New Edit Tool

I was thinking about the building aspect of SL and one thing I hear a lot of people having problems with is lining things up....I know I used to when i first started....I hate doin the number crunching that is involved and the switching back and forth between objects to compare positions get's crazy...(especially on bigger builds)...and In thinking about it I came up with a solution...(don't know how or if this could be implimented but i can't imagine it would be hard.)

Let's use walls as an example....when you create a wall and want to line it up with another one across the room from it you currently have to look at the referrence object....determine the position....select the new object...and type in the 6 digit position (if you get in roughly in the same place you might only need 4 digits ......this intimidates a lot of people while building.....what if you could create a new object.....keep it selected (so the move arrows are showing)....select a Reference object.....(you now have 2 selections...one is editable....)...then you click on an option in the edit window called "Snap to Object" (catchy huh?)....now when you drag the x axis it snaps the object to the same x position as the reference....(the object would not move after that snap....no matter how you drag the mouse...) once it's snapped it stays till you turn off snap to object....if you drag the y it snaps to the reference objects y position....and so on with z

This would open up the building tools to a wider range of people....those who were once intimidated by the numbers wouldn't have to concern theirselves with them as much.....and those of us who go through the numbers would also have an easier time

Thoughts?

Maybe I am missing something (higly probably) but couldn't the same thing be achieved with the "shift-drag" technique? And the shift drag seems a little more intuitive to me. But it is entirely possible I am missing something.


What I would like to see in the edit window is an extra tab/pop out window or something that has an orthogonal view. Just one. It would have selector boxes or radio buttons along the bottom to choose which orthoganal view (X,Y or Z), allow for zooming in and out, and allow for setting the range/depth shown. And you could select and manipulate, stretch, move etc. the object in the window. This would make some modeling so much easier.

<vinny barbarino voice> I'm so confused! </vinny barbarino voice>

Val, I trust your judgement when it comes to building, so if you say this'd make it easier, then I'm all for it. Just explain it to me reallllly well when/if it happens.

In the meantime, I do use shift-drag to copy a wall, and it's great for parallel walls.. but what about perpendicular ones? Is there a quick trick to creating those as well? (I mean more than shift-drag, then rotate 90 degrees, cuz then it still has to be moved back and forth into position)

How about being able to lock positions.
You create a wall and lock z and y position when you shift and drag the only direction the wall would move is in the x position.

How about if you could drag and drop positions onto other objects? I could think of a number if places where that would be handy.

For that matter, why not sizes as well?

The Wall example is just the simplest example...yes shift dragging works....but what if you wanted to align something that was a different object....if i have two different chairs and i want them to be lined up....this would help....

perpendicular walls are a bit trickier....lots of math involved there too.....it's the math that people hate....just trying to think of ways to take the numbers out

Ok maybe there is a way to do this.. but what would make building easier for me..

Is if there was a setting/tool that you could click on any premade object, and get exact coordinates for each of the 4 corners as well as the objects center. This way, say you were putting up said walls, you could click on the floor, and by selecting one of the corners get the exacty x,y,z coordinates that you would need to place the wall. You might have to nudge it a bit if you wanted a certain amount of overlap - but all in all this would give you exact references for new objecs.

Note - I am aware that you would only get really one coordinate per corner (ie if a wall - you might need, say, the x, and then adjust the y and z yourself. - unless you could click on the new object and line it's corners up with the other object (in which case no need to resize, it's all done automatically) then you would just need to work out the z.

shift-drag using the arrows of position is really nice for only changing one coordinate value.

I think a shift-drag for the rotate would be really nice. It would be even nicer if you could select an edge to rotate it about.

I understand more of what you mean with aligning different objects. How does snap to grid work? I have never tried it, but it seems like a good implementation of 'snap to grid' would be more intuitive and easy to use. To be effective grid size would have to be easily adjustable.

Another feature that I have seen used in auto cad that could be nice is a way to snap two objects together along an edge. Select a side on each of two objects and click a button that moves one of them (the second one selected?) to join at that side, both moving and rotating as needed. Something similar along an edge would also work, although its harder to figure out the rotation wanted then.

