Digital Art Zone

Greetings,
Caveat: I don’t even know the right words for this…  I haven’t read the D|S manual, and while I’m sure it explains this, I don’t recall seeing it, or downloading it, so I’m not sure where to look.

Sometimes, when I’m manipulating an object, the ‘Universal’ tool (that thing that has 3 axes with translation arrows at their tips, 3 circles, 3 scaling boxes, and a ‘global scale’ central sphere) ends up substantially under (or over, but usually under) an object.  The object continues to move in reference to that location, though, which means that while translation and scaling works as desired, rotation tries to rotate around that location instead of around the center (for example) of the bounding box of the object.  (Not quite the same as the centroid, but it will work for now.)

I have no idea what the D|S term for that control is other than ‘Universal Tool’, or for what I want to do, but what I’d really like is a command that centers that control on the centroid of the object being manipulated, so the object pivots around its middle again.

Am I making any kind of sense to anyone and, if so, is there a command or a method for doing that…?

— Morgan

p.s.  I often find myself wishing for a ‘translate selected object to here/this object’; is there a way to do that?

It all depends on how the object was made. That point is the center node point, the default pivot and center point for when the item was made and saved. I have tested a script in DS4Pro that will move that on a one time each boot bases. It will not change the point permanently but it will move it every-time you use it. I have no idea if it will work in DS4.5 RC2 or RC3. If you like I will hunt the link for you. It is a DS3 Script but so far I can use it in DS4Pro.

The Translate to here is the Align Tab. It has options to Align centers or origins ect… Easy to use just test it a few times. You Select the item you wish to move to first and then use (windows Ctrl select) to select the second item from the Scene Tab. Then use the Align feature. Just play and you fill find it very useful.

EDIT: Here is the Script in action. Top is default load bottom is Moved to Center.
Edit Again: Went ahead and got the link here it is Move Origin The one you want would be the MOVE ORIGIN file as the link shows.

I’ve been also looking for an easy solution for this kind of problems.

You can change the position of an object also in Hexagon. (see screenshots)

That would be a total fix. if you saved as a New Name. Cool tip. Have you tried the script? Move Origin is handy for Click and keep on working type stuff.

Cypherfox what you require is already built in to Daz 4 Pro.

What you are looking for is the “Joint Editor” Tool located in the top menu bar, Tools > Joint Editor or ALT+Shift+J. (See image below)

When you engage this the Joint Editor tool your Translation/Scale,Rotation Gizmo Tool will change giving you two small Translation tools one Red and one Green As shown in image two. All you need to do then is go into the Orthogrphic Cameras, Left, Right, Front etc and reposition the Gizmos manually with the mouse. The new position will be saved with the scene.

Szark - Thanks so much for that quick, concise tip - I’ve been wondering about that as well.  I appreciate (as we all do) people like you continuing to take the time to share the knowledge.  Thanks.

Greetings,
Thank you Szark; that’s awesome!  I don’t really get what the pieces mean, but it works perfectly if I move both points into the middle of the object.  (The best test object for this is the Fantasy Book which starts 6’ in the air, with the rotation point on the floor.  This tip worked flawlessly on fixing it!)

TIL this, and that my work computer is _terrifyingly_ faster than my home computer at setting up a scene (to try out this tip) in D|S.  8 cores and a top-notch video card will do that…

Thanks again!

— Morgan

bohemian3 and Cypherfox my pleasure. Glad I can help.

Does the join editor work on (nested) multi-part objects?  I have the Steam Rifle & add-ons from Renderosity (http://www.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/steam-rifle—-ultimate-construction-kit/86790) and the thing that makes it frustrating to use is that as a ‘construction kit’, the rifle is made of mix-and-match sub parts.  And the pivot point makes it very difficult to line up properly with the figure meant to be holding it, since it’s the parts all load floating in the air, rotating around a point on the ground.

Have you tied “Parenting” the other items to the main part probably the pistol?

Then it would be a case of moving the Origin Point of the Pistol or using a NULL Object.

TIP: Loading a NULL (see images below). Move and scale the Null to where the Pistol is positioned. When the Null is in place parent the pistol to the Null and use the Null to move them all.

Jaderail - 26 July 2012 07:29 PM

Edit Again: Went ahead and got the link here it is Move Origin The one you want would be the MOVE ORIGIN file as the link shows.

Thank You very much for pointing me to the ‘MoveOrigin’ script, Jaderail; it just helped taking a MEGA-FIERS-load off my mind ! Verlsnake-Kai