Bridge between border edges

You can construct faces between pairs of border edges using the Bridge feature. The resulting bridged faces are merged into the original mesh.

Bridge is useful when you need to connect two sets of edges together with a piece of mesh. For example, connecting and merging the wrist on a character’s arm to its hand.

You can select border edges by two methods:

• Select two regions of border edges using an edge selection method.
• Select two regions of faces that are associated with the border edges you want to bridge using a face selection method.

To bridge between border edges you must ensure that:

• the selected edges reside in the same polygonal mesh. Separate meshes can be combined into one using Mesh > Combine.
• the number of border edges in each selection is identical. While you can have non-border edges in the selection, the number of border edges to be bridged must match.
• the normals on the faces associated with the selected edges are oriented consistently. Otherwise the resulting bridge mesh may be constructed with an unexpected shape.

To bridge between two or more selected polygon edges

1. Select the border edges you want to bridge as follows:
   • Select two separate regions of border edges on the combined mesh using any edge selection method.

   It’s not critical that you select only border edges when selecting edges because the Bridge feature will automatically filter out non-border edges. However, the resulting number of border edges in both the origin and target regions you select, must match.

   • Select two separate regions of faces on the combined mesh using any face selection technique from which the border edges will be used for the bridging mesh.

   The Bridge feature automatically determines the valid border edges from the face selection and then deletes the faces after the bridging mesh is constructed.

   Note:

   If the border edges reside in separate meshes you must first combine the meshes into one using Mesh > Combine.

2. Select Edit Mesh > Bridge > .

   The Bridge Options window appears.

3. In the Bridge Options window set any of the following options as required:
   • Select the Bridge type to define the shape of the bridging mesh between the selected edges.
   • Enter a number for the Divisions in bridge to specify the number of equally spaced segments you want between the selected border edges.
4. Click the Bridge button to create the bridging faces and close the option window.
   Note:

   If faces were originally selected to determine the origin and target regions, those faces will be deleted once the bridging mesh is constructed.

5. You can edit the attributes for the bridging mesh by selecting the mesh and editing the polyBridgeEdge node in the Attribute Editor.

   For more information on the Bridge options and attributes see Edit Mesh > Bridge.

UV texture coordinates and the Bridge feature

UV texture information is taken into account when the bridging mesh is created. UV texture coordinates are created based on the selected edges and the UV texture or color information is interpolated based on the divisions of the new bridging mesh.

Troubleshooting the Bridge feature

The Bridge feature failed to bridge a mesh between the selected border edges.

Ensure that:

• the meshes being bridged are combined into one mesh.
• the number of selected border edges is the same for both the origin and target regions of the mesh.
• The selected faces were not along an outside border of the mesh.

  The bridged mesh flips between the two sets of border edges in a “bow tie” shape.

  If the selected edges do not form a closed loop, the normals on the faces associated with the selected edges may be oriented inconsistently. The Bridge feature determines the orientation of each connection using the normals associated with the faces of the selected edges. You can check the orientation of the normals using Display > Polygons > Face Normals. If the normal orientation is inconsistent, try reversing the normals on the faces on one side of the bridge using Normals > Reverse, and then create the bridged mesh again.

  The bridged mesh twists between the two sets of closed loop border edges in a spiral.

  When the selected edges form a closed loop (for example, a ring or cylindrical shape) the Bridge feature may connect between edges in an unexpected way. You can correct this using the Bridge offset attribute in the Attribute Editor. Simply increase the Bridge offset value by one to change the start or end location of the bridged loop of edges to the next vertex in the loop.

  Will the Bridge feature construction history let me switch the Bridge type after I’ve created a bridge mesh?

  If you created a bridge mesh using the Linear path or Smooth path + curve options, you can change the Bridge type to Smooth path. If you created a bridge mesh using the Linear path or Smooth path options, you cannot change the Bridge type to Smooth path + curve.

  How do I edit the explicit curve to modify the shape of the bridging mesh?

  It is recommended you select and modify only the interior CVs on the explicit curve to modify the shape of the bridging mesh.

Related topics

• Edit Mesh > Bridge
• Combine polygon meshes
• Reverse polygon normals