Using Object Transform
- David Organista (Unlicensed)
When you want to add reliable and repeated movements to your objects, you can use the object transform panel. The object transform panel allows you type in the exact unit and number for your objects' transformations. It’s an important tool specially when building architecture and placing props in exact locations.
Loading Props
The library contains an array of architectural structures including walls, doors, stairs, and ceiling. Start by loading a door and some walls.
To load a door, from the library within the side panel, click on the “Props” folder, then click on the “Architectural” folder, scroll down within the folder until you see the “Door” icon. Once you see it, drag and drop the door prop and release it into the viewport.
For the walls, continue to scroll down within the Architectural folder until you see the “Wall 5 - 10 ft” icon and then drag and drop it into the viewport, one to the left of the door and the other to the right of the door.
For now, the idea is for the door and wall props to not be perfectly aligned to each other.
For more accurate object transformations, use object transform from the side panel. Click the 3-line menu icon on the top left corner of the side panel and click on "Object Transform" to open it.
To move the objects using object transform, you can click and drag on the move transform arrows in the viewport and view the positional changes in object transform.
You can also, while left clicking and holding the click, side scroll the object transform bars. Alternatively, you can left click on the object transform bars and type any number of your choice.
Keeping the measurement to “Feet” on the top of object transform, start by making “Position X” (front-back axis) a non-decimal (e.g., -17) for all the objects. Click on each object to select it and change their position individually.
Additionally, make each object’s “Position Y” (side-to-side axis) value a different non-decimal to avoid overlap when aligning them.
Alignment
When you want your objects to fit together continuously and without gaps, you will want to adjust the snap settings in object transform. In object transform, set the “Snap Move” bar to “1” to make each movement change by increments of 1 foot or whatever the chosen measurement is. This will help us create a wall-door alignment without gaps/overlap.
Either click and drag the green move transform arrows or change the “Position Y” bar for each object until the 3 objects become one continuous wall structure. You may have to go back and forth with the move transform arrows to align non-decimal values.
Lastly, check that the wall structure is well-aligned by panning up (“E” key/middle mouse click and drag up), and then orbiting (left click and drag down) to see the top of the structure.
Try adding different props and architectural structures to your scene while changing the snap settings and measurements.