Is there a way to do MoveTargetToObjects in MoI?

-Nick

Hi Nick,

> Is there a way to do MoveTargetToObjects in MoI?

Yes - use the Reset button at the bottom of a viewport here:




When you push that button, it will move the Target / Pivot point to the center of the selected objects. After that the 3D view rotation will pivot around those objects.


Also you can press it a second time to zoom to fit all objects instead of only the selected ones.

If you want to pivot around a very specific point other than the center point, you can set the pivot point to a particular spot by using the Area button on that same toolbar. It lets you pick a zoom window by the center point and then a rectangle around that, and the center point that you pick will become the pivot point.


- Michael

Yeah, but when I click reset, it does 'zoom extents' to the selected objects. I want the camera to stay the same distace, but center the object. Am I doing something wrong? This is an older version of MoI (im not at home right now).

thanks.

Hi Nick - no it has a built in zoom extents as well.

There is no exact equivalent to set the target point without zooming extents as well.

I'm curious as to why you would want to do that - why do you want to center the view on the selected objects but not have them fit to the screen at the same time? I mean if you want to be centered on them don't you also want to see them as well?

- Michael

Hey, dont blame me, I didnt invent it! LOL.

I suppose sometimes, you just have the angle and/or distance you like and dont want to mess it up.

thanks. :-)

Hi Nick :) actually I was not familiar with that Rhino command, it isn't one that I had in there originally, it was added later on at some point.

re: angle - the zoom extents part won't really change any angles, your view will have the same "field of view" and be looking in the same direction as it was previously, it will just pan into place so it can see those objects framed. But yes the distance will change.

At the moment the camera target point is not accessible to be set through script. I will set that up for the next v2 beta to make it possible to create a script that will do the same thing as MoveTargetToObjects.

- Michael

Hi Nick, re: MoveTargetToObjects - I have added some new scripting
stuff for the next v2 beta to make this possible.
The script that will do it is this:

script:var objs = moi.geometryDatabase.getSelectedObjects(); if ( objs.length > 0 ) { moi.ui.mainWindow.viewpanel.getViewport('3D').targetPt = objs.getBoundingBox().center; }

Again, this will not work in the current beta, but will in the next one that comes out.

- Michael

Michael...

could you give us a illustration in gif format ?

Hi Anis -

> could you give us a illustration in gif format ?

You can see something similar by pushing the "Reset" button that is at the bottom of the 3D viewport, which centers the rotation pivot point (the "target") at the center of the bounding box of the selected objects and also fits them to the screen.

This new script does nearly the same thing, but only does the centering part without doing any "zoom to fit" step.

I don't think it is of much use to very many people, just something that Nick had requested for some particular purpose.

Generally I would expect for people to use that "Reset" button instead of this.

If you need to see an illustration of the Reset button, it is covered in one part of the tutorial videos here: http://moi3d.com/1.0/docs/tutorials.htm

- Michael

Neat, thanks! Dont you ever want to slide an object over to the center, but retain the zoom level? I do, more often than not. :-)

Info on it here: http://www.rhino3d.com/3/bonus.htm (look for "MoveTargetToObjects", there is an animation there).

Hi Nick,

> Dont you ever want to slide an object over to the center, but
> retain the zoom level? <...>

Not really that I can remember... I guess I just don't worry very much about maintaining the zoom level.

Typically if I want to work on an object that I'm not centered on I want to center on it and also look at the whole object with the zoom-extents type action. If I want to center on a particular spot and also zoom in tighter than the whole object, then I use Zoom area to do that.

At any rate, with the next beta you'll be able to do whichever method that you like! ;)

- Michael