E-174 Figures, Characters, and Avatars, Second Edition: The Official Guide to Using DAZ Studio to Create Beautiful Art Hexagon First we will take a look at Hexagon. Hexagon combines powerful modeling tools with a clean, easy-to-understand user interface. One of the most important elements of a good modeling program is the ability to get to the tools you need directly and quickly. To facilitate quick, easy access to important tools Hexagon has arranged the most com- monly used tools and features around the edges of the screen in icon groups. Figure 14.1 is a screenshot of the Hexagon screen. I don't have room to give a complete rundown of each aspect of the interface, but I can provide some general guidance on each part of the interface: The large area in the center of the screen is the work area, where you create your 3D artwork. The very top item on the screen is the menu. Similar to almost all other 3D pro- grams, the drop-down items on the menu will give you access to almost all func- tions in Hexagon. In the upper-left corner of the screen is a group of manipulator icons. Manipulators are tools used by 3D artists to change the shape or location of a 3D object. These icons are shown in Figure 14.2. Just to the right of the manipulator icons are a group of icons used to change selec- tion types. When you are building 3D objects, you often will want to adjust dif- ferent aspects of a model. For easy access to just the parts you want to change, you need a number of ways to select those parts of your model. These icons allow you to quickly change what part of the model you want to select. They are shown in Figure 14.3. Figure 14.1 Hexagon's user interface is easy to understand and use.