PDT Help 2; Command Line

This page deals with the Command Line Input in PDT.

Here the Cursor has been set with the command cd-1.5,, placing the cursor negative 1.5 in X from the selected vertex and the Pivot Point has been set with the command pd1,, placing the Pivot Point 1 in X from the selected vertex.

PDT has a Command Input, which activates when you press Return. this takes two letters, followed by numbers separated by commas “,”. Valid Primary letters are, can be capitals, or lower case:

  • C = Cursor commands.
  • D = Duplicate commands
  • E = Extrude Geometry commands
  • G = Grab, or move commands.
  • N = New Vertex commands.
  • P = Pivot commands.
  • S = Split Edges.
  • V = Extrude Vertices only, not their edges, or faces.

Valid Secondary letters are, can be capitals, or lower case:

  • A = Absolute, or World coordinates and requires 3 numbers separated by 2 commas, zeros may be omitted, so cd2,,1 is valid.
  • D = Delta, or incremental coordinates and has the same requirements as A.
  • I = Direction and requires a distance and an angle, separated by a comma, from View Horizontal, so ei2,135.6 means extrude geometry 2 units at 135.6 degrees from positive view X axis. Valid Angle range is +-180.
  • P = Use a percentage value to, for example, split an edge, so sp30 means split edge at 30% of the way along it.

To operate the Command Line, first you must RMB-click in the input box, then type, or amend the command there, then press Return to activate the command. I will explore ways of capturing commands directly from the keyboard, maybe by using a “trigger” input first.

For example, key ALT+P first then the command, with a “watcher” routine to send subsequent inputs to the command line, I do not know if this is possible yet.

Cursor Commands will use the Plane setting for commands related to distance and angle and also will use the Mode setting of either Current, or Selected. This setting related to whether incremental cursor changes are relative to the current position of the cursor, or the Active vertex.

A command of cp30 will place the cursor 30% of the way between two selected vertices for example. Error messages will tell you if your command is not a valid option, or if you do not have sufficient vertices/objects selected, or if you do not have sufficient values in your command. For example, d options (delta) require three values separated by two commas, p options require only one value. Mathematical Expressions are not evaluated and all missing values, or invalid values are converted to 0.

Pivot Commands, like cursor commands, will use the Plane setting for commands related to distance and angle and also will use the Mode setting of either Current, or Selected. This setting related to whether incremental cursor changes are relative to the current position of the cursor, or the Active vertex.

A command of pd,,1.5 will place the Pivot Point 1.5 in Z above the Active vertex.

Grab commands will move selected objects, or vertices by the values input, so if Plane is set to View and the command is gi1.5,38.75 the selection will be moved a distance of 1.5 at 38.75 degrees to the view’s horizontal axis and in line with the views orientation to your screen.

New Vertex commands will place a new vertex as described by the values, so na1.5,,1.2 will place a new vertex at Absolute (Global if you prefer) X = 1.5, Y = 0 , Z = 1.2.

Extrude Vertices commands will only extrude the selected vertices, not their associated edges, or faces. A command of vd,3, will extrude the selected vertices 0 in X, 3 in Y and 0 in Z.

Duplicate Geometry commands will duplicate the selected geometry. A command of dd,5, will duplicate the selected geometry 0 in X, 5 in Y and 0 in Z.

Extrude Geometry commands will extrude the selected geometry, edges and faces included. A command of ed1,3,2 will extrude the selected geometry 1 in X, 3 in Y and 2 in Z.

Split commands can be operated in a number of geometry situations, so for example, if you want to split a Face like this:

Command was sp25 – the new vertex is 25% of the way between the two vertices, you can see Before on the Left, After on the right. Percent will only split 1 edge at a time.

In this next scenario, we have split an extruded Face, producing an Ngon:

Command was sd0.2,, a new edge has been created and topological integrity preserved.

In this next scenario, we have split both sides of an extruded Face:

Command was si0.5,37 new edges have been created and the faces split in two.

In all cases the edges are split in two and then new vertex/vertices from these operations are then moved according to the command parameters. If you select such a combination of edges as to make a face, an error message is returned and the operation cancelled as this will, in all likelihood, result in bad topology.

Incidentally, if you simply click in he Command input and then press Return, the command is repeated, in this case resulting in further splits according to the parameters set. I did not change the selection before this re-run of the command:

And so on Ad Infinitum until you end up with 60million faces and your CPU fries….

Note! Obviously silly commands like da1,3,4 (duplicate geometry to an absolute location, resulting in all duplicate vertices having the same location) will quite reasonably result in an error message.

If you have any issues, or suggestions for improvement, with this Add-on, please contact me using the Contact page.