Move

This tool lets you place the selected object or element anywhere in a viewport, subject to other options like snap, whether certain axes are locked, etc.

A description of the BodyPaint 3D Move Tool can be found here.

When moving objects, CINEMA 4D distinguishes between the world coordinate system and the local object coordinate system.

This distinction is especially noticeable when movement takes place in different axial systems and only the Xaxis is activated, say.

Figure 1.

Let’s assume you are moving a cuboid which is positioned somewhat askew relative to the world coordinate system and you have locked the Yaxis and Zaxis for movement. If you move within the world coordinate system, the cuboid moves parallel to the Xaxis of the world system (Figure 1).

Figure 2.

If, on the other hand, you select the object coordinate system, the cuboid moves along its own (the object’s) Xaxis, which results in a quite different behavior as you can see in Figure 2. Both can be useful but you should always be aware which you are currently using (check on the Tools menu — if Coordinate System is enabled, world coordinates are in use).

The X, Y and Z icons enable you to lock specific axes. This can be useful, for example, when you have constructed an object that is at floor level. If you now move it the perspective views, it changes its Y value and could, in the worst case, end up below the floor. By taking the precaution of locking the Yaxis the object remains on the floor and moves only in the other directions.

When editing textures, mouse movements have a somewhat different effect. A left/right drag of the mouse moves the texture along its Xaxis, an up/down drag moves the texture along its Yaxis.

A left/right drag moves the object horizontally on the screen; an up/down drag moves it vertically. Dragging left and right with the right mouse button (Windows) or Command key (Mac OS) held down moves the object into the screen and out of it.

To constrain movement to one axis only, drag the arrowhead at the end of the desired axis. This saves you from having to lock axes manually.

To constrain (i.e. lock) the movement to a plane, such as the XY plane, hold down Shift and drag the arrowhead for that axis (in this case, drag the Z-axis arrowhead). Release the Shift key once you have started to drag, otherwise the object/element will snap to the grid.

You can also lock the movement to an axis by double-clicking the arrowhead for that axis, which will then turn yellow. You can then drag from any position in the viewport to move the object along the locked axis (you no longer need to drag the arrowhead itself). To change which axis is locked, click one of the other axis arrowheads. To unlock the axis, double-click its arrowhead or one of the other axis arrowheads.

To move the selected object without its children, Ctrl-drag the object in the viewport.

Moving multiple objects

When multiple objects are selected, a shared axis system appears in the viewport between the selected objects. You can move the objects using the shared axis system or you can move the objects using any one of their object axis systems (click the origin of the object axis system that you want to use).

When multiple objects are selected, a shared axis system appears in the center.