Anatomy of a 3D Object

Fig 1: The basic elements of a 3D object

When editing an object in 3D software, there are 3 main elements we can alter; vertexes, edges and polygons.

The vertexes are the most basic elements and can be found on the corners of an object.

The edges are lines that connect the vertexes.

If an area is enclosed by edges and filled in, this forms a polygon (sometime known as a face).

When we edit any of the elements of an object, we will usually affect the surrounding elements as well.

In the following example I have moved one vertex on a cube. By doing this, I have altered the surrounding edges and faces connected to that vertex.

Fig 2: The cube before editing

Fig 3: The cube after editing

Using simple changes to these 3 basic elements, we can change the primitives into something totally unique.