Basics – Move Point ?

Hi Folks,

I’m pretty sure I used to be able to get this to work – can anyone tell me how I can get the top most point in the following diagram – lined up vertically with the two points below it without changing the side of the triangle ? The point should be able to be moved up and down that edge without changing the shape – no ? I had thought we needed to change the mode to Face Coordinates or Object Coordinates – but – neither of those seem to work.. Any ideas ???

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v304/scottb613/MISC/NewMicrosoftPowerPointPresentation_zps40d1ce0d.jpg

ARRGH – we can’t imbed or attach images !?!?!

Regards,
Scott

• This topic was modified 11 years, 1 month ago by scottb613. Reason: ereddoll Value
• This topic was modified 11 years, 1 month ago by scottb613.

Scott! How’s it goin’?

Are you thinking of the “Weld-To-First (Available with 3DCrafter Plus/Pro) – Welds all selected points to the first point selected.”? It’s up in the “Shape Operations” – icon is a single point with a line going to the right. Choose your point that’s already aligned with the others (I assume you have a point there) and then CTRL-click the point you wish to move. It will “weld” your second chosen point to the first without affecting the geometry (hopefully).

Andrew

Hi Andrew,

Thanks for taking the time to repsond… Everything is well – just continued work on my first airport for MSFS…

This is a progress thread with some PIX if interested – I\’m using 3DC for all the model work:
http://www.flightsim.com/vbfs/showthread.php?259873-Improving-my-little-corner-of-the-world

No – I\’m familiar with Weld to First and use it quite often… The problem in my example – is there is no point in the final location where I need one to be… I need to move the \”red\” top most point into vertical alignment with the other two lower red points without deformation of the existing triangle… In order to do that – I need to shift said point in both X and Y by some unknown value… I had though by selecting \”Use Face Coordinates\” or \”Use Objects Coordinate\” it would change X and Y to be relative to the face… I would then be able to move the offset point back and forth along that edge without deforming it – by restricting movement to just one axis…

I hope I\’m explaining it clearly…
🙂

Regards,
Scott

Hi Scott,

I”m no expert, but……. assuming the base of the figure is in “X” axis, then how about locking the “Y” and “Z” axes, selecting the point to be moved and dragging it over to align on the vertical line below the required position. Then unlock “Y”, lock “X” and drag the point up to required position. Of course, if your sketch shows the end of a building, and the errant point is on an edge, you’d probably want to move the edge rather than the point ( if you see what I mean)

cheers

John

Hi John,

Sorry – I think my example didn’t do a very good job of conveying the issue… I looked again what I drew – there is no edge running vertically through the points – I was merely trying to illustrate that the points needed to be stacked vertically… You have the perspective correct X on bottom – Y up and down – Z you can’t see going away from us… For arguments sake we are looking at the side of a house… I guess my concern is that if the point I’m trying to move isn’t in absolute perfect alignment – the top face of the roof which you can’t see will be deformed and will no longer be a single face… I think there is a name for that but I can’t recall it at the moment – where you have a bunch of points that make up a face – out of alignment so it’s not truely flat – and – it doesn’t have the supporting edges defined to handle the curvature… Anyway – thnks for taking the time…
🙂

Regards,
Scott

Hi Scott

OK, I like a challenge ( and with 3DC’s quirks, there are a few ….). I wasn’t sure how accurate you’d need the point in the “Y” axis. I guessed there wasn’t an edge, but thought the “X” coordinate of what I took to be two points would be enough to get a reasonable vertical line. I’ve done this – out of clumsy necessity usually (!) sometimes using the corner of a spare cube as a marker to line up on.

