Are these enhancing workflow options available in Blender?

Support Basics & Interface
1

I was wondering if the options enumerated below are available in the latest version of Blender (which is 2.75a at this moment). Due to my 2d and 3d CAD background, the efficiency, effectiveness and obviousness of such options in programs and the fact I like Blender, I am sometimes urged to seek out such options in Blender to get the job done. There may be an option or two not necessarily in such CAD software, and still desirable to have due to its increasing of work speed.

Enumeration:

  • if the pointing/mouse cursor is hovering over the 3d cursor, then, after a proper set time, visual selection, grabbing and manipulation of the 3d cursor’s position (and the 3d cursor) is allowed and possible (with some sort of good visual cue to prompt the user that the option is available to use with Mouse Select)
  • if the view is simply in 3d, whether Perspective or not (and not set specifically orthogonally (i.e., the side, the top, etc.)), you can still properly draw lines with the Knife tool and its Angle Constraint option as if the view were specifically set to actually, e.g., draw straight lines parallel to some axis (…the way it is now, from what I’ve seen, you must have a specific view set orthogonally to use the constraint option as obviously intended by a user in such a case)
  • Extend: extend geometry until a given line/border
  • Trim: cut off geometry at/until a given line/border
  • Circular Array
- option to disable so-called copy or leaving the unified object after a boolean union - Mirror Cut: basically draw a cutting line and have it immediatly mirrored so as to symmetrically cut off two pieces of an object (as though you would use boolean difference and a mirror modifier in one swift blow) (...the Mirror Cut Line has its own visual uniqueness to distinguish between it and other geometry) - snap immediately (i.e., without having to first specifically select a snapping option as usual) using certain standard and obvious snap options such as quadrant, midpoint (of circle, of face, etc.) - a User Coordinate System (UCS) à la AutoCAD (which the Transformation Orientation perhaps somewhat resembles?) - Automatic Double Vertex/Point Removal

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Now I use so-called workarounds to get certain things done. For example, if I want to cut symmetrically, I use the Knife tool and measure exactly or I use a piece of new and mirrored geometry to cut the object to be cut.

2

1 - loo for the enhanced 3d cursor addon (not guaranteed to work in latest blender version)
2 - Knife tool (K) see all options available to you on 3d view header (constrain, snap etc)
5 - Array with a rotated empty as the array target object)
8 - snapping options have to be set from options available to you on 3d view header (or disable snapping and hold down Ctrl instead)
9 - Custom Tarnsform Orientations (create in properties panel) and bult in transform orientations
10 - enable automerge (icon on 3d view header)

3

Thanks, Richard, for your responses.

I checked the Enhanced 3D Cursor plugin. Is there any chance that will get into Blender as a standard and officially supported plugin?

I saw the options and have used the shortcut of K and underlying related shortcuts a lot, but the problem is not any of that. Maybe I should have been clearer.

The problem is that there is no option to, for example, draw/cut a line on a cube parallel to an axis X, Y or Z, while you’re looking at it in User Perspective or User Ortho. It would simply cut diagonally in such a case. The Angle Constrain option only constrains according to the physical and flat 2d screen regardless of view actual in-software view. Perhaps one might say that that which I am looking for looks somewhat like Sketchup’s - what you might call – Constrain to Axis that is immediately accessible. The Knife option of Angle Constrain doesn’t do this.

Suppose the view is somehow obstructed and I need to cut quickly according to a certain standard axis and only from User Ortho or User Perspective I can see properly where to cut, then the way it is now I can’t just go ahead and cut quickly as I obviously intend to. I must perhaps first do something else or a number of actions to actually finally get there for such a simple thing, which requires much more boilerplate activity, something our society has rightly reduced throughout time, especially in regard to computer science and tedious tasks. I reasonably believe this is to be more the case with Blender as well.

5 - Array with a rotated empty as the array target object)

I will check that out.

Is there no plugin to make this more automated?

8 - snapping options have to be set from options available to you on 3d view header (or disable snapping and hold down Ctrl instead)

Hmmm. I know of that. I possibly should’ve been clearer here.

What about the specific points to snap to? Suppose I were to snap a vertice/point to the centerpoint of a circular face? Or the “invisible” midpoint (not necessarily an actual vertex/point as usual) of some face to the midpoint of another face? Is that possible?

9 - Custom Tarnsform Orientations (create in properties panel) and bult in transform orientations

I will check that out and see how that will fare.

10 - enable automerge (icon on 3d view header)

It does not work for static geometry, does it? What I’m looking for is that the action of Remove Doubles is one I don’t have to perform in order to have unnecessary duplicate doubles removed. What I’m looking for is that Blender checks whether there is any double and unnecessary geometry and that it automatically removes it without my needing to do it.