Maybe I'm just not finding it.. but is there a way to highlight an object and key in an numerical absolute position for it?

Lets say I have a washer (essentially a hollow cylinder), and I want to put the middle of it on the axis. Since I can't drag it by the middle of the object, I have to manually move the item from where I can grab it.

It would be much easier to select an object, then type in "0,0,0" to place the objects center mass dead center on all 3 axis.

This would be a tremendously useful feature for absolutely positioning items in 3D space.

Also.. just bought MoI a few minutes ago with 17 days left on my trial... what a fantastic program!

You have _CVolume by Max Smirnov that give you any Gravity center of any volume(s)!
http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=7421.71

So that will be very easy to move your Volume(s) from this Gravity Center at any place with Move function! ;)

That certainly helps.. except when you can't see the gridlines, or need to place it a 6.2mm,5.4mm,1.0mm on a grid. :)

Hi Teddy,

re:
> Maybe I'm just not finding it.. but is there a way to highlight an object and key in
> an numerical absolute position for it?

You can use the Transform > Move command for that kind of positioning - select the object, then run Transform > Move.

MoI will then ask you for the base point - this is the point on the object that you want to position, you can snap on to a end or midpoint or you can push the button labeled "Bounding box center" that shows up in the command options area in the upper-right corner of the main window to use the center of the object's bounding box as the spot to locate.

Then after you have picked the base point, the next prompt will come up and let you pick the target point for where you want to move it to. You can type in a numeric coordinate at this point, and you can just type in 0 and push Enter as a shorthand for 0,0,0.

Basically if you need to do more precise positioning than what you can do with quick dragging, use the Transform > Move command.


> It would be much easier to select an object, then type in "0,0,0" to place the
> objects center mass dead center on all 3 axis.

So yeah, select the object, run Transform > Move, click the "Bounding box center" button for the base point, and then type in 0 and push Enter and that should accomplish what you are describing.

I'm glad you're liking MoI!

- Michael

Try MoveSliceToPoint ...but you must draw the Point(s) !
Work with any thing, lines, surfaces, volumes...

http://moi3d.com/forum/messages.php?webtag=MOI&msg=2749.36

Thanks Michael, it seems to do what I'm asking so far.

Hi,
Perhaps, i dont't understand the question... but why you don't use the script : CenterAtOrigin ?

I just bought MoI today.. so I haven't really dug into how to use or install scripts yet. :)

Hi Teddy, if you need to move things to the origin very frequently then that script could help a little bit, but for the more typical occasional use it can be counter-productive to install special scripts when the existing tools can already do the job because it just makes more things to keep track of. The regular move command is also more flexible and allows you to move the object's center to any spot you want, not just the origin.

If you do want to install the script though there is some information on how to install them on the FAQ here:
http://moi3d.com/faq#Q:_How_do_I_install_a_plug-in_script.3F

And the CenterAtOrigin script can be found here:
http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=2409.2

- Michael