I’m having some trouble using the Edge Slide tool. What I’d like to do is to slide the highlighted edge loop (image, below) to the right to a specific Median Y value (the edge I want to slide along is aligned with the global Y axis). The cross-section the loop is moving along is trapezoidal rather than rectangular, which means I can’t just select the vertices and manually edit the Median Y in the Transform Properties box otherwise it’ll deform the trapezoid cross-section. Is it possible to tell the Edge Slide tool to slide the edge to a specific Median Y value (and thus not deform the cross-section)? I realise that with the Edge Slide tool I can specify a Percentage value by typing in a suitable number, but I don’t really understand how that works, and in any case I wanted to be more precise than that. Or is there another, precise way to achieve what I want to do, but without using the Edge Slide tool?
If you want to get it to the center exactly, press x with that loop selected and select “edge loop”. Then press ctrl - r and when that purple line appears, click the middle mouse button, not the left. That will put it in the middle exactly.
Yeah, no, I should have clarified: I don’t want to slide the loop to halfway. I want to slide it towards the right, so that it’s offset a certain distance from the edge loop immediately to the right. I thought that because the edge I am sliding along is aligned with the Y axis, it’d be easy enough to slide the loop to the Median Y value that corresponds with the offset that I’m trying to achieve.
In loop mode, after left clicking, press P, then press f to toggle control sides. The one you want to set the distance from will get a pink dot on it, and then you can set the value.
Nice. But when you do that, it displays the length in the local coordinate system. Is it possible to get it to display the length in the global system?
I am not sure what you mean by “global/local” values . All lengths in Edit Mode are local . The Non §rop Length you see in the header is based on the actual BU units that you are going towards the pink dot with your edge . So if you want your edge to be .5 BU units away from that edge type in .5 .
I think you might have a easier time if you could see the lengths you are working with turn on Edge Length found in the Mesh Tools and More panel in the Editing (F9) context of the Buttons Window . Now when you edge slide all the edge lengths involved in the operation will be displayed and you could also side the edge precisely even in the 3D view by holding down Ctrl while sliding the edge .
First of all : when you perform ‘Edge Slide’ you see live value changes in ‘Transform properties’ tab, so with Shift-key you can position precisely- in that case it’s posible as you wrote : " to slide the edge to a specific Median Y value". Bad thing is we cannot give just offset in blender units.
Percentage: 0 - loop position at start ‘EdgeSlide’ operation
1/-1 - nearest edgeloops (left/right , up/down etc).
As ShnitzelKiller wrote there is another mode for ‘Egde Slide’ ( it works with Ctrl-R as well) and mouse scroll changes edge to slide/measure along with.
