> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://editor.pascal.app/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Blocks

> Place a solid and edit its vertices, edges, and faces directly in the canvas, with a material per face.

Walls, slabs, and roofs cover most of a building, but not the shapes that don't fit
those categories — a plinth, a bench, a sculpted canopy, a massing study. **Block** is
Pascal's general-purpose solid: you place one, then reshape it by moving its actual
vertices, edges, and faces.

A block is real topology, not a box with width and height sliders. Points you move stay
moved, faces you extrude stay extruded, and the shape is saved with the project like any
other element.

## Place a block

Pick **Block** in the Build tab — it sits after **Column** — then click in the scene to
place it. `Esc` cancels before you commit.

A new block arrives as a simple solid at the level you're working on. Everything after
that happens in mesh edit mode.

## Edit its geometry

Select the block and press `Tab`. The block enters **mesh edit mode**: its vertices,
edges, and faces become selectable, and a toolbar appears above it. Press `Tab` again to
leave.

Pick what you want to work on with the number keys:

| Key | Selects  |
| --- | -------- |
| `1` | Vertices |
| `2` | Edges    |
| `3` | Faces    |

Click a component to select it, and `Cmd/Ctrl + click` or `Shift + click` to add more to
the selection. The toolbar shows what's currently selected, for example `1 EDGE`.

<Note>
  These shortcuts only apply inside mesh edit mode. Outside it, `1`, `2`, and `3` switch
  between the Site, Structure, and Furnish phases as usual — see
  [Keyboard shortcuts](/docs/getting-started/keyboard-shortcuts).
</Note>

## Move, rotate, and scale

With something selected, `G` moves it, `R` rotates it, and `S` scales it. Move the mouse
to adjust and click to confirm. The gizmo in the canvas does the same thing by dragging.

## Reshape it

The toolbar's **Operations** menu holds the mesh operations, each with a keyboard
shortcut:

| Operation                  | Shortcut       | What it does                                                                                             |
| -------------------------- | -------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Extrude selected faces** | `E`            | Pushes the selected faces out into new geometry                                                          |
| **Inset selected faces**   | `I`            | Adds a smaller face inside each selected face                                                            |
| **Bevel selected edges**   | `Cmd/Ctrl + B` | Rounds the selected edges; drag to set the width, scroll to change the number of segments                |
| **Loop Cut and Slide**     | —              | Adds a ring of edges around the block; point at an edge to preview the loop, then slide it into position |
| **Dissolve selection**     | `D`            | Removes the selected edges and merges the faces they separated                                           |
| **Merge vertices**         | `M`            | Collapses the selected vertices into one                                                                 |

Each operation is a single undo step, so `Cmd/Ctrl + Z` takes back the whole extrude
rather than unpicking it.

<Tip>
  Loop cut needs a connected ring of four-sided faces to run along. If the editor
  reports that it can't find one, the geometry around your edge has been cut into
  triangles or n-gons — add the loop somewhere cleaner, or extrude first and cut after.
</Tip>

## A material per face

A block carries **material slots** rather than one material for the whole solid. Paint a
face with the [Painting tool](/docs/items/materials-and-paint) and it takes that material on
its own, so a single block can be concrete on one side and timber on another.

## Working with the rest of the scene

* **Items sit on block faces.** Place furniture or fixtures onto a block the same way you
  place them on a floor — see [Placing and arranging](/docs/items/placing-and-arranging).
* **Blocks appear in 2D.** A block contributes its footprint to the floorplan, so it
  reads correctly in plan view and in exported
  [floorplan PDFs](/docs/export/bake-and-export).
* **Blocks export.** They're part of GLB, STL, and OBJ exports like any other geometry.

## Delete a block

Select it — outside mesh edit mode — and press `Delete` or `Backspace`, or use the
**Delete** action in its properties panel.