Difficult Alignment Problems

Can you provide an example of a kind of alignment or measurement you’d like to do while modeling that’s difficult to do right now?

This thread is specifically for discussing difficult alignment scenarios (sample cases). I’m developing the Mesh Align Plus addon, so I will be using any info people provide to improve the tool.

Please post screenshots, GIF’s or other imagery, along with a description of what you want to accomplish, how you do it currently, and how you wish you could do it if there were tools to do it better.

Example:Repeat a feature 5 times along an arbitrarily oriented surface

Here’s how I do it now (with Mesh Align Plus):
http://i.imgur.com/oDkfqNk.gif

Recorded clip summary:The spike is first aligned to the target surface. Next, pick a source and destination vertex to align to each other, set the motion multiplier to 1/5, duplicate the spike, and hit apply repeatedly as needed.

Please post your thoughts on this example, or provide a different example of your own.

I did some lines for a blueprint
and tedious cause I needed some constant width lines like you find on a blue print

can your script help do that
like corner or at angle and keep constant width ?

I can give example if needed let me know

will try your script should be fun to test !

thanks for sharing

happy bl

some questions here

1 - to select face you work with 3 points which is like a triangle
wold it be possible to add option to select one face instead of 3 points ?

2 - small video in first post here
to repeat object along length of other object
would it be possible to give option to simply repeat all objects in one step
I mean you already gave the number for repeat so should be possible
or option for it

I like what it does up to now
nice work

happy bl

here is example for doing an elec plan blueprint

it might be easier with some options

a ) like adding a grease pencil path then convert to a thick line

b ) line addition - like start Horiz or vertical then turn some degrees

c ) may be have an option for rounded corner or connection to a circle
or straight corner or even angled corners

I can try to give a step by step example for more details
let me know

hope it clarifies the work flow

thanks for feedback
happy bl

Attachments


by the way is there a short video for the last 2 option in script ?

and for line align is there some way to have the extend line or even intersection option ?
I know this one exist in another CAD addon but would be a nice option in your script too

thanks
happy bl

any short video for Directional Slide

if I add cube then in edit mode select vert or horiz line
then it will move cube along that selected line in edit mode

but how to use this with the advance panel
to change the direction of movement at angle if possible ?

thanks
happy bl

RickyBlender, I want Mesh Align Plus to remain focused on precision movement, alignment and measurement, so some of the features you mentioned would be outside of the scope of the addon (I want to avoid feature creep). This would be the case for constant width lines, converting grease pencil strokes, intersecting lines, etc…

Face/edge select is possible (both with this development version and the last release), but your results will probably be less predictable since the new ‘Ordered Vertex Grabbing’ feature uses the vertex selection order to orient the mesh (verts A and B, the first and second selected, on the source and destination planes).

Since the purpose of this thread is to discuss sample alignment cases, here’s a demo that uses the Directional Slide operator:

Example:Add .2 units of uniform directional spacing to an object, away from some surface.

Recorded clip summary:4 bracket objects are first aligned to a target surface. Next, we add surface spacing to each item by picking an edge as a direction, and sliding by .2 units in that direction.

As always, please share any thoughts/feedback.

Right now, there’s no feature for making a new stored edge, by rotating an existing stored edge (though you can rotate mesh geometry around a stored edge now).

I can add this feature (let’s call it “Compose New Rotated Line” for now) to the Calculation Item primitive in the Advanced Tools if people want that.

i understand that for tick line it may not be appropriate for this script
there might be something in the Archi script to work with thick lines
even if not made for that !

now ounce you move one object to another location
would it be possible to move the object in X Y Z function of the transform
like defining a face custom transform

did you have a chance to look at what Mauge is doing for an SVN for mechanical things?

thanks for your feedback
happy bl

RickyBlender, you can do this now by checking the “Use Transf. Orientation” box under “Operator Settings:” (in the latest testing version).

Also, it was pointed out that the previous workflow required too much clicking (once on each object to apply each step), so I added multi-object editing to the addon. See the updated workflow for this below:

Example:
Add .2 units of uniform directional spacing to an object, away from some surface.

Recorded clip summary:
4 bracket objects are first aligned to a target surface by (with all objects selected) picking source verts from the active item, and applying the operator. Next, we add surface spacing to the group by (with all objects selected) picking an edge as a direction from the active item, and sliding by .2 units in that direction.