2. Select the sphere and go to the Modify panel. Click the Edit Stack button and select Convert to Editable Mesh. (Alternately, you may right-click the sphere and select Convert to Editable Mesh.)
3. With the sphere still selected, go to the Modifiers rollout of the Modify panel. Click the More button. Scroll down and select Xform. Click OK to add the Xform modifier to the sphere.
4. Minimize the Perspective viewport. Then click Zoom Extents All in the viewport control toolbox. All viewports zoom in to the sphere. Make sure the sphere's Sub-object button is turned on (yellow) and the selection level in the drop-down list is set to Gizmo.
5. In the Main Toolbar, click and drag on the Scale button. From the flyout, select Non-Uniform Scale. Right-click an empty area of the Top viewport to select it. With the Reference Coordinate System set to View, click the Y axis of the sphere's Transform Gizmo. Drag to scale the sphere along the Y axis of the viewport. As you drag the mouse, watch the Status Bar as it interactively updates the scale percentages. Scale the sphere to about 20% of its original depth. Your screen should look like this:
6. Select Edit | Clone from the Menu Bar, and create a copy of the modified sphere. With the second sphere automatically selected, go to the Hierarchy panel and click Affect Object Only so the button turns blue.
7. Click Select and Move from the Main Toolbar. In the Perspective viewport, drag the second sphere's Transform Gizmo in the Z axis of the View (or World) coordinate system. Move the second sphere up about 35 units. Notice that the Pivot Point of the second sphere remains at coordinates (0,0,0). Click Zoom Extents All again to zoom out.
8. Deselect Affect Object Only. Go back to the Modify panel and turn Sub-object on for the sphere's existing Xform modifier. In the Main Toolbar, click Select and Non-uniform Scale, then go to the Top viewport and scale down the flower petal in the X axis in the View coordinate system. You should now have the center of the flower and one petal, like this:
9. Turn off Sub-object mode. Right-click on the Perspective viewport to select it. With the flower petal still selected, click Array from the Main Toolbar. The top of the dialog box should read "Array Transformation: World Coordinates (Use Pivot Point Center)."
10. In the Array dialog box, look in the Incremental section. Under the Y column, and in the row labeled Rotate, enter the number 30 and hit the Tab key. This assigns an axis of rotation, and an angle of rotation for each successive copy relative to the last, in degrees.
11. You will see that entering 30 degrees under Incremental causes an update in the Totals section. With the default Count of 10 objects in the Array, multiplied by an angle of 30 degrees, the total rotation is 300 degrees. Enter 12 in the box marked Array Dimensions, 1D, Count. Hit the Tab key to enter the number without closing the dialog box. The Totals section reflects the change: 12 copies multiplied by 30 degrees = 360 degrees total. Click OK.
12. From the Menu Bar, click Edit | Select All. With the entire flower highlighted, right-click it and select Collapse Selected to Mesh. This erases the Xform modifiers and all Sphere parameters, leaving you with all objects of the type Editable Mesh.
13. Select the center of the flower. In the Modify Panel, verify that Editable Mesh is the current object type, listed under Modifier Stack. Scroll down to the Edit Geometry rollout. Click Attach List. When the dialog box comes up, select All objects in the list. Click Attach to close the Attach List dialog. You now have a single mesh object for the flower and its petals.
14. Add a new Xform modifier to the flower. Under the Modifier rollout, click the More button and select Xform from the bottom of the list. Make sure that you are in Sub-Object: Gizmo mode; it should be turned on automatically when you add the Xform modifier. Tilt the flower back a bit by rotating it in its local X axis. Right click the flower and Convert to Editable Mesh again. Go to the top of the Modify panel and rename your object "Flower."
15. In the Top viewport, create a cylinder at the center of the world to be used for the flower stem. Give it a height value of _200 so it is below the flower. Change the number of Height Segments for the cylinder to 12. If the cylinder sticks out of the front of the flower, reduce its radius or move it back so the stem doesn't come through the front of the flower head. After clicking Zoom Extents All in the viewport control toolbox, your screen looks like this:
16. Select the flower head. Under the Edit Geometry rollout of Editable Mesh, click Attach. Move your cursor to the stem cylinder; the cursor turns to a plus sign. Click the cylinder to attach it to the flower. Right-click an empty viewport area to finish the Attach command; its green button turns grey again. The Cylinder is automatically collapsed to an Editable Mesh and attached to the flower.
17. Add a Bend modifier to the flower. Turn on Sub-object, and select Center from the drop-down list. In the Front viewport, move the Transform Gizmo down in the Y axis, in the View Coordinate System. Move the Center of the Bend modifier's effect to the bottom of the flower stem. Change the Bend Angle to about 45 degrees. Bend Axis should be "Z".
18. Turn off Sub-object. Select the flower in the Front viewport. With the Select and Move transform on and the View coordinate system active, hold down the Shift key while dragging the flower's Transform Gizmo in the X axis. In the Clone Options dialog, select Instance. Now when you alter the Bend parameters of either flower, they both sway in the breeze.
19. Try creating reference objects instead. You can add more modifiers to referenced objects without affecting the master object or any of the other references. Any changes to the master object will be seen in the references, but additional modifiers in the references will not affect the master object.
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