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View Full Version : How do I align an object's base to a shape?

KaiserAdler
03-08-2007, 10:21 AM
Hy there!
I am looking for an easier way to do something that I am working on now.
I have made lots of separate decorative elements and these elements need to be aplied on a circular design.
What I do now is to take each element in part and rotate it for 45 degrees for example and place it on an imaginary circle , then take another element , rotate it with 90 degrees and place it on the same imaginary circle , and I repeat the process until all elements are in place.What I have described so far is an example for a circle with only 4 elements , meaning rotations of +-45 , and +-90 degrees for each element.
But what I am doing are circles with 8 or 16 elements , meaning rotations in between those values , of +-23 degrees , and what can I say the positioning of these elements in between is a chore?
Is there any way to position these lements easier on that imaginary circle , and to let 3D Studio Max compute the rotation ammounts and positioning for each element so they will fit on a circle?
I need this , because I need to make a lot of imaginary circles like these with elements , and right now for each new one , I have to do this manual labor each time , and it's very frustrating.
Thank you in advance!

Best regards!
newellteapot
03-08-2007, 11:31 AM
There is indeed a simple way to do this kind of tasks.

Under Tools you will find a series of useful commands. I think for this task you might want to use "Array" or "Spacing tool", but you will find the most appropriate.
Spacing tool is very quick, you select the path (the imaginary circle) and the object to duplicate and choose the number of duplicates and the option "follow".
If you have to place not duplicates but several different objects, you could do this:
Duplicate on the path a series of cubes, for example. They will come up all perfectly oriented. Then, substitute them with your objects (postion constraint).

Does this help?
cheers
Monica
KaiserAdler
03-08-2007, 05:09 PM
Of course it helps!

Thank you!
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