How to Use the Extrude Tools in Hexagon

Hexagon is an inexpensive 3d modeling software package produced by Daz3d. The Extrude Tools inside Hexagon allow you to create new surfaces and shapes from already existing ones by extending (or Extruding) them outward.

To use the Extrude Tool set, you must first start Hexagon, and then go to the Vertex Modeling tab. The first three icons you see are the Extrude Tools. They are, left to right, Fast Extrude, Sweep Surface, and Extrude Surface.

I will use a cube (created from the 3D Primitives Tab) to demonstrate how to use these tools. Once your cube is in place, you must first make sure that the selection tab highlighted is Select Faces. You can also work with edges, or multiple faces, but here we will use one face. One other tip here is that you might want to go to the bottom and turn off the transparent display first, since it makes it easier to see the side you are working on!

Select the face of the cube nearest you. Next, go to the Vertex Modeling tab and click Fast Extrude. When you move the cursor back toward to the cube, you will see that you have a little blue triangle, a red square, and a yellow ball. These three manipulators serve three different purposes. The blue triangle lets you simply pull straight out. The red lets you create an inset. For this demonstration, grab the yellow ball and start moving it. As seen in the first image, you will find that moving the yellow ball left or right extends or retracts the surface, while moving it up or downs changes the width. Undo this extrude.

Now, with the same face selected, click on the Sweep Surface tool. As you will see in the image, this tool allows you to extend the surface forward and up again, but off center. As is the case for all these extrusion tools, when you finish the extrusion, the face remains selected, which lets you extrude again. This makes it easy in this case to create a roughly curved surface. The surface created here is the sort of thing you might want to build if you trying to do bended continuous surface, like an air duct, lets say. Used differently, it could equally be used to create a tail. Undo this extrude.

Last go to the last Extrude tool, the Extrude Surface tool. Here, as can be seen in the image, there really isn't much to say. When you go through the process above, and use the Extrude Surface tool, what you get is something that, in its capabilities, behaves very much like the Fast Extrude, except that you have more options in the right control panel, and can switch back and forth between types of extrusion.