OK, depending on how precise you need the vertical line from the base up to the (new) point on the roof, an alternative might be…… to divide the sloped edge between the existing point and the vertex, and continue dividing until you get a point with an acceptable “X” coordinate. A bit of a PITA but it would mean the final point would be on the existing sloped line. Of course then you trim off the spare points. I’ve done this before as well. Probably why I don’t finish many models I guess……. 🙂

Cheers

John

Hi John,

Thanks again for looking into this…

I\’m still beating my head against a wall.- as the above image was just an example.,, I have numerous occasions where I need to move either a point along an existing edge or an edge along an existing face – without deforming the existing structure… I thought that\’s why we had the ability to choose the reference coordinate system in 3DC – Edit using \”Standard, Screen, World, Shape, or Face\” coordinates on the top tool bar… On the sigh below – you can see where the white wood frame comes together – it causes problems in the sim as where the shapes overlap I get bad flickering – I need to modify the shape to make smooth joints just as if it was real wood… Anyway – thanks again – please don\’t waste too much time on this – I\’m just totally stumped…

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v304/scottb613/MISC/581f1b85945beceb7fa48390c17cde34_zpsfab5edb1.jpg

Regards,
Scott

Hi Scott,

I share your frustration with this…… I’m not taking much time and it’s useful to look at ‘problem’ situations and see how they can be solved. I’ve picked up a few useful tips here over the years and it seems reasonable to at least try……. 🙂

If ( a big IF ….) there was some active support here, it might get addressed, but I guess that’s just wishful thinking. A ‘plug-in’ might be the way to go – though I’m not sure I can find any enthusiasm to persue that angle.

For the ‘wood’ pieces in the second example, perhaps chamfering the end/s of the pieces where they intersect, then ( if needed) dragging the appropriate edge to align on the mating face? I guess it depends on whether you need the pieces joined or just hanging together as a group. Still doesn’t address the need to put a point or edge exactly where you want it of course.

Cheers

John

Would a shape union be of any help here? Scott could just “union” the parts together. Wouldn’t that get rid of the overlapping faces and thus the fllickering too?

Hi SharkNose! I find that the shape union operator creates loads of stray edges+faces on intersecting objects, but apart from that……

On looking further;
There is ( in v9.22 at least) a ‘Set Point’ operator ( right click , menu option) which appears to allow the definiton of a new point. This may actually be what’s needed – provided one can determine the x/y/z coordinates needed…. haven’t tried it yet, but will do so in a while……

cheers

John

Morn’n Folks,

Hmm – didn’t think to try “union” – I have played with the Boolean “subtraction” ones though – one of them crashes 3DC on every attempt to use it but I forget which one… I had made copies of the parts in question thinking I could use subtraction to lop off the unneeded ends… Couldn’t GE a clean cut… I’ll try union tonight – im assuming any overlapped portions are merged with that operation…

I’m familiar with set point – and – while a good idea – the values of the needed locations are not known in all three dimensions…

There just seems as if there should be a better way – everything woes great in the vertical, horizontal, and depth – until you introduce an angle – then it’s a royal pain in the butt…

Again – cant thank you guys enough for stepping up… This place seems like a ghost town…

Regards,
Scott

Morn\\\’n Guys,

Man – the Boolean operations are buggy but I hacked my way through it… It really seems there should be a better way of doing things… I added my white wooden frame to the component library – droppped like 10 copies on my workspace and proceeded to HACK through them with Boolean Subtraction – it seemed to work best – as I had even more crashes with Boolean Union… Finall I managed to get the parts I needed and swapped them out with the originals… Wasn\\\’t easy – as the Boolean operations don\\\’t do a clean job – lots of fractures and artifacts needed to be cleaned up after every cut – some of them very difficult to get to… While it worked – this seems like more of a kludge than the way it should be done – I really wish Richard would continue to support this product – I\\\’ve been around here since 6.x… Appreciate your time, help, and insights – gentlemen…
🙂

Regards,
Scott

Oh – also had to use that “Set Point” operation mentioned above… Some of the shapes were badly fractured – and – as “equalize” averages the points you can’t move them to a specific point – just the same plane – “Set Point” allowed me to move it to the precise locations…

Regards,
Scott

Related to this post … I’m a pro user, with lots of 3D cad experence on many programs. Have maybe 20 unproductive hours on 3DC and about to give up because of the inability to numerically control the location of objects. How can I type in location coordinates for objects and their edges?? (See how to type in sizes, but not absolute or relative locations so the results are accurate.)
Thank You – Buck

Hi Buck,

Not sure – most of my time has been modeling off imported scale drawings so I haven’t found the need very often… The “Set Point” operation proves that an actual measured coordinate system exists so the may be something available to meet your needs – ill take a look tonight when I get home… You might want to search around here from user scripts – as I believe many functions have been added by this means..,.

Regards,
Scott