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I'm completely new to Blender, and I have been playing around in it to create some atomic-level models of crystal structures. I've been using the Atomic Blender add-on to create spheres for atoms and cylinders for bonds.

I would like to create polyhedra as well, so I'm trying to figure out how to add planes between atoms. Is there a simple way to create planes with vertices located at the origins of the spheres?

For reference, in the image below, I am trying to make a triangular plane between the selected spheres.

Three atoms on a triangular face of a cuboctahedron are selected.

Furthermore, if there's a way to add planes in a more automated manner, that would be great to know too.

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  • $\begingroup$ You can duplicate a sphere, and in Edit mode select all and press M > Merge at Center in order to have one unique vertex, then join 3 vertices into one object (Ctrl J), in Edit mode select the 3 vertices and press F to Fill $\endgroup$
    – moonboots
    Nov 1, 2022 at 21:48
  • $\begingroup$ You may want to look at this youtube.com/c/CGFigures/videos to get some ideas. $\endgroup$
    – Rick T
    Nov 1, 2022 at 22:11
  • $\begingroup$ @RickT Thanks! I actually found their video on making crystal structures, which is what motivated me to pick up and play around with blender. They have a lot of videos, so it might take me a while to get through them all. $\endgroup$
    – xalim
    Nov 3, 2022 at 14:45
  • $\begingroup$ @moonboots Thank you! I find that this works! $\endgroup$
    – xalim
    Nov 3, 2022 at 14:45

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there is no simple method to do this. you have to do it with your hands. join spheres (ctrl+j), select sphere (point the mouse on it and press L), then place cursor on the center of sphere (shift+s and drag mouse down), then add single vertex. repeat with another spheres, and then you can make plane with vertexes that you have created (select required vertexes and press f)

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  • $\begingroup$ This worked pretty well, except I had issues trying to select the vertices in the center of the spheres without selecting vertices on the surface of the sphere. I combined this technique with moonboot's comment (above), where I merged at center for each sphere, then used the fill function. Thank you! $\endgroup$
    – xalim
    Nov 3, 2022 at 14:48

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