[Addon] Easy Align


Hello,

I created an add-on to make my life little bit easier when modeling in Blender, it takes away few clicks when aligning mesh objects origins, or aligning mesh objects to each others. I’m using it in my work, whenever I feel something is missing or not right I improved it.
Easy Align addon is developed in Blender 2.78, I tested it in 2.77, so far didn’t have any issues (UPDATE: amended to work in Blender 2.80, link available below, version 1.0.3).
Please check it out, tell me what you think, and if there are areas that can be improved, I’ll make a tutorial on using it, I made a tutorial to describe how it works, I’ll try to provide a better (and shorter) version of the tutorial later.
Many thanks to everyone that tested the addon for the feedback.

> Minor update: renamed snap labels

> New version (1,0,1) added Rotate feature: https://github.com/sergeod9/Easy_Align_Addon/tree/Version-1,0,1

> 23rd Mar 2017, Version (1,0,1) edited to enhance Rotate feature

> New version 29th Mar 2017, Version (1,0,2) published: https://github.com/sergeod9/Easy_Align_Addon/tree/Version-1%2C0%2C2

Amended code to work with Blender 2.80
https://github.com/sergeod9/Easy_Align_Addon/blob/master/Easy_Align_Addon_ver_1_0_3.py

Amended to work with Blender 2.80 release on 1st April 2019. Not an April fools trick :slight_smile:
Many thanks to @AndreasResch for updating the code.
https://github.com/sergeod9/Easy_Align_Addon/blob/master/Easy_Align_Addon_ver_1_0_4.py

Fixed axis dropdown menu issues, in version 1.0.4, for Blender 2.8X

4 Likes

Thanks , works fine

Thanks for good work

Not bad! It’s reminds me of a lighter weight version of Mesh Align Plus. Didn’t mess around with it too much, two recommendations though:

  • The “Set Origin \ Snap \ Selection” buttons down at the bottom were getting squashed together. I would recommend either giving the snap_items drop down it’s own row or shorten the options to something like ‘Grid’ or ‘To Grid’ instead of ‘Selection to Grid’.
  • My other recommendation would be adding some screenshots and possibly a GIF (try GifCam (windows), Kap (mac), or peek (linux)) to your main post if you want to get more people interested. Adding a screenshot below for now.

http://i.imgur.com/BroP8qf.png

Thank you for testing the add-on. nBurn appreciate the recommendations, will work on it and publish the revised version.

Hi Georgesd,

Please, you must setup the version in the py file!:
“version”:(1,0,0) or (1.0.2) ?

And py file don’t have uppercase in name, please.
Easy_Align_Addon_ver_1_0_2.py

         => easy_align_ver_1_0_2.py

Addon is not necessary! :cool:

Thanks a lot for this plugin… though so simple is extremely useful, it transforms the simple aligning of objects to a totally intuitive act.

It would be of extreme helpfulness, also, in the case it had a ‘put selected in the center of the scene’ (in the center of the x,y,z axis of the working space) and a ‘put on the ground’ command which will put the selected objects on the scene grid.

Thank you for your feedback Fatesailor, I’m glad you find it useful.

Concerning your suggestions, there are lot’s of features that can be added, but I tried to keep it as simple as possible, I don’t want it to become a feature creep because it would become confusing to use, so in order to do what you suggested, I put the addon panel at the top of the properties shelf, so the Transform panel is just under it, the location will be accessible easily, I just align the origin of the object first, then enter the location input in the Transform X,Y,Z so the object will transform to that location with the origin at those coordinates. So please let me know if this is useful, if you still think that adding these features is necessary, I’ll give it a try. Μιά χαρά

Ευχαριστώ (thank you) for the quick answer Georgesd… I am a years long user of Wings 3D and I know how much useful is to have one click ‘put on the ground’ and ‘put on the center’ commands, they are great time savers despite their so big simplicity. They are commands that I use them very frequently. So, I would like to see them added in your so useful add on too. You can add them to the options panel as two independent buttons. It will be a breeze to use them and they will not make the plugin a feature creep in any way. But it is up to you of course… you are the author… : - )

Thank you Fatesailor, it’s always a pleasure to me to receive feedback and suggestions, I’ve been collecting some feedback in the past few days, here and on the youtube’s comment list, there are some changes that I’m planning to make to Easy Align in the future, I’ll add your suggestion to the ‘to do’ list, and try to make these amendments as soon as I can. Cheers!

Thanks Georgesd… will wait for it… : - )

Rotate Feature added to the addon: https://github.com/sergeod9/Easy_Align_Addon/tree/Version-1,0,1
Next, adding what Fatesailor suggested.

Tutorial uploaded to youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaieiTAh5ZA

Version 1,0,1 edited to enhance Rotate functionality

Version 1,0,2 published,
Added Features:

  • To World Center: Sets the origins of selected mesh objects to lowest Z, then translates the location to world center.
  • To Floor: Sets the origins of selected mesh objects to lowest Z, then translates the location to Z zero.

Download using this link: https://github.com/sergeod9/Easy_Align_Addon/tree/Version-1%2C0%2C2

Please try and feedback, if you think more features could be useful, please suggest.

It works fine George! Thanks a lot for this addon! It is great! So simple and so useful! Now everything is very easy… it puts to ground many selected objects also… so, it is a very easy way of aligning, in some way, too… : - )

You’re most welcome Fatesailor, glad it’s helping making things a bit easier, do you mind telling me what operating system you’re using, and what version of Blender?

Sorry for the delayed reply George… I was staying far from internet those days. My os is Windows 7 and the Blender version is the latest one…

Thank you for your reply Fatesailor, the reason I asked is that I didn’t have the chance to test it with a Mac and Linux systems, I don’t believe there should be any problems, but one never knows.

There seems to be a problem with Blender 2.8. I get this error when I want to align objects.

Seems like the definiton in 2.8 should be “C.scene.cursor.location”.