Actually ... why we really need 3d cursor in Blender ?

Support Basics & Interface
1

i’m new to blender, actually i’ve known this app long time ago, but at first sight, there’s couple thing that didn’t fit to my workflow… one of them is the 3d cursor.
The big question : why we need that 3dcursor? as i’ve been using other 3d app, the workflow is different where when you create object, u can straight pick a place to put the object anywhere then later u can adjust or move it to somewhere else. In the other hand, when create object in blender, the workflow is : i have to pick/setup place first using 3d cursor then later i create the obj on that position (this is the inverse workflow compare other app). How efficient is it? why i have to setup place first using 3d cursor? coz for me most of the time i will later move it anyway when detailing. I’ve been wasted the step when i setup position with 3d cursor. So what’s the real benefit of 3d cursor? as far as i know , blender is the only app that apply this kind of workflow… but why ? i didn’t see any advantages (yet).

problem 2 : why can’t i drag the 3d cursor? i can only do single click to set position. if i can drag it , i can snap it while dragging. It’s sometime usefull to have snap menu (shift-s) for 3d cursor to jump snap to target, but for some simple case , it will be handy to have 3d cursor which i can just drag it snap it to other object.

Does anyone have some good explanation?

Thanx

2

I don’t think you’re alone in being puzzled by the 3D cursor - I’ve never seen the need or benefits of it - but if there’s one thing I’ve really come to like about Blender it’s the ability to reconfigure so much of the interface and behaviour to what you’d prefer. Personally, I’ve disabled all 3D cursor controls and just leave it languishing in the middle of the scene, never to be used. Ideally I’d like to hide/remove it but I’m happy as it is.

I think it came about because the initial releases of Blender were trying to avoid simply doing what every other piece of software did and innovate (a commendable approach). I’d argue that thinking was unnecessary in the case of the 3D cursor but you win some, you lose some. I could be hugely wrong there though, it may be far more intentional and useful than I’m aware.

Sure, there are probably some handy uses for it (a handy pivot for lots rotation operation commands perhaps) but I’m not a power user, only doing some simple, low-poly modelling so I’m content in just using the features I need and ignoring/disabling the others.

3

I find the 3d cursor to be extremely valuable, and I miss it when I have to use other programs.

Some common uses.

  1. place a new object precisely at the cursor position, or move an existing object to an exact location.
  2. Use the cursor to define a point of rotation. This is especially powerful once you start using it.
  3. the cursor is the point of rotation for spin and screw operations (in the mesh tools panel)
4

I like the 3D cursor because its extremely useful for rotation and scale origins, but don’t like that left click moves it. I constantly find myself left clicking and moving the cursor around, and almost never left click to move the cursor. I feel like the left click could be more useful with some other functionality, however I can’t think of it off the top of my head.

5

It’s a very blenderish workflow thingie, something we use nulls/empty’s/axis’ for in most other 3D apps. I believe it’s a great tool - if you learn how to use it - but when/if you don’t need it, ignore it. I know I do, most of the time, hehe… ;D

6

Thanx guyz,

@_ghosted, i agree about the ability to configure a lot of things, yeah i love this app.

Anyway is blender the only app that implement this ‘3d cursor’ method? anyone know ? i heard lightwave use the similar method, am i right? i’ve never used lightwave before :slight_smile:

@rcpongo : Thanx … yes, it’s a usefull tools for that operation, i’m just not familiar with it. As i know and like Farmfiled said , in other app , the method is ussually using null (houdini) or locator (maya). To be honest , they’re actually quite similar and i have no complaint about it, the only problem i have with 3d cursor is : only when creating new object. Why do i have to set it up first , for me (most of the time) , later i’ll re position the object anyway. But yeah it’s usefull for other purpose other than creating new object (just like null/locator). Also in other app, if you want to rotate to certain point in space, all you need to do is shifting (or re-locating) the local axis so we can move the axis away from its origin or center and this also have benefit , every object will have its own unique axis for later transformation, i mean it’s persistent to every object… compare to ‘3d cursor’ method, which is ‘unbounded’ to any object.
Again blender is awesome app :slight_smile: , i’m just confused about why i need to setup 3d cursor while creating new object.

