Lock axis

D

dipterus

0
Lock axis

I am exploring the features of Cheetah3D, and I want to know if one or more axes for a tool can be manually (and permanently) locked?
 
Thanks, Frank. I had a look at the "Transform" and I do understand an object may be dragged on a given axis by grabbing on the tool-handles.

However, I was looking for a way to lock the movement so that just by dragging anywhere in the window, the movement of the selected object would be constrained to one or two axes. This is useful for moving areas, or points of an object using another object as a guide and while the selected object is out of sight.

I hope this makes sense to you.
 
You can constrain the IK solver but you can't place those constraints on objects independent of the IK solver.

So you can place an IK constraint on a joint and the IK solver will obey it, but it doesn't stop you from performing arbitrary rotations on it.
 
dipterus said:
Thanks, Frank. I had a look at the "Transform" and I do understand an object may be dragged on a given axis by grabbing on the tool-handles.

However, I was looking for a way to lock the movement so that just by dragging anywhere in the window, the movement of the selected object would be constrained to one or two axes. This is useful for moving areas, or points of an object using another object as a guide and while the selected object is out of sight.

I hope this makes sense to you.
Click to expand...

If you press Shift and drag one of the little icons of the Transform Tool thingy, you will transform on all the axes except the axis you are clicking on. I just tried it on Scale and Move. I don't think it makes any difference on Rotate, though. By the way, Frank is right, this info is in the help file under Transform.
 
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I understand this, and I appreciate the feature. But there are two things that are not possible with this method:

1. I cannot click-drag vector bezier handles in an isolated direction. To work on a vectors, I must use a none-3D window, which is often undesirable in my case.

2. I cannot work on points of a polygon unless the point is visible in the window. I sometimes need to select a point, go to another window, and drag to the height of another object. Yes, there are ways to do the same thing, but none so quick. Another possible use is when I have a polygon with equidistant points, each of which must be moved to the edge of an imported image of a hand-drawn object, but remain equidistant. To have to first click-select the point, and then drag the arrow doubles the movements. On a polygon with 60 points, a single click-select-drag in a constrained direction would save 60 extra moves -- something considerable when working under a deadline.
 
Hi dipterus.
I can´t follow you and would say I´m a quite experienced user of vector functions inside C3D.
So maybe you can check a few things. Don´t use the transformtool in tweakmode while you´re editing splines. Check the "clip near" factor in the camera properties. And using the quad few will speed up the maneuvers when in the 3d workspace things ran out of control.

(Exploring a new app under time pressure don´t seem a very clever idea. Anyway; you can ask some of the more experienced users or post a file or screenshot or else. ;-) )

With kindest regards
Frank
 
I cannot click-drag vector bezier handles in an isolated direction.
Click to expand...
This seems to be a separate issue:

In Silo (for example) a controller appears over the center of the selection, but a second controller appears in a fixed position inthe corner of the screen. You can use either.

This lets you modify objects without the cursor getting in the way OR as dipterus says when the selection isn't visible in a viewport.

As for the rest ... I pretty much echo what Frank has to say. The example you give of dragging 60 points to the edge of a reference ... well if the reference has a straight edge then you can do it with one move. If it doesn't, well, your suggested feature doesn't seem like it would help.
 
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dipterus said:
I cannot click-drag vector bezier handles in an isolated direction. To work on a vectors, I must use a none-3D window, which is often undesirable in my case.
Click to expand...

If you´re talking about smooth or flat tangents you´re wrong; hold shift key while dragging let´s you draw an hard edge instead a smooth curve. The second part you mentioned I can´t understand without an example.
 
frank beckmann said:
Check the "clip near" factor in the camera properties.
Click to expand...

i did a search in the Help viewer for "clip near" and I found one result:

"clip near: The distance to the near clipping plane. Every primitive which is in front of the near clipping plane will be removed by OpenGL."

I am not sure if by "check" you mean "inspect" rather than "check the preference box." Since I found no checkbox, I assume you want me to review the feature. But I still don't know what I should be looking for.

I accept that you are "a quite experienced user of vector functions." How then do you move a bezier handle vertically in a perspective view? What tool do you use and how do you constrain the travel of the preferred tool in only one direction?
 
frank beckmann said:
hold shift key while dragging let´s you draw an hard edge instead a smooth curve.
Click to expand...

