Moving on a specific axis
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I know the Shift key allows one to lock onto a specific axis once one starts moving a model, however, is it possible to lock the axis BEFORE one starts moving? I'm currently moving a house model up along the blue axis to reduce the amount of excavation on a slope. After selecting the entire model I lock on with the Move tool and then start moving up. Before it finally moves on the blue axis it tries to move along the red and green axis. Is this normal? Once it locks on the blue axis does it disregard the previous movement in the red and green direction?
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Hi Ralf,
Use the arrow keys to lock the Movement (and some other operation) on a specific axis.
Up/Down = Z
Left = Y
Right = XYou can press the arrows right after you selected the Move tool - two, little circles will appear next to it.
Occasionally you may notice that something (a group or component) simply does not want to move off a certain plane. This is because it is "glued" to it (the same feature as with window components that "snap" and "glue" to wall faces). In this case, right click and "Unglue" the group/component to be able to move it in another direction than just on that plane.
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One little tidbit to add to Csaba's excellent info: You ask if it is normal for the Move to start along the red axis before you get it going along the blue. "Normal" probably isn't the right word but it isn't unusual. It depends upon the camera's point of view. Assuming you don't have glued components as Csaba was referring to, you can make it less likely to move along the red or green axis by orbiting to a lower point of view. Even if you do get things started in the red direction before shifting to the desired blue direction, once things are moving in the blue direction, there won't be any lateral shift down the red axis anyaway.
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Of course, once you have the object moving on axis you can type a specific distance in the VCB.
Also, if you happen to know the distance you need to move, you could construct outside the group you are moving, a line at the starting elevation and a line at the destination, select the group and move it by clicking an endpoint on the start line and then an endpoint on the destination line, as an example.
One thing to note: Any constructions in the background on the way along the z axis will cause the inference feature to jump to those constructions, as I am sure you have already noticed. But if you were to use the above technique, or the ones presented by Gaieus and Dave, there should be no problems. -
Thanks guys, works like a charm!
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Thank you. I was wondering the same thing. A GLOBAL THANK YOU to Gaius, Dav R., Solo, mitcorb, and many others I'm still getting to know, for all the time and effort taken to give advice and help. My daily routine nowadays is to read the Newbie Forums.
My 2 cents...
Using the Move Tool, I've found that I can press the Arrow Keys after clicking , but before dragging with the mouse/touchpad, to keep movement to one axis.
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In fat, you can press the arrow key any time - even after you started the move. First it does not seem to take effect but when you move your mouse a bit again, it will "jump" to that direction.
So there is no problem if you forget first.
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