There are different geometry types:
polygons
nurbs
subdivision surfaces
Use snapping as a construction aid.
Polygon models are by far the most widely-used geometry type. They offer very exact control of the mesh, but more polygon faces need to be added to the mesh in order to make it higher resolution.
Vertices
Edges
Double-click to select an entire edge loop.
Faces
Loops
Think of loops as longitudes on the globe.
To select an entire loop of edges or faces, left-click the first component, then shift-double click the next contiguous component to define the direction of the loop and select it.
Rings
Think of rings as latitudes on the globe.
Display
Heads Up Display -> Poly Count
Mesh
Edit Mesh
Bevel
Bridge
Extrude
Mesh Tools
Connect
Insert Edge Loop
Multi-Cut
Slide Edge
Target Weld
Nurbs surfaces have the advantage of being infinitely smooth, compared to polygons, where you have to build-in the resolution by adding more polygon faces to create a higher-res mesh. The disadvantage of nurbs is that they might be more difficult to control than polygon objects.
Have these been deprecated?
Subdivision surfaces combine the tight control of polygons with the smoothness of nurbs. You can setup multiple levels of smoothness for the same object and go back and edit each level.
These settings seemed to work well for converting nurbs to polys:
type = quads
tessellation method: general
max out all settings and check “use chord height”