I tried your suggestion. Hold-shift-dragging on a smooth cusp handle breaks that cusp into a corner, but as far as I can see it does not constrain the travel of the bezier handle in a any one direction.
 
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Ah, at last I understand your problem.

Yes, the bezier editing functions are kind of horrible. In essence, what C3D needs to do is treat handles EXACTLY like points, so that you select them and then manipulate them as you would other points. Right now, when you create a bezier it's always planar, but once you edit it, it's kind of voodoo.

I'd put this in the wishlist.
 
podperson said:
Ah, at last I understand your problem.
Click to expand...

podperson, communication is an art I don't claim to have yet mastered :)

I am nonetheless happy to have been understood, even this far down into the thread. Now, if I may, I would say such feature would need to achieve a single-step transformation (borrowing from another 3D application I care not to mention), whereby click-dragging on the handle-end, or polygon point, both selects and moves the element in a predefined direction in a single step.
 
The problem isn't that C3D doesn't let you click and drag in a single action, it's that it requires one click to "activate" a pane, which is a minor annoyance.
 
podperson said:
The problem isn't that C3D doesn't let you click and drag in a single action, it's that it requires one click to "activate" a pane, which is a minor annoyance.
Click to expand...

Well - that´s for the points within a spline - not for the poly-Béziere; if the move handles are activated in the transformtool you can smoothly click&drag and shiftclick&drag. And activating (multi-activating) isn´t an issue really-be honest.

dipterus said:
I am nonetheless happy to have been understood, even this far down into the thread. Now, if I may, I would say such feature would need to achieve a single-step transformation (borrowing from another 3D application I care not to mention), whereby click-dragging on the handle-end, or polygon point, both selects and moves the element in a predefined direction in a single step.
Click to expand...
Seems Babylon is around. I don´t understand any issue you both mentioned, not to say things couldn´t become better putting them on wishlists - I try it every x-mas again and again. So come on; give me some nice briefing on a spline project and I ´ll fire a nice video tut on that.

With kindest regards
Frank
 
frank beckmann said:
come on; give me some nice briefing on a spline project and I ´ll fire a nice video tut on that.
Click to expand...

Well, how about a feature request? Check the "Wish List" thread, I just left one. Of course, a tutorial will be great, but, a tutorial would imply this method is currently available. Is it?
 
dipterus said:
Of course, a tutorial will be great, but, a tutorial would imply this method is currently available. Is it?
Click to expand...

Simply no, because I didn´t missed that feature - believe it or not ;) (btw. the locks for the transform tool are gone nearly two years from now)

So I made this offer for the tutorial just to understand where you need this "locking" so badly :p

With kindest regards
Frank
 
Frank -- you're misinterpreting what I said. If you use the 4-pane view then one pane is "active" at any given time. If you mouse over another object then its "handles" will light up as though they're active, but you can't use them (it's quite frustrating, and I believe it's contributing to the frustration in this case).

So, create a scene, add a cube, go to four-pane view, select the cube in one pane, switch to the transform tool, and then point at and click on a handle in an "inactive" frame. It BEHAVES as if it's good to go, when it isn't.

This annoys me all the time, and given what the original poster was trying to do, it's adding an extra action for every single manipulation.

Anyway, I've made the appropiate wish here:

http://www.cheetah3d.de/forum/showthread.php?p=18448#post18448
 
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frank beckmann said:
Simply no, because I didn´t missed that feature - believe it or not ;) (btw. the locks for the transform tool are gone nearly two years from now)Frank
Click to expand...

Frank,

I don't want to inflame you with my comments, so, I won't carry on. Originally, I just wanted to know whether "a tool can be manually (and permanently) locked" --that's all. Apparently, they cannot. The rest is immaterial.

Thank you.
 
@ Podperson. Sorry I didn´t realised the 4-pane view, because I didn´t use it for modelling purpose. Sorry again.:redface:

@ dipterus: Sorry for the confusion, I just wanted to be introduced by your workflow compared to mine. Never wanted to hold you back from the wishlist ;) Because I can´t simply imagine a case where I can benefit from an axe locking. Just curios.:smile:

With kindest regards
Frank
 
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