Question about Protractor and Rotate tool
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Hi there,
when I use Protractor tool or Rotate tool I don't know how to position it vertical instantly.
If I wanna do this I have to make first a temporary vertical plane, then use tool on it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adjsRhtMY1oThere is some method, tools or plug in to avoid to make a plane to do it?
Many thx. -
Some users make a small cube component which they have in their model and align the tool's 'gizmo' to those faces - this can be a quick way of getting alignments; however, there are other less involved ways...
The 'gizmo' for these tools [like Circle too] aligns itself with the plane of the face that the cursor is over OR the best axial plane otherwise. So it you are looking generally towards the 'ground' the gizmo assumes 'blue' so you rotate about the 'blue' [z] axis. If you orbit the view so you are seeing more 'sky' then the color changes to 'red' or 'green' [x/y] and the rotation will take place along one of those axes. Once you have the tool the color you want you can lock it by holding down the shift-key, then it won't change as you move the cursor over other surfaces or change the view.
If you align it to a surface that is 'axial' it is colored r/g/b but other surfaces show as 'black'.
Another tip is to align the axis to an edge - to do this click on the edge and then keeping the button down drag along the edge, the gizmo is now locked to use that edge as its axis of rotation... -
@tig said:
Another tip is to align the axis to an edge - to do this click on the edge and then keeping the button down drag along the edge, the gizmo is now locked to use that edge as its axis of rotation...
This actually seems a bit "tricky" for beginners first but in fact the easiest and fastest way of doing it...
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many thanks.
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I have the same problem with circle tool.
How Can I to orient circle on axis?? -
The Circle tool will also lock onto a face-plane or an axial-plane [hold the shift-key]... but there is no equivalent to the rotate/protractor-tool's setting an edge as the axis - it assumes you are drawing the circle directly onto a face or an axial-plane.
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You can also use Chris Fullmer's Perpendicual Face tools plugin (watch the video there):
http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?t=17396This circle will be grouped however so if you want to use it for an extrusion along a path (with the Follow me tool for instance), you will need to explode it first.
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thx guys
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