Modeling Modify geometry Position multiple copies of an object along a curve > Examples

Move, scale, rotate, flip or place objects

How to move an object in space, change its size (scale), rotate it, flip it across an axis, or place it based on input points or planes.

Change an object's pivot point

An object or group's pivot point controls the center of rotation and scaling. You can move an object's pivot points to any location in world space.

Move the pivot point of an object

Pick the object.
Choose Transform > Local > Set pivot .
Click to place the pivot.

Set the pivot to the centroid of an object.

Pick the object.
Choose Transform > Local > Center pivot .

What if...?

] I want to show or hide pivot points?

Choose WindowDisplay > Toggles > Pivots . The pivot points in all windows appear or disappear.

Move items

Move the picked items, including CVs, edit points, and image planes.

Move a picked object

Choose Transform > Move .
Drag the mouse buttons to move along the different axes, or type location values for X, Y, and Z.
See Use the mouse and keyboard in tools

How do the different mouse buttons work in the different windows?

Drag...	In Window Type...	To Do This
	Orthographic	Move freely in the view axes.
	Perspective	Move along the X axis.
	Orthographic	Move horizontally.
	Perspective	Move along the Y axis.
	Orthographic	Move vertically.
	Perspective	Move along the Z axis.

Scale objects proportionally

Scale an object uniformly in every direction.

Scale the picked object

Choose Transform > Scale .
Drag to scale the object uniformly along all axes, or type a scaling value.
See Use the mouse and keyboard in tools

Scale objects non-proportionally

Scale an object by different amounts along different axes.

Non proportional scale the picked object

Choose Transform > Non-p scale .
Drag the mouse buttons to scale along the different axes, or type scale values for the X, Y, and Z directions.
See Use the mouse and keyboard in tools

How do the different mouse buttons work in the different windows?

Drag...	In Window Type...	To Do This
	Orthographic	Scale freely in the view axes.
	Perspective	Scale along X axis.
	Orthographic	Scale horizontally.
	Perspective	Scale along Y axis.
	Orthographic	Scale vertically.
	Perspective	Scale along Z axis.

Rotate objects

Lets you rotate objects in a scene. The effect of rotation on an object depends on the position of its rotational pivot point.

Rotate a picked object

Choose Transform > Rotate .
Drag the mouse buttons to rotate around the different axes, or type rotation values for the X, Y, and Z axes.

How do the different mouse buttons rotate?

Drag...	To Do This
	Rotate around X axis.
	Rotate around Y axis.
	Rotate around Z axis.

What if...?

] I want to return an object to its original rotation?

Chose Transform > Rotate . In the prompt line, type a 0 0 0 and press .

Flip (reflect) objects

Flip an object across one or more axes.

Flipping an object involves scaling it by a factor of -1. Mathematically, the negative factor flips the points of the object across the axis, and a factor of 1 preserves the current size of the object.

Flip the picked objects

Choose Transform > Non-p scale .
Type three scaling factors, for X, Y, and Z:
To flip across an axis, type -1 for that axis.
Otherwise, type 1.

For example, to flip across the X axis, type -1 1 1. To flip across the Y and Z axes, type 1 -1 -1.

Create a flipped duplicate of the picked objects

Choose Edit > Duplicate > Object .
In the scale boxes, type scaling factors for X, Y, and Z:
To flip across an axis, type -1 for that axis.
Otherwise, type 1.

For example, to flip across the X axis, type -1 1 1. To flip across the Y and Z axes, type 1 -1 -1.

Use local instead of global axes

Each object (DAG node) has a unique set of local axes. By default, an object's local axes are aligned with the world global axes. Choose Transform > Local > Set local axes to change the orientation of an object's local axes.

Change an object's local axes

Pick an object whose local axes you want to change.
Choose Transform > Local > Set local axes .
Rotate the object's local axes around the world global axes.
See Use the mouse and keyboard in tools

Rotate an object around its local axes

Choose Transform > Rotate  .
Set the Type option to Local.

Move an object along its local axes

Choose Transform > Move  .
Set the Type option to Local.

What if...?

] I want to permanently display the local axes of all picked objects?

Choose WindowDisplay > Toggles > Pivots   and turn on Local Axes Display.

Position an object based on input points/planes

Lets you place an object on another object or in space, based on input points (or existing construction planes) on both the source object and the target location.

Transform > Object Placement > Place enables you to position an object based on input points that describe either a single point, an axis (2 points) or a plane of reference (3 points or an existing construction plane) on both the source object and the target location.

The target location can be on another object, or simply a position/orientation in space.

If only one point is selected on both the source and target, the source object is simply translated so the two points coincide. If two points (an axis) are specified on each, the transformation applied to the source object consists of both a translation and a rotation so the two axes match.

If three points (a plane) are specified, the tool calculates the appropriate transformation and translate/rotate the selected geometry (source object) to the established target position so that the two oriented planes coincide. The source object is placed according to the location and order of the points picked on the target location.

To transform the object:

Choose Transform > Object Placement > Place
Select the object you want to position (source object).
Click down to specify up to three points on the source object (or select existing points) or select an existing construction plane.

