I had a small need for this one, it's a bit difficult to explain...

Basically it lines up selected points according to a least squares algorithm.

You will need to select one of the 3 axes to change against one of the other axes.

In this case I alter the Z position against the X, ignoring the Y



The result is a straight line when viewed from above.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Paul Gausden,

align.jpg (17 Kb, 226 downloads)

I believe it can be used to align a 3rd point between 2 other points on an edge, knowing only the Y value of the 3rd point (creating a point on the line and pressing EZ + mouse movement can be used. However the result is not always exactly were you want it).

Paul, you meant to attach the plugin, not the image?
Thanks.

Sorry, I should have said it's not quite finished yet - possibly tomorrow.

The operation effectively averages, providing the best straight line through a set of points.

Just curious...how does this differ from the Equalize operation.

Bazza

equalize works along an axis making all the x, y or z coordinates the same.

This averages the points so the line could be at an angle to the axis.
It basically straightens a given set of points.

I'll show it's use on my blog shortly
http://decapod-3d.spaces.live.com/ (doesn't seem to be working at the moment)

OK...thanks, this could be very useful.

It will be interesting to see how I might use this to 'flatten' a plane that's not aligned to any of the x,y or z axes.

Completed (I hope)

I also fixed the "remember default settings" bug for the flare extrude operation.

Just drop these DLL's into the operations folder.
Vista users will probably need to run regsvr32 on these file to get 3DC to recognise the new operations.

With the align, you need to select a set of 3 or more points or 2+ edges.

align.zip (20 Kb, 29 downloads) Align and Flare operations for 7.1+

... and this was my reason for writing this one.

http://decapod-3d.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!6B528339820717E!204.entry

Although I'm sure there must be another way to do this.

Nice feature. I couldn't quite tell from your post, but there might be one other way to do it. But this is way easier.

There are a few things like this. I usually think of 3D Canas as an "artist's tool". Artists (I think) tend to "eyeball" stuff. If it looks good to them, then that's "good enough". I once saw a REAL artist draw a circle. It was essentially perfect (at least to my eye). It really was something to see.

I was wondering if there's been any progress with this plugin? I downloaded the one available here but it doesn't seem to show up anywhere. I have 7.1.2 so I wonder if it works with this version?
I could really use something like this.

I think I have included it in my extra plugins download from http://www31.brinkster.com/decapod

It appears as an operation button, not a plugin.

Found it. Thank you. Now I'll give it a try.