'Slide' a vert across a face?

#1

Is there any way to ‘slide’ a vert across a the surface of specified face? even just the face it is a part of?

The way I do it now is to:

Use a combination of two vector moves (I select one of the edges of the face that it is a part of) This keeps the vert on the same face it is currently part of. But I end up having to go back and forth to get it exactly where I want.

OR

I aim the camera at the face and then do a free move of the vert. I love this method but some times I can’t be looking exactly at the face I want to be keeping the vert on.

I hope this is all clear! doh!

Both of these methods work for me but I was wondering if there was a way to do a ‘slide’ of a vert where you just select the face you want to ‘slide’ the vert across? This would be much quicker for me but I’m not sure if this is possible.

Thanks for any help!!
–Jeff

#2

Select face
View | Align to selection (aligns face to be parallel to screen plane)
Move free (or tweak)

Any use ?

pp

#3

I’ve always wondered how Move:Free could be useful - your suggestion clears that up nicely! Thanks mate!

#4

<< Thanks mate! >>
:slight_smile: - you’re welcome…

Somewhere else I find it useful
If working in View Y (say) and there’s stuff that you can’t see - like a face that’s edgewise on, then you’ve got a couple of options - tumble model, select face, view Y (again) move free or - what I tend to do
View Y
select visible edge of face
F to get face (and other junk)
delete junk
Move free the face you wanted to mess with in the first place.

Prob not to others’ taste, but it saves tumbling etc and quite useful - imo - if working with refs in ortho.

Helps if move free’s on a hkey, of course :slight_smile:

pp

#5

PP… thanks mate! …but that was the 2nd method that I listed that I use already … the prob. is I always can’t be aiming at the face all the time. But I do use and love that method!
(and I prob. learned that from your tips lol)

so there’s no slide specifically for a vert on a surface of a face?

–Jeff

#6

JeffrySG,
Are you asking about how to slide a vert on a surface AND keep it constrained to that surface? (Also applies to edges.)

Sorry, I don’t have the answer, but if that’s your question, that’s mine as well.

#7

Yes, that is essentially what I’m asking. Actually having the option to keep it on an entire surface/edge of an object would be great!.. but I was just looking to keep in on the surface of a single Face.

I have a feeling the methods mentioned by me and puzzledpaul are the only solutions to do this. Those methods work for me but I was just curious if there was another solution I was missing.

–Jeff

#8

PP: i never tried to move stuff around that way… I’ll have to give it a shot cuz I do tend to use a lot of ref images so I’m switching back and forth from Y to another view, etc… thanks!

#9

Whenever I need to slide a vert or multiple verts I do the following (note - I have “use highlight as temporary selection” enabled): right-click vert, right-click move, right-click vert/edge/face, enjoy.

#10

JSG - I probably saw ‘aim’ in your post - and thought ‘aim’ - rather than Align to Seln. … anyway, as it’s a valid approach, it’ll stand a repeat mention I suppose :slight_smile:

  • be wary of AtS, btw, as there’s some sort of bug, which seems to make its presence known after the face you’re using has been rotated (at least once?) - it doesn’t quite align (to the screen plane) properly. (if you go into w/fr, ortho and use extrude normal it’s ‘not quite there’ )

Have you considered using the View | Saved View (+recall etc, after using AtS) options - long-winded if you’re using lots of different faces, but could be useful if the (few?) faces / planes you want to keep returning to are especially difficult to select / find?

<< i never tried to move stuff around that way >>

Apart from anything else, the ‘donkey work’ time spent in selection hopping, gives the 'ol grey matter time to ponder what i’m doing next …
Presumably you’ve tried opening up another (small Geom window) where you can select stuff to be moved - but actually do the moving in the main window? (not something I tend to use as prefer single window operation, but … ?)

pp

#11

Thanks Leebert.
I finally got it.
I couldn’t get that to work with out first switching to advanced menus. Then it worked!

