Fig 1. Filling Menu

Fig 1 shows you what you get once you have hit the <F> key; a count of the number of visible holes, followed by a menu of further key commands down the bottom of the screen.

<F> - Filling All Holes

Type <F><F> to fill all visible holes. You will be prompted for the number of holes to leave, so type something in and hit <Enter>, and all but that number of the largest holes will be filled. Just hit <Enter> if you really do want all visible holes filled.

<P> - Protecting Holes

You can protect holes from being filled with <F><P>. <LMB> stretch a box over some holes and they'll turn from blue to red, indicating their protected status. Do the same again to unprotect those holes.

<U> - Unprotect All Holes

You can unprotect all holes, making them fillable, with <F><U>.

Fig 2. Filling A Hole

The auto fill its a excellent way to fill a large number of small holes quickly, but for complex holes you may want more control over the fill shape. The <N> key can be used to fill individual holes.

<N> - Go To Next Hole

Typing <N> will focus the view onto the next unfilled hole, and a new menu of key commands is displayed (see Fig 2).

If you are inside the <F> menu, the <N> key takes you to the next larger visible hole. If you use the <N> outside of the <F> menu, then you are taken to the hole closest to the face under the mouse pointer. So, if you want to fill a specific hole, just aim the mouse pointer close by and type <N>.

<T> - Triangulate

Fig 3. Triangulate Loop

Typing <T> will cycle through 3 different hole filling methods:

1. The first method is to fill with approximately the same density of faces as the surrounding mesh; this may take a long time for very large holes, but you can stop it mid-way if you wish by holding the space bar, and you'll get fewer triangles.
2. The second method is to simply connect the boundary points; no additional points are added.
3. The third method is to insert a single point in the center of the hole, and then all boundary edges are connected to this center point.
4. Typing <T> a fourth time will take you back to an unfilled hole.

<B> - Bridge

<Backspace> - Unbridge or Delete Edge

<Space-Backspace> - Eat Back All Edges

<Home> - View Focus

<Enter> - Stop Filling