Searching a plugin

[Dughor]

Hi there

Is anyone able to make a small little plugin for me?

What I'd like to do:
- Select two vertices of one object
- Press a button and get the following information.

If you draw a line between those two vertices I would like to know in which angle this line would stand to the three main axis.

Hope this description is clear...

[Kevin A.]

You should try to talk to a programer like Andy :D he would help you :D


well i hope he can :)

[Dennis]

Hi Dughor --- not sure what you're looking to do here exactly? Can you give an example of what this might be used for?

[Dughor]

Ok, let me try to explain.
(Hope I get it right - english is not main main language)

I once started to build a Ju-88.
As you shure know, its a two-engine plane with its main landing gear in the engine gondolas under the wings.

In this picture (http://hsfeatures.com/features04/images/ju88g6ov_6.jpg) you can see, how the gear doors are split into to pairs.

Due to the shape of the gondola, the doors don't open exactly to one of the main axes.

What I normaly would do is, build the gondola, and cut the gear-doors out.
So they keep the shape and fit in closed state.

What I now need to know, in wich angle to all axes the doors would open.

So I like to select the two vertices, wich build the edge on wich the doors are attached to the gondola, and get an info how this edge goes in relation to the 3 main axes.
I then could rotate the part around the x axis by n° and around the z axis by n°.
Snap both parts by vertice, and voilà everything would fit.

Hope thats clear...

[Dennis]

I get it now --- you're basically looking for a way to rotate about a "hinge" that will not likely be axis-aligned.

Agreed this would be a nice feature --- barring someone writing a plugin, the only way I can think to do this would be to rotate the entire door until its hinges are axis-aligned, then rotate it about the center of where the hinge would be, then essentially "undo" the first rotation to get it back where it started. Which it sounds like you'd like to avoid :)

[Dughor]

Exactly...

[Stiglr]

*Sigh*

This is where animation features, such as you get in MAX, really come in handy. There you can set the hinge axis exactly where you need it to be, then set the animation to rotate it back and forth, and be able to "take notes" on the needed angles, not to mention the timing of multiple systems (e.g., making sure the doors get far enough open before the gear and wheels start rotating out of the bay).