alignment woes

[ramon]

I am working with two tools and the multimarker and I want the ring to fit tightly around the other but the problem is since I cant change views of the whole thing I cant accuratly place the ring got any ideas? http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/uploaded_from_zbc/200311/user_image-1068223760zcm.jpg

[Frenchy Pilou]

Hi Ramon
Create your first object : Mark it
Clic the Icone ring 3D, move your mouse over the first object
When you see a point or an arrow Create your Ring 3D
It will be Align with the first object
Rotate it with Shift pressed if it's not the good orientation!
Hope this help!
Pilou
Ps Use the window Preview Object of the Tool Menu for move the "Center of gravity" of any tool
(just move the cross :)

[Jaycephus]

Easy... (Well, it could get complicated if the tools' base orientations are not initially compatible with each other.)

Hopefully, when you created the cylindrical object, you did not move its origin or 'center point' from the central axis. Same with the ring.

Draw the cylinder object. You can draw it in a rotated view to see that this works, but you will probably want to draw it in an orthogonal or 'straight-up' position. To make sure that it is exact, use the shift key as you place it on the canvas to constrain it.

Add a marker.

Select your ring tool. You may need to turn off the Tool option in the Marker palette for this next step. Draw the ring tool by beginning the stroke with the cursor exactly on the cylinder object marker. This will draw the ring with the same exact orientation and center-point as the cylinder.

A problem that may occur at this point is that one object is not rotated properly in relation to another object. After drawing the object, you can go into Edit mode (T) and rotate the object exactly 90 degrees in the desired direction by using the shift key while you click and drag in empty space away from the active object. Another way to affect this change is to use the deformation panel while in Edit mode to Rotate the object on a given axis by whatever angle is necessary. Finally, you can change the base orientation of the tool and save that permanently. Click and drag in the TOOL:Orientation window while pressing shift to quickly change the orientation in increments of 90 degrees. Press the Store button, and if the object is currently in Edit mode, its orientation will be updated on the canvas. Re-save the tool to disk to permanently keep this new orientation.

Back to the objects... You now have one marker for the cylinder, and an active ring object in the exact same position. If you place a marker now, you will overwrite the current cylinder marker, and end up with only one marker. At this point there are two main possibilities in your case. You want the ring to be 'higher' or 'lower' on the cylinder, or you want it exactly where it is.

In the first case, simply move the ring up or down, and then create a marker for it.

In the second case, you need to go back to the cylinder object first. Redraw the cylinder by selecting it and just clicking exactly on the marker. Go into Edit mode (T). In the TOOL:Orientation window, the cylinder tool might be orientated 'standing up', or it might be orientated as if you were looking down on it. If the latter, follow these steps. (If the former, do steps 2 and 4 only.)

1. Use the shift key and drag in the window until the tool is orientated length-wise, either vertically or horizontally.

2. Click exactly on the red cross and hold the shift key while moving it along the length of the cylinder in one direction or another. The shift key will constrain the position of the cross to the horizontal, vertical or 45-degree diagonal axes. This will change the 'center-point' of the cylinder tool to a point higher or lower on the cylinder.

3. Click and drag while pressing shift, and return the tool to its original orientation.

4. Press Store to update the change to the tool. The active tool should move up or down when you press Store, since its center point has changed. Don't forget to save the tool to disk at this point if you want to make this change permanent.

Now, if the cylinder is in the desired position, leave the marker alone. Otherwise, adjust the cylinder up or down and add a marker for it.

Draw the ring tool using the original marker. If necessary, adjust its position up or down and add a marker for it. If you didn't need to reposition it, the marker will replace the original marker. You should now have a unique marker for each tool.

You can now select the Multi-markers tool and draw the 'assembly' on the canvas. Go into Edit mode or Rotate mode and rotate it around to check the relationship of the two objects. If all is well, you can now create a polymesh to make one tool that incorporates the cylinder and the ring.

[Frenchy Pilou]

Hi Jay
All that you say is good but...
Maybe it's a little intimidating :)
Some drawings can help the newcommers :)
Pilou

[aurick]

My experience with MM objects is that it's easiest to place the pieces initially so that that they are snapped to a plane. Visible from the side, for example. You can ensure that by holding down the Shift key while you rotate an object.

After you have placed the objects, the following process will work well -- even if they are scattered around the canvas.

Draw the MM group.

Hold the Shift key while rotating to snap the group to a planar view.

Move objects into position from the angle. Be careful not to rotate the group as you do so.

Rotate the group to another planar view (such as Top).

Move the objects into position from that angle.

Repeat as necessary.

With this workflow, you should be able to align your objects within the group with a minimum of effort. When ready, press Tool>Modifiers>Reposition Markers and then make your polymesh.

Hope that helps!

[Jaycephus]

Aurick, I'm sure you know this, but others might not.

When an object is supposed to be in-line or co-axial with another object, then you have the situation of the objects center-points being aligned in a certain axis. This means that in a certain orientation, the center-points will all have the same X,Y location, but a different Z location.

I bring this up simply to point out that if you follow your steps above, you need to potentially add one more very critical step. When you are satisfied with the positions of everything, you need to make sure that the whole MM object is rotated such that the center-points of all objects are in unique X,Y locations. In other words, no two objects should have center-points in the same X,Y location. (By 'center-point', I mean the origin of the tool, or the point in the TOOL:Orientation window where the red cross is located.)

Why is this important? When you press the RepositionMarkers Button in the next step, any markers that are at the same X,Y location will become 'confused'. What I think is happening is that certain data in the 'rear' markers is overwritten with data in the 'top' marker. Each marker retains its X,Y,Z position data, but it now has the tool and(?) orientation data from the 'top' marker. So if you just rotate the whole MM object just a little off-axis, hopefully all markers will be in unique X,Y positions. Once they are, then you can press RepositionMarkers without problems.

[ramon]

well I found two ways to do this first was Mr.Frenchy's way and the second was to export the stuff to lightwave heheh but you guys really helped me out thanks