Digital Art Zone

O.k, I might be missing something, here, but I do not know how to use the navigation controls in DAZ studio 4.  In order for me to move my model, I have to put my mouse pointer on the movement icon that looks like a cross and keep the left mouse button down and drag about a quarter inch before the model will stop moving and my pointer is off the cross thing. I then need to do this again and again to move my model side to side or up and down small increments at a time. I watched some training a on you tube and see that some how effortlessly the model can be moved just by touching the cross navigational icon an then just drag the model anywhere with the mouse.  So what is the trick? Is there a special mouse that I need to be using?

You do not need a special mouse. I’m not clear what you are clicking and dragging, but I have attached an image that shows you a way to move a model. This was done in DS version 4.5, but it works that same in 4.0.

1) Select your model by clicking on its name in the Scene tab (or on the model itself in the viewport). I have selected !Aiko3 in my scene.
2) Click on the translate tool icon (the cross thingy). Don’t hold your left mouse button down, just click once to highlight the tool icon.
3) Now you have two choices for moving the model. Left click and hold down the mouse button on one of the three gray triangles in the corners of the translation icon on top of the model. Each triangle moves the model in two axes. X and Y, Xand Z, or Y and Z. If you hover over the gray triangle, it will show a tool tip that tells you which axes that triangle controls. Or, you can use the xTrans, yTrans, and zTrans sliders in the Parameters tab. These sliders let you move the model along one axis at a time. It also allows you to type in specific numerical settings, if you wish. It lets you inch the model along in small movements by clicking on the - or + at the end of the slider.

You might also like to try the universal move tool that looks like the cross with a rotation arrow around the outside. It lets you translate and rotate your model. With all those additional controls, it is harder to select those gray triangles, I think.

But what about those icons next to the (left of) “parameters"tab in which one is the cross thing.  How do those work? (these are located in the view pane to the right of the “cube” rotator icon)

Hi…

The five icons that are to the right of the “Camera Cube” are your view controls… They are for moving your view around the scene…

The top one, ball with the curved arrow, is to orbit your view

Next, the cross, is to move your view left, right, up and down

The magnifying glass is to zoom in or out

The box or square, is to center your view on the selected object

And the circle with the up arrow returns the view to the default view…

Another thing is that when you move your mouse pointer over the manipulator in the viewport, any part of it that highlights is a translation or rotation that you can do by Left click and hold on the highlighted part of the manipulator…

As barbult suggested, try the different tools and see which one you like best for large movements, and then use the parameter sliders for the small incremental movements….

Hope this helps…