Newb question; rezzing alignment

I'm very new to second life and recently after starting to build something I had to go so I had saved the collection of prims I was attempting to piece together. Later I come back and drag the object group out to rez it so I can then start working on it again; though only to find when I tried adding new prims to it that they wouldn't align with my pre-existing rezzed structure I had just put out.

I tried many things such as highlighting all the objects and using the positioning tool on the build window to move them to even grid increments and then again to try and duplicate objects and re align using the grid only to find they would never be perfect like it was when I first started building it, always overlapping or containing gaps.

On top of that I tried snapping it to the grid (shift-x I think), though that didn't work either.

So any of you guys know what I'm talking about and what the problem is? Because I'd really hate to have to start and complete a build in one sitting.

Thanks

I've found that when I've left a project undone and come back to work some more it's best to select the whole build and unlink it to work further. The edit linked prims seems to give me problems with alignment too. Unlink while you work then relink when you are done or leave again.

I'm making the assumption that you linked the objects before you left.

I think you misunderstood, though I know I didnt explain very well so I'll try again. What I did was I took my partially completed build and put it into my inventory so I could rez it again for future addons. Though when I rez'd it again where I would encounter problems aligning new prims to the build I had just newly rez'd from my inventory.

I only linked the prims when I tried to realign my rez'd structure to the grid to see if that would help; which it didn't ):

Defcon, I'm pretty sure I understood you; not sure I can help though

The problem, as I understand it, is that when you rez and move around a group of unlinked prims trying to align them to the grid again, SL tries to align them based on the center of gravity of the whole group - so the individual prims don't end up aligned with the grid like you want. When you move a linked set around, though, the root prim of the linkset is what snaps to the grid lines, and if you're "building by the numbers" then all the other prims will end up on grid lines too.

So the best solution is to link everything together before picking it up, or at least link things into a few manageable chunks. Then it's a simple matter to get them lined up again later. I'm not sure what to do with your current build though, short of setting some corner or edge piece where you want it and going through all the rest of the prims one by one Perhaps someone will have a better idea.

Hmmmm.. Peggy was making a natural assumption. If I were working on something and couldn't just leave it on the ground until the next time I was in, I would probably link the parts before saving it too. It's sort of a reflex action. It just feels right to save one object instead of a collection of unlinked prims. If you haven't been doing that, perhaps it's the root of your problem. Just don't ask me for an explanation.

I'm not sure if I linked them but I know I did highlight them all so theyd transfer to my inventory as one single object.

If I came off as rude to peggy I apologize; I was just acknowledging that my explanation was probably a bit hard to understand and I probably could have explained the situation better.

But Ill try linking it all, just for kicks.

i know this problem like the back of my hand.

the previous statement about the center of gravity is partway true

the position of your prims is determined by the prim that was last selected when you took it into your inventory.
think a root prim but un-linked.
the properties of this alignment still matter.
if you selected a certain prim last its postion on the grid will the "local" postion.


heres a suggestion

normally this is how i build

when working on a building i place a perfectly aligned central prim and then i start to build around it while keeping the prims a bit offset to the grid so the gaps and stuff are gone.

when i take it back in to my inventory i link everything to the central prim and that central prim only.

this way when i rez all the link and positions will be perfect and i can realign to the grid.
with no problems.