8

452 Chapter 6: Transforms: Moving, Rotating, and Scaling Objects
OK/Cancel Align—
The C ancel button is labeled
CancelAligntomakeitclearthatyou’renotonly
canceling the settings in the d ia log, but canceling
the origina l
transform (page 3–1120) of the source
object.
Place Highlight
Main toolbar > Place Highlight (on Align flyout)
Tools menu > Place Highlight
Keyboard > CT RL+H
Place Highlight, available f rom the Align flyout
(page 1–446)
, enables you to align a light or object
toanotherobjectsothatitshighlightorreflection
can b e precisely positioned.
In Place Highlight mode, you can click and
drag the mouse around in any view p ort. Place
Highlight is a v iewport-dependent function, so
usetheviewportthatyou’regoingtoberendering.
As you drag the mouse in the scene, a ray is shot
from the mouse cursor into the scene. If it hits a
surface, you see the surface
normal (p age 3–1074)
at that point on the surface.
When you designate a surface, a ny selected objects
are positioned along a line that represents the ray
reflected off the surface about the surface normal.
The objects are positioned along this line based on
their original distance from the surface point. For
example, if the object is 100 units from the surface
point before being moved, it will be positioned 100
units from the surface point along the reflected ray.
If the object is a light, the position of the hig hlight
on the surface of the object will be the surface
pointthatyou’vechosen.
Tip: Place Highlight works with any kind of
selected object. It can be used to move objects
based on a combination of face normals and initial
distance f rom the face. You can also use Place
Highlight with a selection set that contains more
than one object. Al l objects maintain their init ial
distance f rom the face. In this case it has nothing
to do with hi ghlights, but is simply being used to
position objects.
Note: Highlight rendering depends on the
material’s specular properties and the ty pe of
rendering you use.
Place Highlig ht aligns a camera and a spotlight to the s ame
face.
Other alignment tools on the Alig n flyout are
Align (page 1–447) , Quick Align (page 1–450) ,
Normal Alig n (page 1–450) , Align to Camera
(page 1–453)
,and Align to View (page 1–453) .
Procedure
To position a light to highlight a f ace:
1.
Make sure the viewport you plan to render is
active, and that the object you w ant to highlight
is visible in it.
The result of Place Highlight depends on what
is visible in the viewport.
2. Select a light object.
3. Click Place Highlight, or choose Tools >
Place Highlight.
Choose Tools > Place High l ight.