Newbie Item Placement Problems

wayne.ligon

#1 The chief huge timewaster I have is the interminable cycle of: 'create object' 'move object from origin point to a surface' 'fiddle endlessly to place object exactly on surface'.

Am I totally missing something, or is there no way to choose an object surface, then have another object created against that surface? Or to place one object on top of another with a single click or something?

For instance: stocking a medical tray with bottles, instruments, etc.

There is 'drop to floor' - isn't there something similar with object surfaces?

#2 Item Rotation. Why in the world would you ever build an object and not place at least one of it's rotational axis through it's center or on the center of a surface? Why would you create it like ten inches away so when you try to rotate the item, it swings wildly around instead of actually, you know, rotating? This is a particular pain for items that are flat through most of one section - it doesn't allow you to lay something on it's side without having to use the Joint Editor. and that only works if you can somehow figure out the exact center of the object so you can place the new rotational point accurately. (Related: IS there a way of determining where to place that rotational point?)

 

mjc1016

Here is a placement script...

https://sites.google.com/site/mcasualsdazscripts/mcjdroptotop

And this one is for placing an item underneath something else.

https://sites.google.com/site/mcasualsdazscripts3/mcjplaceunder

And...

https://sites.google.com/site/mcasualsdazscripts5/mcjdroptoterrain

Ostadan

Also, investigate the Align pane. 

tristanthorne1997

Those scripts are great for placing an object above or below something. But what about a more free floating object? For example, placing a cigar in a hand. That took me 20 minutes of fiddling with the cylindrical shaped object to navigate it into a hand.

Or a pair of glasses on a head. Another 20 minutes. 

Ideas for placing objects like these? I'm new and haven't used the Align Pane. I will check that out.

Richard Haseltine

You can use the Align pane, or you can turn Parent in Place off (it's a check-box at the bottom of the Change Patrent dialogue, if you use that, or if you drag-and-drop in the Scene pane it's in the Scene pane option menu).