@jrkirby : yeah, i re-define the left click for other more usefull command :slight_smile: , i don’t use 3d cursor a lot, i just set it up in the center of my scene @(0,0,0) and left it there so any new obj will be spawned there. The only thing is when later , i need the 3d cursor for center of rot/scale, then it means i have to move it to other position, so then i have to reset it back to (0,0,0) again. It will be great if the 3d cursor don’t mix up its function as locater where new obj will be created and as center of tranformation.

@Farmfield : correct, they’re similar to 3d cursor.

Btw, another weird workflow i found today : add curve/bezier is creating a piece of curve on 3d cursor position then i need to edit (switch to edit mode) for adding points. For me it’s faster if i can draw more points in that single command without have to re-edit the curve. Does anyone ever complaint about it :slight_smile: ?

Thanx

7

Shift-S brings up a menu for 3D cursor manipulation. You can reset it back to center from there if you want, along with snapping it to selections and things. It works with numbers too, so Shift+S, 4 will recenter since it’s the 4th entry in the menu.

8

It’s also particularly useful in rigging (placing new bones in geometry) and animation (a reusable 3D reference without the need of creating yet another throw-away 3D object in your scene). I also like it for camera navigation (rotate about 3D Cursor)

9

I’m a new Blender user, and novice to 3D in general. The 3D cursor looks and feels like a nuisance most of the time, but it was invaluable for 3D rotations in a current project.

I just think there should be a way to hide it… Because even if it’s invaluable now and then, it bugs me to see it there all the time.

10

Here’s an addon that puts your 3d cursor on steroids. Enables drag/snap, history, cursor bookmarks, and more. It’s a popular script and works real good, so I’ve heard.

http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Extensions:2.6/Py/Scripts/3D_interaction/Enhanced_3D_Cursor

You have to install it yourself if using official release I think. In dev builds it’s already installed in an extra folder in scripts folder (addons_contrib) which makes it appear in
Users prefs > Addons > (Supported Level) Testing > 3D View: Enhanced 3D Cursor.

@Camilo - Just click it out of the way somewhere or even better drag one of the location axis settings in the 3dview properties (key-N) > 3d cursor panel to send it way out in space somewhere. Bring it back with Shift-C (which also changes the view to see all) or use one of the snap to’s in the Shift-S menu, or just left click in the view somewhere.

Edit: I seem to remember recent discussion about an on/off toggle coming to official release. I could be mistaken tho. It’s a full time job to keep up with all the constant development of this beast.

-LP

11

I think it’s a great advantage, it can be really helpful for placing objects or rotating (look at some tools with shift+s).

12

“REUSABLE” <---- agree… Yeah, this is a good point. :slight_smile:

btw, it will great if we can drag 3d cursor around (why can’t we do dragging ? ) … so we can drag snap to any point/vertex (while snap is active) , it will be handy to snap to element without have to go to edit-mode first. Currently too many steps for that simple thing (current procedure : go to edit mode then select element then snap the curcor to selected then go back to object mode <– for me this is too slow). It will be faster if i can do like this : activate snap then drag and snap the 3d cursor to any of vertex/edge/face , all done in object mode.

Furthermore, also it will be so cool, if we can do same thing to the ‘origin point’ . This is important, you can select and drag directly the origin point and place it somewhere else and use it as the center of scale/rotation or any other usage. it will be a great improvement and much faster workflow. Like i said, it’s too slow by going back and forth between obj-mode and edit-mode just to pick up the element to snap to. We should be able to do that in object-mode. we go to edit mode only if we really need to do manipulation on element level such as moving partial vertex/edge/face etc.

I think this is maybe already a feature request by many blender users … hope to see this in future release :slight_smile:

Andi~

13

Hi Larry, this is a good info. i’ll have a look. It seems to be the feature i’m looking for :slight_smile: but let me check first. Thanx for sharing.