Offset feature

[Stiglr]

Would this be possible?

A command that would allow you to select an object, "save" it's position, then move it to 0,0,0 and then get offset x,y,z and rotation values from it's original position. In other words, learn how it has moved to get to its new position.

I ask for this because I am creating aircraft for a flight sim, and in the case of flight surfaces that do not rest neatly along the axis, you must move them so that they do, and then enter these offset values in a file in the simulation.

[Auton]

Stiglr, I do this by getting the position of the point I want in the origin at the outset, and then calculating how far I want the entire object moved to put them there.

Any rotations are done the same way (although a 'rotation counter' that shows how far you've rotated on what axis right now would be nice), before the moving process. That should allow you to get the right (within 0.01 unit) measure, and most often the exactly correct measure.

[Stiglr]

Try as I might, I can't make any sense of that. I've read it 5 times and squinted my eyes, and.... nothing. How do you "calculate" how far to move an object? Is it the center of the object or some other point? And if it's necessary to rotate said object to get it to align with a hinge line, how do you ascertain that?

Can you show an example with some screenies? That would help a lot.

[Andy]

Can't you just click on the ">" button next to Move-to on the control panel? That will read the centre of the selection into the fields. If you make a note of this and then do a 0,0,0 move-to, you know that the numbers you made a note of is the distance from the origin.

Andy

[Auton]

What Andy said, except you measure the distance by selecting an appropriate set of vertices that you want to centre on the origin. Then you read those coordinates into the 'move to' boxes (tap the > button next to them). Note these down on, say, a spreadsheet. Then select the whole piece you want to move, and get the coordinates the same way. Note them down in the same spot as well. Then comes the whole of the magic: Subtract the former numbers from the latter.

This set of coordinates is what you want to move the whole object to, to get it into the right position. And that's the whole cake. :)

[Stiglr]

OK, that's somewhat clearer....

My question now is: what constitutes an "appropriate set of vertices"? And when you hit the > button, will it then average the spot (and move the red X to an average spot amongst them)?

Also, what do you do when you need to rotate the object to make it lay along a pivot line?

[Auton]

Last things first: The rotations, you need to eyeball. I use the rotate command, since that allows me to keep track of just how many degrees it turned. It also rotates the object around its centre (am I the only guy here who'd like arbitrary rotation centers for object?), so that's good. I'd love a more easy way to do this, but it ain't around.

Then, with the rotations out of the way, you've got to figure out what part of the item should be at the origin of the coordinate system. Selecting an appropriate set of vertices means selecting a set of vertices whose centre is at the spot you want the origin at when the move is done. Then you do as I posted above to find the offset you need, and the offset to move the entire object to.