"Snap to grid" really helps with this for large objects (on the order of meters a side). Try it out.

It would be nice if the position was one thing, rather than the three things (x,y,z) that it is now, and that this one thing could be copy/pasted. (of course, x, y and z would still need to be individually editable). (this would work for rotation too).

(Ama: turning on snap-to-grid makes the object snap-on to the global 0.5x0.5x0.5 grid. So if you had an object at 171.234 X, and moved it in the +X direction, it would jump to 171.5 then 172.000 then 172.5)

If we already have any of these and I have missed them please let me know, thanks

1. replace object with object (keeping same coordinates)

2. "Lathe" shape tool

3. multi-object weld

Would this be "LINK"? or are you thinking something different?

Thanks Wednesday, that is pretty much how I thought it would work. Except I'm kinda dissapointed that you can't adjust the grid size, at least down to .1.

I just crunch the numbers... but most of the time you can pretty much guess the number and it will be bang on.

I hope we already have this, if so let me know. Thanks:

I have 2 objects both made of 5 linked primitives each.

I link these 2 objects to create a single object now made of 10 primates.

Now if I "unlink" this object I now have 10 separate objects when what I would like to have are 2 objects both made of 5 primitives each.

If I could "weld" groups of primitives into single objects then "link" these welded objects to create the more complex object, when I "unlink" the final object I will retain the "welded" objects, not end up with every single primitive separated again.

I guess what I am asking for is multi-level linking?

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LOL, I wanted to edit this out but I'll leave it in,
- line 3 of this post:
"I link these 2 objects to create a single object now made of 10 primates".

I am picturing ten little monkeys jumpin' on da bed!

Val - if i understand what you request it would allow us to snap the edge of one object to the edge of another object. this would be a HUGE time-saver. 2 thumbs up.

Ama - you can change the grid size. when you're in edit mode, hit ctrl-shift-B and a window pops up. it's in the menus too, but i forget the name.

BP - there are a number of things that it could be used for...let the tool do the calc to make objects flush with each other....let the tool copy the x coord from one object to the new object.....so many things can be done to not only save time for the vets....but to become more friendly to those who are more 3d challenged...

(I would like to think that it would help the world to look better too....provide the tools for the box houses to become beautiful mansions with ease

Heh, we all have our own personal pet vaportool.

Val's Snap-to-Object, Sinatra's Weld, and my own... VERTEX EDITING!

Sure, Snap-to-Object is probably a more "basic" tool than vertex editing, but they should both definitely be implemented, IMHO. ...along with Skew, and axis-specific stretching of linked groups.... and more primitives (2d ones, as well)... oh yeah, and Weld, too.

heh, I guess there's a lot of stuff we could use. I think snap-to-object is something we should definitely have though. I use it all the time in Illustrator.

On a side note, I do have a question about your Weld proposal, Sinatra... what exactly would it accomplish? (Sorry, I'm not trying to be annoying -- I know what it accomplishes in actual 3d modellers or vector drawing tools, but what would we be able to do with it in SL that we can't do now?)

Catherine Omega

Here is why it would help me.

I have a mannequin "Betty Linden"

I want to be able to change finger, arm, leg, head positions to create various poses.

If I unlink the model I have to re-link every object again. With an object as complicated as this, with all the tiny parts, it is alot of extra work.

sinatra, i think you want object heirarchy, and so do i! i don't think it will happen before release tho.
maybe this will help a bit tho - you can unlink one object from a linked set. in the tool palette, click the "select individual" radio button (it's above the general tab), then click the object you want to unlink, then unlink it (ctrl-shift-L).

Yes, that is what I meant, object hierarchy.
Your suggestion will help some and will have to do for now I guess. Thanks for your insight, it is much appreciated.

Sinatra

even though you are suggesting a new tool.... I thought maybe I would point out an existing tool...

this honestly only helps now but an option for your exact placement next to eachother.

can also be used with links if used right.
hope it helps.