kmwhitt Posted February 27, 2016 Share Posted February 27, 2016 I am trying to align a billboard to the origin by pre-selecting the billboard object and with the move tool snapping in the lower left corner and then moving to origin. I cannot get it to align perfectly - it jumps around. I have tried lowering working units thinking this had something to do with it. Also with and without the grid active - attached is an image. When I create a box and perform a similar operation, I have no problem. What am I missing here? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kmwhitt Posted February 27, 2016 Author Share Posted February 27, 2016 When I align the bottom of the billboard with the reference plane and then move parallel to ref plane, I was finally able to get it to work. This required an extra step that I don't feel is necessary. Is there any way in 3D space to override reference plane and move object where I want it? Does it always have to be perpendicular or parallel? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tech Posted February 27, 2016 Share Posted February 27, 2016 Hi Kevin, With the Point Snap (or Center of Face Snap) enabled, click on to the part of the object you want to go to the origin. In the Input Palette, type Tab (to get to the X field), 0 - tab - 0 - tab 0 (so all XYZ fields are zero), and press Enter / Return. That part of the object should then be at the origin. If that does not work for you (for some reason?) please post the file with the billboard that is not "moving smoothly" for you so we can test it here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kmwhitt Posted February 27, 2016 Author Share Posted February 27, 2016 Hi Mod - I didn't realize you'd be online Saturday. Thanks for the reply. Let's say I have a cube in 3D space. XY plane is active. The cube is some feet above this plane. In 3D space, I want to move this cube manually so that the center of the bottom face is in alignment with the origin. I can do this in a few steps by toggling perpendicular/parallel, but is there a more direct route? It seems I am always stuck in an ortho mode. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kmwhitt Posted February 27, 2016 Author Share Posted February 27, 2016 Attached is what I am trying to do. I'd like to move from A (corner of cube) to B (origin) in one step. Is this possible? Without entering coordinates? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tech Posted February 27, 2016 Share Posted February 27, 2016 Hi Kevin, If you had another object at the origin, you can easily snap the two objects together in one operation, but to graphically move it without snapping, you either need to move parallel, or perpendicular to the plane, so that would require 2 steps. (Tapping the Ctrl or Command key will toggle between parallel and perpendicular.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kmwhitt Posted February 27, 2016 Author Share Posted February 27, 2016 Okay, that helps. So, I'll draw a line as a guide in the future. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tech Posted February 27, 2016 Share Posted February 27, 2016 Or move numerically, or graphically move down, then over... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
setz Posted February 27, 2016 Share Posted February 27, 2016 It would be a great script that would reduce the xyz fields to a single field. Then you could just enter 0 once. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tech Posted February 28, 2016 Share Posted February 28, 2016 Hi Setz, Hmmm -- how often are you moving things to 0,0,0? Or do you mean typing 0,0,0 is easier for you than 0 tab 0 tab 0?` Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
setz Posted February 28, 2016 Share Posted February 28, 2016 I very often refer back to the origin. For rotations, multi copy in particular, and for drawing segments for slicing or sectioning. If I am modeling and need to do a lot of operations that require reference back to the origin it is easier for me to backsave and work in 6. In 6, 0 is recognized as 0,0,0. The most dramatic example is to rotate multi copy in 6: click on the object, 0, enter. Three quick actions. Or to section an object with a radial off of the origin, using the line tool, 0, enter, places the first point of the line at the origin. A second click finishes the line and the using the section tool, a single click on the object to be sectioned completes the operation. Four actions. (Why does 8 still require a plane for sectioning an object by the way?) Both these operations require many more clicks and a lot more mousing around in 8. There are other operations in which I use 000 as well, but those are two examples which come to mind - oh and moving objects to the origin with snapping as described above. If I need to use a lot of reshape or offset outline/segment I use 8. For texturing I go back to 6 because of it's very useful texture group editing. For open gl screen grabs or working with Maxwell It's back to 8. For manually cleaning up bad geometry I use 6 as it is more efficient in topology removal and reconstruction. For nurbs and booleans 8 has more robust tools. I have less trouble with controlled rounding and sweeping objects along a path in 6. The list goes on. I run 6 and 8 side by side and transfer objects back and forth all the time. I know from previous posts that ADS is working on many of these areas and I am appreciative of the work being done to restore all the flexibility and functionality from 6 into 8. I do use 8 more and more, and 6 less and less with each update that is released. The tab key to the X field was a great addition for example, that simple modification saves me a lot of time. If there was a way to restore the 0-enter to replace the 0, tab, 0, tab, 0, enter, that would speed up many different operations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewisl Posted November 7, 2018 Share Posted November 7, 2018 This SO DOES NOT WORK at all. So many documentation problems and extraordinary complexity. There should be a command that does the opposite: move the grid to the selected point. Used to be. Impossible to find. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bo Atkinson Posted November 9, 2018 Share Posted November 9, 2018 Thanks for mentioning "zeroing". Getting a "000 snap" was always one easy snap in v6. Today it is 5 clicks or more. (Sometimes tab,0,tab,0,tab,0 will work in OSX)) When many points are present, we cannot sequentially snap between grids and points, where v6 did this so well. I therefore need to add one more point object at 000, to provide a reliable snap target, because a grid and point sequence-combination of snapping cannot always snap in sequences, (as they did beautifully in v6, in any situation). The point-object tool does manage to establish a reliable target-snap, right where needed at 000, but because certain situations of snaps will usually not work, I otherwise have to put this temporary point-object where needed, for example to snap between the grid and other specified entities. I reported this during the beta period, (was it version-7-beta?), to no avail, and was surprised that it was considered OK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shibui Design Posted November 9, 2018 Share Posted November 9, 2018 An easy way to do this is to start with grid snap OFF. Select the object with object snapping ON and select the object by snapping to the desired point, i.e. center of face, end or midpoint, etc. Think of this as where you want to pick the object up from. Then being while moving, turn grid snap ON and move/snap to the origin, which is 0,0,0. Very simple and done graphically with two mouse clicks. I have a keyboard shortcut for toggling grid snap on/off as well as object snapping on/off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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