Eovia releases version 1.2 of its Hexagon 3D-modeling application on October 19. The update looks more like an upgrade, with plenty of new features and improvements. The update makes life even simpler than before.

I received an early beta of the update and had the chance to work with it for a few days prior to the release date. I must admit that it was not so easy to find out how all these new features work without a manual update. But some of the novelties in there clearly showed where Hexagon is heading to.

Let’s start with the symmetry modeling. Suppose you have modeled a character’s face and now want to tweak the cheek bones, ears, etc. Most people’s faces are relatively symmetrical, so you would definitely benefit from the ability to manipulate your character’s facial qualities by handling one side, with the other side automatically getting the same treatment.

Well, that’s what Hexagon now allows. This saves time and can be used for more than just faces. A very useful tool that I managed to find out about without any preparation at all, is the Bridge tool. Imagine having two objects between which you want to create a bridging third object.

The hardest part about the Bridge tool is to find two edges or points that are logical end-points for your bridge. The program automatically stretches whatever surface you select and glues it to the other end (e.g. with a teapot handle) or object.

Whenever you create an object with many slices, the 1/N parameter allows you to select one slice over N others. The result is amazing: with one click you select non-adjacent slices and faces. Try that in Carrara or Maya and you’re in for a few hours of patiently hand-selecting.

A dissociate tool will disconnect faces. It will ease the creation of eyes and the lot. It’s easy as cake: you just select the two faces, and click the Dissociate tool. Then you move each face independently of the other and holes will appear where once there was one surface.

What I could find out very easily, is the way to tessellate a cube (or other object). If you want to tessellate a cube so it gets split into 4 smaller cubes, all you have to do is command-click somewhere on each edge and the cursor auto-snaps to the center of each edge as you go around the complete cube. It works by hitting the plus and minus keys on the keyboard as well.

There are three new tessellation tools that will perform predefined tessellation of facets. You select the facets and clicking the tool does the rest.

The Loop tool is another improved feature. Select one face, click on the Loop icon and faces starting with the selected one will be auto-selected in one direction. Edge tools will work on multiple selections now. A new pair of icons will show and hide faces for easier work on complex objects.

Hexagon’s light maps were disappointing in version 1 and 1.1, but in version 1.2 we’re getting a few more of those. It’s still not a regular shading mechanism, but then again, Hexagon is “only” a modeler, and not a Carrara or Maya. The new maps are skin-map, metallic-map and my personal favourite toon-map, and they make modeling a little more fun and nicer to look at.

It is now possible to apply a partly transparant image as a texture map, when using PNG and TIFF files.

There are many other improvements in Hexagon 1.2. But the above ones are about the most important. They confirm Hexagon’s value as an inexpensive but powerful modeling application for students, advertisers and 3D-enthusiasts. With Hexagon it is possible to create 3D art in a matter of hours, rather than days.