How to get prop (building) to world zero position?

jakiblue

I've no idea if my title makes sense....but I have a building that loads in a certain position and I want it to load into the default position instead. It's a .pp2 building. X, Y and Z are all set at 0 when it loads, so I can't figure out if there's a quick way of moving it to the default position, rather than manually moving the sliders of the X, Y, Z. Is it possible?

WendyLuvsCatz

so annoying that

in DAZ studio the only ways are to use the bone editor and tool settings to create and  resave a zeroed prop or export and reimport an obj manually set to 0,0,0

jakiblue

sheesh, you went right over my head with that LOL. I have no idea what you said  

WendyLuvsCatz said:

so annoying that

in DAZ studio the only ways are to use the bone editor and tool settings to create and  resave a zeroed prop or export and reimport an obj manually set to 0,0,0

 

maclean

There are a couple of things you can do. The easiest is to position the prop where you want it, then go to the Parameters menu and choose Memorise> Memorise Selected Items(s). Keep an eye on the trans values. Before you memorise, they'll be in bold. Afterwards, they fade to the default font. That means they're now the new default. Then you have to save the prop either as a Figure/Prop Asset or a Scene Subset. The next time you load it, it'll be in that position. The Restore command (CTRL+E) will always apply the new defaults you've set, but you can use Zero Selected Item(s) to return it to its original position.

The other, cleaner way, is to export it as an obj. In order to get the precise center of the universe, create a DS cube primitive, and in the scene pane, select the cube first, then the prop. Now open the Align pane and choose X Axis: Align: Centers and Z Axis: Align: Centers, then Apply. Your prop should move to the center in line with the cube. Delete the cube, select the prop and export it as an .obj file. (At this point, you might want to save a material preset in case the obj imports with any glitches in the materials). Import the obj again, then save it as an Asset or Scene Subset. The main difference is that all defaults are now zero.

It sounds long and tedious when it's written out, but it's actually very easy.

Silent Winter

Would the align tool help to move it quickly to world centre? Create a plane at 0,0,0 and align building on top? (not sure if that uses the origin - thunderstorm right now so not keen to turn on the render box to try it out). After that you can save it as a scene subset for future loading (or export/import as suggested above)

 

Edit: I guess Maclean covered that lol

WendyLuvsCatz

the first way I described while it sounds discombobulated is actually quite fast just as not intuitive as centering pivot to local space in most other programs 

you move the prop where you want it

with the bone editor selected

then in the tool settings type zeros in all the parameters memorize rigging a good idea and save as a figure prop asset under a new name

WendyLuvsCatz

there is a script Jaderail had he took to his grave because the author had a copyright on it that actually did this in one click, it was hosted on the old old DAZ website in the help section but they lost it along with everything else we no longer can get  and he was too full of integrity to share it so I couldn't get a peek at how it did it!

the author was long gone from the DAZ community but copyrights last 100 years

I better make this a separate post so my instructions don't disappear

one day I might examine a duf file in the editor and see what changing the origins does

I cannot write dzscripts but given the information someone else might be able to

LosingSignal

jakiblue said:

I've no idea if my title makes sense....but I have a building that loads in a certain position and I want it to load into the default position instead. It's a .pp2 building. X, Y and Z are all set at 0 when it loads, so I can't figure out if there's a quick way of moving it to the default position, rather than manually moving the sliders of the X, Y, Z. Is it possible?

I would do what WendyLuvsCatz and maclean are suggesting if you have to reload the building more than a couple of times.  If it's a one-off load for a random scene, you can also View Translate it.  First, load the building.  It pops up where you don't want it, of course.  Next, create a primitive of any kind or load anything else that appears at world center.  You'll be deleting it later, so it doesn't matter what it is.  Next, click on a blank space in the Viewport or an empty line on the Scene Tab.  The objective there is to have nothing selected.  Next, click the Frame Selection button in the Viewport (looks like a square with a plus sign in the middle).  This should center the camera where you can see everything in the scene, including the building and the random prop at world center.  Next, click on the building.  Assuming you have the Universal Tool turned on, you'll have a set of boxes at the base of the building with red, green, and blue arrows coming off of it.  Click and hold on any of the arrow heads, or the filled in corners of the boxes, and you'll be able to drag the building to where ever you want it, including to roughly world center.  At that point you can use the translate sliders to dial it in exactly where you want it.  Once you're more or less happy with the building's location and don't have to Frame Select the viewport any more, delete the random prop from earlier.

jakiblue

Perfect!!! Thank you maclean, that was quick and easy and worked perfectly!  

maclean said:

There are a couple of things you can do. The easiest is to position the prop where you want it, then go to the Parameters menu and choose Memorise> Memorise Selected Items(s). Keep an eye on the trans values. Before you memorise, they'll be in bold. Afterwards, they fade to the default font. That means they're now the new default. Then you have to save the prop either as a Figure/Prop Asset or a Scene Subset. The next time you load it, it'll be in that position. The Restore command (CTRL+E) will always apply the new defaults you've set, but you can use Zero Selected Item(s) to return it to its original position.

The other, cleaner way, is to export it as an obj. In order to get the precise center of the universe, create a DS cube primitive, and in the scene pane, select the cube first, then the prop. Now open the Align pane and choose X Axis: Align: Centers and Z Axis: Align: Centers, then Apply. Your prop should move to the center in line with the cube. Delete the cube, select the prop and export it as an .obj file. (At this point, you might want to save a material preset in case the obj imports with any glitches in the materials). Import the obj again, then save it as an Asset or Scene Subset. The main difference is that all defaults are now zero.

It sounds long and tedious when it's written out, but it's actually very easy.

 

maclean

Cool! As I said, it's easier to do than to explain.