# Panel Screws Panel Screws lets you generate screws on selected faces or vertices. This is particularly useful for creating riveted look on panel details. You can design your own screws or use some of the custom designed meshes that comes with the operator.

Here are the redo properties and what they do: ### Type Allows you to select what screws you want to use. * **Basic**: Creates a basic cylinder with its own properteis **Shape** and **Bevel** to design it. * **Custom**: Allows you to use 4 of the custom screws that comes with the operator. * **Mesh**: Allows you to select from any mesh in the scene to serve as the screw. * **Collection**: Allows you to assign a collection's mesh objects as the screws.

Basic will create a primitive cylinder with the default segment of 6 to act as the screw. This will have its own property controls like the **Shape** and **Bevel**. This is a great low res alternative for background assets or as placeholders. ### Import Mesh Only shows up when you use **Type: Custom**. This allows you to choose from the 4 custom screw models that comes with the operator.

### Mesh Only shows up when you use **Type: Mesh**. This allows you to select from any mesh in the scene to act as the screw object.

### Collection Only shows up when you use **Type: Collection**. This allows you to assign a collection whose mesh objects will act as the screw.

### Object Seed Only shows up when you use **Type: Collection**. Randomizes the mesh object used in each point using a seed number.

### Origin This has two options: **Faces** and **Verts**. **Faces** will let you create the screws at each vert in a face or in corner verts depending on an angle threshold. **Verts** will let you create the screws for each selected vertices.

{% hint style="info" %} *Unless you're using the **Per Face** toggle, using **Origin: Faces** will generate the screws in the corner angles of the entire face selection.* {% endhint %} ### Mode This only shows up when using **Origin: Faces** and has two options: **Angle** and **All Verts**. **Angle** will create the screws on vertices that meet an angle threshold and **All Verts** will create the screws on all the vertices of a face.

### Threshold The angle threshold used for the **Mode: Angle** property or setting. Any vertices whose edges go in an angle that meets or is higher than the angle will have a screw.

### Radius This determines the size of the screws.

### Margin This only shows up when using **Origin: Faces**. Allows you to create a margin in the selected faces and reposition the screws accordingly.

### Offset This allows you to offset the screw towards or away from the face.

### Spacing Generates more screws in the edges shared by two vertices. This only shows up when using **Origin: Verts**.

### Shape This only shows up when using **Type: Basic** and has two properties: **Depth** and **Segments**. **Depth** determines the thickness of the cylinder and **Segments is** for the number of segments used to create the cylinder.

### Bevel This only shows up when using **Type: Basic** and has two properties: **Offset** and **Segments**. **Offset** determines the thickness of the bevel effect. **Segments** is for the number of segments used for the bevel.

### Rotation This lets you set the angle of rotation for the screws.

### Rotation Seed Randomizes the rotation for each screw for more realism using a seed number. The randomization will only occur at seed number 2 and above with 1 letting you use a constant rotation value for all the screws.

### Proc (Programmed Random Occurence) This has two properties: **Perc** and **Seed**. **Perc** is a percentage slider that allows you to control the possibility of a screw being generated at a particular point. Useful for creating that old riveted panel effect where some screws are already missing. **Seed** lets you randomize the screw generation based on the percentage slider using a seed number.

### Material Index The **Material Index** property lets the resulting cloth sim mesh inherit a material from the active or work mesh. The default value of -1 means it will use the active material in the work mesh if that material exists. Using 0 and above means you will be using the 1st material in the material stack when using 0, the 2nd material when using 1 and so forth. {% hint style="info" %} *Using a material stack number when that material does not exist will assign no material to the resulting panel cut mesh.* {% endhint %} ### Use Mirror This allows you to use the vertices in the symmetry line when using a mirror modifier to generate screws.

### Per Face This only shows up when using **Origin: Faces**. This will generate the screw effect for each face in the selection instead of using the face selection as a whole and generating the screws in the sharp corners.

### Split Sharp Splits the source mesh in sharp angled edges to generate screws on face islands generated from splitting. Useful when selecting an entire mesh like a cube for example.

{% hint style="info" %} *Selecting a whole mesh will typically not generate screws when using the default Origin: Faces because this uses the sharp angled corners from the selection boundary which selecting the whole mesh does not have - so by splitting the faces this will create those sharp corners.* {% endhint %} ### Tagged Verts Only Only generate screws on verts tagged using the [**Tag Verts**](/add-ons/random-flow/functions/tag-verts.md) operator. This only works for **Origin: Faces**.

### Limited Dissolve Limit dissolves the selected faces to get a unified face region to generate the screws. Useful for higher resolution selections where the margin property can cause overlaps and directional issues for the screws.

{% hint style="info" %} *This is also useful for unifying faces so other functionalities could work like the angle threshold.* {% endhint %}

If the selected faces are too tightly packed, sometimes using the margin property can cause the screws to reverse direction. With **Limited Dissolve**, the selected faces becomes one and the margin will have a wider area to work with, this avoids smaller faces where a screw is generated to be scaled so far that its normal becomes reversed affecting the direction the screw. ### Max Angle The angle threshold for the **Limited Dissolve** property. --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://www.blenderguppy.com/add-ons/random-flow/functions/utility/panel-screws.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.