## Primitives: Basic 3D Objects The “Polygon” toolbar item, when clicked, reveals a list of 3D primitives you can add to a scene. Simply select one of the things in the list and it appears at the global origin (0,0,0). The primitives, or polygon objects, are meshes created mathematically based on values you set in each object’s Properties panel. For example the Stairs primitive lets you set the number of steps, the cylinder lets you pick the number of sides, and so on. Check out the **Torus** primitive. It has some pretty funky properties. > **Note:** Cheetah 3D 8.1.1 also has the Capsule, Fractal, Polyhedra, and Relief primitives (manual: Objects › Polygon Objects), not yet covered here.    The easiest way to learn how all these properties work is to create some primitives and mess around with their properties. Some of the primitives (e.g. the torus) are surprisingly versatile. The purpose of some of these settings may not be apparent at first. For example, you can create boxes with lots of “sections”. Why would you want to do that? A common reason is simply to provide more detail for deformations (e.g. if you bend a cylinder, you want enough sections to show the curve of the bend). You may also want to work with the mesh, and setting the right number of sections may save you work later. E.g. when you’re box modeling a symmetrical object, like a person, you might want to start with a box with two x sections so you can split it neatly in half.