Terrafold

Appendix B

The modelling philosophy on one page

The whole guide in a few rules. When a tool surprises you, one of these explains it.

Geometry

  1. Edges make faces. A face appears when edges close a flat loop. Erase an edge and its face goes; erase a face and its edges stay.
  2. Faces become solids. Draw the flat shape exactly, then Push/Pull it along its normal. Pushing a face through a solid makes a hole.
  3. Geometry is sticky. Touching edges and faces share points and split each other. Move a point or an edge and everything attached follows, folding where it must.
  4. Faces have two sides. A face drawn on the ground faces down; solids turn their fronts outwards.

Precision

  1. The mouse gives the direction, the keyboard gives the size. Type at any time, press Enter; type again right after to amend.
  2. Inference replaces the grid. Watch the marker: Endpoint, Midpoint, On Edge, On Face, the axes, Parallel, Perpendicular. Lock with Shift or the arrows.
  3. Set out with guides. The Tape Measure makes guides; draw on them; delete them when done.

Structure

  1. Loose geometry sticks; groups don't. Wrap every finished thing in a group or a component.
  2. Repeat with components. Instances share a definition: edit one, all change. Make Unique splits one off.
  3. Tags decide what is drawn, groups decide what sticks. Tag whole objects; leave their insides Untagged.
  4. Scenes save a way of looking, never the geometry. Camera, visible tags, style, shadows.

Looks

  1. Paint is separate from shape. Painting a group fills its unpainted faces; faces painted inside win.
  2. Styles change the drawing, not the model. Face style, edges, colour by tag, fog and shadows are all part of the style or the scene.

The garden

  1. Terrain is a TIN. Points at real heights, flat triangles between them; everything lies on it exactly.
  2. Draw intent, let the ground decide. Outlines for areas, paths for steps and walls, a height for a pad: Terrafold grades and sizes them, and counts cut and fill.
  3. Dig before you cover. Ponds before the lawn around them; buildings onto graded pads.
  4. Plants know their future. Garden time sets their age and season; plan symbols and the schedule come for free.

Everything

  1. Everything is a command, from the menu, the ribbon, a key, a script or the command line, and every command is one step of Undo.
The workflow of the whole guide: draw flat and exact, pull into 3D, group, organise, paint, then shape the ground, lay the garden on it, plant it and present it.
Figure B.1 The workflow of the whole guide: draw flat and exact, pull into 3D, group, organise, paint, then shape the ground, lay the garden on it, plant it and present it.