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Old 20th December 2019, 08:28 PM   #1
Thaeris
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Default Lock Vertex to Plane

Friends,

Some time ago I started, or rather attempted to start, the following project:

http://www.inivis.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7011

...I think this could be a little easier for starters in hindsight. Granted, my programming skills are... not abundant, but I do have a respectable suggestion for how a workflow might work in a simple planar operation: Lock Vertex to Plane:

1. User operates in vertex mode. Surface mode could perhaps also work, but you'd have to settle for some sort of "averaged" user-defined plane rather than a precise one in some cases (e.g. a non-planar quad or n-gon).

2. In vertex mode, 3x vertexes are selected. This defines a plane - the order of selection should not matter. So, if surfaces can also use this feature, then the "averaged" plane is created from 3+ vertexes, or perhaps the end user also does the same in vertex mode. Regardless, 3D coordinates are selected from which to define a new plane.

3. User uses a command or GUI button to create the user-defined plane from the selection. Perhaps it could be in a similar guise as the "create user-defined axis" control which currently exists? The program, as with the user-defined axis, only needs to store one set of plane coordinates at a time. These are over-written when a new plane is defined by the user.

4. Here is where things may get interesting - AC3D easily moves coordinates along the principal axes, but the idea here is to "lock" a vertex to a user-defined plane... I am not sure how this would be achieved in the current interface. It would be nice to select a vertex or even a surface, click a "lock to plane" button, and move the selections in any of the viewports and have them remain in the defined plane. Perhaps the selections would highlight as a different color when locked to a plane? Then, would they unlock when deselected, or would they have to manually be unlocked? Someone with more insight would need to answer that question...

...Alternately, perhaps there is an easier, "hackier" approach to this problem. Suppose that when the user defines a plane, AC3D makes a new "UDP Viewport" accessible. This viewport could be called up with a GUI button, perhaps under the "create user-defined plane" button. Alternately, the user could manually pull up a new viewport and navigate to the plane, or simply use one of the existing viewports for that purpose. Once the geometry is snapped to the plane, if it is moved in the UDP Viewport, it will remain in that plane.

That said, the "hackier" approach might actually be better, as it would allow geometry both complex and precise to be manipulated within it. A lot of growth potential there, for sure.


...Anyway, that is my idea. It is more straightforward than last time. That said, my idea from last time would probably be better handled with some sort of boolean operation, but that's another conversation.

Fantastic software as always, hopefully this idea is in line with future development. I would absolutely update my license if this were implemented, by the way...
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