8
404 Chapter 6: Transforms: Moving, Rotating, and Scaling Objects
• Position
•
Rotation
•
Scale
This section presents these brief topics designed to
help you quickly start learning how to transform
objects, and how to animate your transforms:
Applyi ng Transforms (page 1–404)
Mov ing and Rotating Objects (page 1–405)
Scaling Objects (page 1–406)
Using Transform Gizmos (page 1–408)
Animating Transforms (page 1–414)
Transform Managers (page 1–414)
Specifying a Reference Coordinate System (page
1–416)
Choosing a Transform Center (page 1–416)
Using the Axis Constraints (page 1–418)
Applying Transfor ms
To use a transform, you click one of the three
transform buttons on the Main toolbar or choose
a transform from the quad menu. You then apply
the transform to a selected object using the mouse,
atype-indialog,orboth.
Using t he Trans for m Type-In
The
Transform Type-In (page 1–412)
is a small
dialog you c a n keep on your screen while you
work. Its contents update to match the currently
active transform and selected object.
There is a lso a coordinate display area on the status
barwhereyoucanmonitorandupdateobjects’
position, rotation, and scale values.
Using Type-In with Sub-O b ject Selection
Yo u c a n u s e Tr a n s f o r m Ty p e - I n w i t h a n y
sub-object selection or gizmo. The tr ansform
affects the axis tripod for the selection.
Absoluteandoffsetworldcoordinatesarethose
of the object’s or selection’s coordinate system,
whoseoriginisindicatedbytheaxistripod. If
multiple vertices are selected, the tripod is at the
center of the selection and its location is given in
world coordinates.
Because axis tripods cannot be scaled, Absolute
Scalefieldsareunavailablewhenyouareata
sub-object level.
See
Basics of Creating and Modifying Objects
(page 1–149)
for information on sub-object
selection and gizmos.
Procedures
To tr ans for m a n obj ect usi ng the M a in toolbar :
1.
On the Main toolbar, click
oneofthethreetr
ansform buttons:
Select And
Move (page 1–419)
,
Select And Rotate (page
1–420)
,or
Select And Scale (page 1–421)
.
These buttons ar
eusuallyreferredtoasMove,
Rotate, and Scale.
2. Position the mouse over the object you want
to transform.
•Iftheobjectisalreadyselected,thecursor
changes to indi
cate the t ransform.
•Iftheobjectis
not selected, the cursor
changestoasmallplussigntoshowthatthe
object can be selected.
3. Drag the mouse to apply the transform.
If you drag the mouse over an unselected object,
it becomes sel
ected and is also transformed.
Yo u c a n u s e t h e
Transform gizmo to easily
restrict transforms to one or two axes. See
Using Transform Gizmos (page 1–408)
.