After positioning the first point, a point locator is displayed. After positioning the second point, avector between the two points is displayed. After positioning the third point, a plane is displayed.

If you click on an object, the point is constrained to that object. If more than one object are under the cursor, the pick chooser appears. Point to the hand icon next to the object you want. Keep the mouse button down to position the point.

Use or snap to help position the points by attaching them to a CV, edit point, or curve. Use snap to snap a point to a grid intersection or detach an existing point (created through the use of the tool) from the geometry.



Click the Accept FROM button.
Click down to specify three points on the target location (or select existing points) or select an existing construction plane.



Click the Accept TO button.

After the two sets of points are selected, Edit From and Edit To buttons appear, allowing you to interactively modify any of the points on the source (Edit From) or target (Edit To) location. These buttons remain on the screen after executing the Place operation.

If the from points are attached to the source geometry, this feature allows you to adjust the placement in an iterative fashion.

Click the Place button in the lower right corner of the screen.

The object is moved and rotated so that the planes defined by the two sets of points you selected in steps 3 and 5 coincide.



Make any required modification to the point positions using the Edit From and Edit To buttons, then click the Place button to re-position.

The transformation can be undone by choosing Edit > Undo . This causes the geometry to return to its original position, but maintains the point selections on the source and target locations.

Choose another continuous tool to exit the Place tool.

The points are deleted by default. To keep the points around, turn off the Delete points when finished option in the option box prior to exiting the tool.

If the points were not deleted, you have the option of re-entering the Place tool and selecting/modifying the existing points at a later time.

To modify the position of the points (at a later time):

This is only possible if the Delete points when finished option was turned off when the Place operation was first executed.

Choose Transform > Object Placement > Place
Select the source object.
Select one of the original "from" points on the source object.

The labels on the 3 "from" points (FromOrigin, FromVector, FromPlane) become visible.

Modify one or more "from" points by moving them.
Click the Accept FROM button
Select one of the original "to" points on the target location.

The labels on the 3 "to" points (ToOrigin, ToVector, ToPlane) become visible.

Modify one or more "to" points by moving them.
Click the Accept TO button.

Edit From, Edit To and Place buttons appear.

Click the Edit From or Edit To button.
Make additional modifications to the "from" and/or "to" points.
Click the Accept FROM or Accept TO button.
Click the Place button.

The new transformation is calculated and the object is moved and rotated so that the planes defined by the new point locations match.

Repeat steps 9 to 12 as necessary to incrementally adjust the placement of the object.
Choose Pick > Nothing to start over and place another object, or choose another continuous tool to exit.

Position multiple copies of an object along a curve

Lets you duplicate and place copies of a set of target objects along curves or surface locators.

You can also specify how these copies are positioned along the selected curves and points.

The destination curves can be free curves, curves on surface, isoparms, trim edges, or patch precision curves, as well as continuous sequences of curves.

To create the copies

Choose Transform > Object Placement > Duplicate Place .
Pick one or more objects to be duplicated and placed. These are the targets.
Click the Accept Targets button.
Pick one or more curves and/or surface locator points on which copies of the target object will be placed.
Click the Accept Duplicate Place Destinations button.

The tool places a copy of the targets on each surface locator point, and, by default, one duplicate on each curve selected. Continuous sequences of curves are treated as one destination.

The target copies are oriented so that their local Z-axis is aligned with the surface normal at the point where they are placed.

Double-click the tool to open the option box.
Adjust the number of copies and spacing in the option box.





The tool preserves construction history so that modifying the target objects or destination curves (or point) will automatically update the duplicates.

Use the Translate, Rotate, and Elevate buttons at the bottom of the window to modify the position/orientation of the target objects with respect to the curve(s).

Translate

This mode is only enabled when the Specify spacing between duplicates option is turned on.

To translate, click-drag the mouse left and right, and the duplicates slide along the curve that they are placed on. You can also type the offset (in terms of fractions of the length along the curve).

Rotate

This mode allows you to rotate the copies about the curve or the point. Click-drag the mouse left and right to see the effect.

Elevate

This mode allows you to change the spacing between the bottom of the target copies and the curve or point that these copies are placed on. Click-drag the mouse left and right to see the effect.

Examples

In the example below, a cone primitive, made up of two surfaces, is selected as the target. The three curves-on-surface are selected together as the destination curves for this setup. After accepting the input, the Duplicate Place tool makes three copies of the cone for each destination curve, and places them on each curve. The Specify spacing between duplicates option is turned on and a distance specified, so the nine cones are placed in a neat 3x3 arrangement.

In this next example, sixteen copies of a cone are placed along a destination made up of a continuous sequence of curves - two surface boundaries and one blend curve between them.

The Duplicate Place tool is then asked to space these sixteen copies uniformly along the length of the curve sequence (by turning off the Specify spacing between duplicates).

You can see that the curve sequence is treated as one destination, and that the cones are placed on the blend curve so that they rotate in a gradual manner to match the different normals of the two surfaces.