Introduction: One of the basic tenets of modeling is the adjustment or modification of simple geometry. You want to make a change to an object and you expect to be able to do so in a straightforward and predictable manner. But getting predictable results when you’re just starting out can be tough. Beyond the tool options found in the Numeric panel, there’s a hidden effector that has the power to drastically change the way your tools work. That effector is the Action Center.  Modifications are typically made by selecting points or polygons and then using one of the tools from the Modify tab to get the job done. However, the way these tools operate depends on how your Mode:Action Center is set. If you’re not aware of this (and many new users are not), it can be terribly frustrating. Therefore, a basic understanding the Modes is an essential starting point for new users. Take a look at the image below: The Mode:Action Center button is found along the bottom row of buttons on the main Modeler window. When you click the Modes button, a list of options will pop up. You’ll be switching between these options often, so it’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with the various keyboard shortcuts. The keyboard shortcut for Action:Center Selection is Shift F8. The keyboard shortcut for Action:Center Selection is Shift F5.  Go ahead and activate Action Center Mouse. We’ll begin by taking a very basic look at what these Modes do. Then, we’ll take a look at a more practical implementation. Suppose we’ve got an object that we want beveled. If the geometry already exists, then we wouldn’t use the bevel tool as it would create even more geometry. In this case, we’d simply need to scale part of the geometry in order to create the bevel. This type of modification is something you’ll do often, so let’s give it a try. Go ahead and create a simple box. The size doesn’t matter for this exercise. Next, select the four points on the top of the box or, if you like, simply select the top poly. It’s really up to you.  You should have something that looks like the image below. Now press H (or go to the Modify tab) to turn on the Size tool. Place your mouse in the Top view, just below and to the left of the box. Click your left mouse button and drag. What’s happening? Your points are resizing, which is affecting the shape of the top poly, but it’s not doing so in a uniform manner. Instead of an even bevel, the sides now have differing lengths, as in the picture below. So what’s causing this? It has little to do with the Size tool and lots to do with your Action Center. When your Mode is set to Action Center:Mouse, Modeler uses the location of your mouse at the time you click to center the action of the tool you’re using. In this case, when you clicked to resize, Modeler noted the location of your mouse and began scaling the points (or poly) around that location. To make this more apparant, hit the Ctrl-z key to undo. Then repeat the steps again, but continue dragging until you have a scale factor of 0%. You can see your scale factor in the lower left corner of the Modeler interface. At 0% the points will appear to have merged into one at the point where you began resizing. Let’s change our Action Center to see what that does. First, be sure to hit the Ctrl-z key to undo until you’re back to your regular box with the points or poly selected. Then press Shift F8 to switch to Action Center:Selection. Now press the H key again to resize. Click your left mouse button anywhere in any one of the viewports and drag. Your object should taper evenly as seen in the picture below. If you haven’t already realized it, the type of Mode you are using is very important. There are two other Modes available as well. Action Center:Origin and Action Center:Pivot. These work on the same principles as Mouse and Selection, but will base the action on either the Origin (coordinates 0,0,0) or the pivot point, which you can set under the Details tab (in LightWave 7.5) or the View tab (in LightWave 8+). As you continue to model, you’ll be switching between these modes over and over again, almost without thought. Therefore, it’s a good idea to memorize their keyboard shortcuts. Okay, so now you’ve got a really basic understanding of what the Modes do. Let’s look at how these principles can be used on a more complex object. In the following example, I’ll show you how the Modes can be used to help pose a character for a static render. I’ve decided I want to bend my creature’s left arm. But as you can see in the image below, his arm doesn’t line up evenly along any one axis. It actually bends down and out (see the top view). If I were to try and bend the arm in the Right viewport, I would not be bending it straight down, but at an unwanted angle. In order to avoid the error and instead, bend the arm straight down, I need to position the arm in the perspective viewport so that it is facing straight on (as seen below). I know that I want the arm to bend at the elbow, so I’m going to select just the polys from there on down. You can see this in the image below. I lasso’d the polys in the top view (because it was the easiest to see the arm in) and then I moved around the perspective view selecting and deselecting polys until just the ones I wanted were selected. I then went back and aligned the perspective view so that I was facing straight on to the arm again. Okay. Now that everything is set, I want to rotate the polys. I do this by pressing the y key, positioning my mouse at the creature’s elbow in the Perspective view, clicking my left mouse button and dragging. Oops! That’s not right! What happened? Ahh, yes. My Mode was still set to Action Center:Selection. Modeler took the entire forearm, calculated its center, and rotated around it. In essence, Action Center:Selection is creating a virtual pivot point for the rotate tool. Let’s try that again. I’ll undo and press Shift F5 to activate Action Center:Mouse. Now my mouse will set the virtual pivot point when I begin to rotate. And since I’ll be rotating in the Perspective viewport, I know my virtual pivot point will be aligned properly. Oh yeah, that’s much better! As you can see, adjusting your Action Center is a very simple, yet fundamentally important step. As you begin to learn the basic toolset in Modeler, keeping in mind which Mode you are in can save you a lot of headaches. And understanding how each of the Action Center modes will affect your tools will help make you a more capable and productive modeler.