Push Pull Tool

Extrude 2D shapes and modify existing 3D extrusions with the Push Pull Tool . You can hover over any shape to display handles to extend an edge or face.

• Click the Push Pull Tool button or press P. You can also click Shapes > Push Pull Tool in the CityEngine main menu to open the tool.
• You can open the Tool Options window by clicking Window > Tool Options in the CityEngine main menu.

Extrude face

Depending on the shape, different arrows appear. This allows you to create shapes along different directions. Hover over a direction arrow for immediate feedback. There are four types of directions, each with a unique color and mouse icon:

• Global y-axis (up)
• Face normal
• Face normal projected on the ground plane
• Special edge directions from adjacent faces

From left to right: global y-axis (up), face normal, face normal projected on the ground plane, special edge directions from adjacent faces

In the last case, all edges are extended along their adjacent faces during dragging. The arrow appears with a slight offset when it has the same direction as another arrow. The example below shows the difference between the up and special edge direction dragging:

When the shape on the left is dragged along the green arrow, the middle shape is created. However, along the blue arrow, the right shape is created, extending the adjacent faces.

Tip:

Press Ctrl to force the creation of new edges when starting a 3D drag operation.

3D shape editing

3D shapes allow polygonal editing, such as snapping, splitting, and automatic closing. Split parts can be moved to further refine the 3D model.

A split, 3D move, and another split and move illustrate 3D editing.

3D edge move

Hover over edges with the Push Pull Tool to display edge handles. Similar to dragging the face, you can drag the edges to display multiple directions:

• Global y-axis (up)
• Along adjacent faces
• Along average face normal

From left to right: Edge move along global y-axis, adjacent faces, and average face normal.

While moving the edges with the Push Pull Tool, connected faces update to maintain planarity. In addition, the moved edge is intersected with neighboring polygons. Both features are useful for creating roofs as the examples below show:

Moving one edge updates all orthogonal faces along the connected edges

Moving the edge along the green axis insets the edge along the existing roof

Tool options

The Tool options window includes the following settings:

Distance (m)

Distance in meters of the edge or face extrusion. You can enter a value to lock the extrusion distance along the available directions. Click again to start a new extrusion.