moving the pivot leaves the geometry, its textures and any child objects where they are. A parametric brush stays parametric: its Size extents shift instead.

Command	Default key	Description
Edit Pivot	D	Shows a translate gizmo on the pivot of the selected brush (in Vertex, Edge or Face mode, of the edited brush). Dragging it moves the pivot when you release. Hold Ctrl to snap it to vertices or the grid. Esc or D ends it.
Pivot To Center		Moves the pivot of every selected brush to the centre of its bounds.
Pivot To Bottom		Moves the pivot to the centre of the bounds' bottom, which is useful for placing brushes on floors.
Pivot To Selection		In Vertex, Edge or Face mode: moves the pivot to the centre of the selected elements.

The commands are in the Pivot section of the Modeling panel.

Operations

Operations work on the selection of the current mode. Operations that take an amount follow the mouse (or a typed value) until you commit.

Operation	Mode	Default key	Description
Extrude	Face	Shift+E	Pulls the faces out along their normals, adding side walls.
Inset	Face	I	Shrinks each face inwards, ringed by new faces.
Bridge	Face	Alt+B	Joins two faces with a tunnel and removes them.
Flip	Face	Alt+F	Reverses the faces.
Subdivide	Face	Alt+S	Splits each face into quads around its centre.
Detach	Face	Alt+D	Moves the faces into a new brush.
Triangulate	Face	Alt+T	Splits the faces into triangles.
Flatten	Face	Alt+P	Makes the faces planar.
Bevel	Edge	Ctrl+B	Replaces box-like edges with a chamfer. The mouse wheel or +/- adds segments to round it.
Loop Cut	Edge	Alt+R	Cuts a loop across the ring of quads through the selected edge, at the mouse position. The mouse wheel or +/- switches to several evenly spaced loops.
Fill Hole	Edge	Alt+H	Closes a hole bordered by the selected edges.
Weld	Vertex	M	Merges the vertices into one.
Connect	Vertex	J	Splits the face between two vertices with a new edge.
Delete	any	Del	Deletes the selected elements.

Clip

Clip (Shift+C) cuts the selected brushes with a plane. Click three points on surfaces to define the plane. Tab cycles between keeping the front, the back or both halves, Backspace removes the last point, Enter applies and Esc cancels.

Marking Menu

Tab opens a radial menu at the cursor. The four main directions switch between Object, Vertex, Edge and Face mode, the diagonals run Extrude, Clip, Bevel and Loop Cut. Click an entry, or click outside or press Esc to close it.

Health

A brush mesh can become invalid through editing, for example when moving a vertex bends a face out of its plane. The Health section of the Modeling panel lists such problems for the scene's brushes: bent and degenerate faces, open and non-manifold edges, and cutters that are not convex. Flatten repairs bent faces.

See Also

• Modeling Overview
• Drawing Brushes
• Cutters and Brush Groups