#12

<<<JSG - I probably saw ‘aim’ in your post - and thought ‘aim’ - rather than Align to Seln. … anyway, as it’s a valid approach, it’ll stand a repeat mention I suppose >>>

gee… I wonder why you’d think I was talking about ‘aim’ when I said ‘aim’ hahaha silly me! I guess that’s what you get when you use the wrong terms…lol

<<Have you considered using the View | Saved View (+recall etc, after using AtS) options - long-winded if you’re using lots of different faces, but could be useful if the (few?) faces / planes you want to keep returning to are especially difficult to select / find?>>

I havn’t but will keep that in mind… usually it’s only one face every once in a while anyway…

The selecting the edge of the face methond is working real well for me! I kind of feel like I might be selecting the wrong faces but after a bit I’ve been trusting my unseen selections more… ha either way I like that method now!

<<<Presumably you’ve tried opening up another (small Geom window) where you can select stuff to be moved - but actually do the moving in the main window? (not something I tend to use as prefer single window operation, but … ?)>>>

ah… don’t be so quick to presume! haha Never thought of that, but I too don’t really care for the multi-window workspace. If I was running on a bigger monitor at home I might give it a try but I’m only running 1280x1024. Would def. be a possibility at work!

thx again for all the suggestions!

–Jeff

#13

Leebert: are you talking about the vector moves? Yes, i use them all the time but if i select a face for the vector the vert moves along the normal of the face not along the surface. I do tyically select one of the edges during a vector move and then do another vector move using another edge - and repeat as necessary.

or I’m not sure if i’m not understanding you… on my version I have to… (no temp. selection enabled):

left click a vert to select
right click
right click move
left click an edge
right click to execute the move
left click to accept

this is for standard vector moves…

–Jeff

#14

<<
left click a vert to select
right click
right click move
left click an edge
right click to execute the move
left click to accept …

… and repeat as necessary. >>

Have you tried setting a vector move as a default command? (see help for details if not)

That way it’s only Cntrl + L(or M) to recall the op (once defined) - and works on all 4 seln modes.

Using Cntrl D is fine as well, but def. cmmd lets you recall the op at any time - not just immediately after you’ve just done one.

It (def cmd) was used extensively in this simple (compared with yr stuff :slight_smile: ) recent hack…

pp

http://www.subdivisionmodeling.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2014&posted=1#post2014

#15

PP: I read the help about setting the commands… sht+ctrl+L (or M) and I did that after doing a vector move of a vert. but when I hit ctrl+L after nothing happens? (I tried setting M too but nuttin)? any idea? I’m on a Mac if that matters - running 0.98.26b

also… the remote looked very cool. Actually I was looking over the whole site and there is some great info there! thanks for the resource. ( ps. it was nice to see a model from you, do you do mostly hard surface modeling? or organic? )

and also (ahem) while I have everyones attention…
What does the “power user temporary selections” option do? in the prefs area.

Thanks again!!
Jeff

#16

Def. cmmd setup:Excuse me if I mention the obvious, but at least it’ll get that out of the way?

Def cmmd pref needs to be enabled via advanced prefs page (I assume this has been done, 'cos of Q about pwr user stuff)

L/M refer to mouse buttons, not keys - again I doubt this is the problem …

I use Mirai mode and it all works fine (/32b) - with certain camera modes, user can only set one def.cmmd, because of key use for navigation etc. … combine this possibility with using a mac (i use PC) and there’s all manner of scope for trouble?

Maybe there’s something in your (wings) prefs that’s causing a problem - it might be worth considering moving (not dumping) your prefs folder to somewhere safe, re-starting wgs so it’s using default prefs?

(If not the answer, just move your old prefs back)

Sorry can’t be more helpful …

<< some great info there! thanks for the resource >>

np - you’d have found it somehow or other, anyway.

<< nice to see … >>
well, you won’t see much, as I don’t do much (atm) and rarely post what I do make :slight_smile:
I have no aspirations whatsoever to work in the industry, for various reasons (two being I wouldn’tbe good enough or quick enough…) … so there’s no real need for self promotion :slight_smile:

Am happier with non-organic stuff, again, for various reasons.

Current project involves objects with less than 30 faces. These objects will exist in real-life … therefore the simpler they are, the easier they are to make - these certainly wouldn’t win any prizes for artistic merit - but they (about 5-6 RL prototypes made to date) - or rather the function they provide - work, and provide extended functionality for something else.

pwr user prefs:
A personal taste item … luv’em or hate 'em … enabled in my case.

When enabled, they offer the option of including the last element selected (as part of a vector definition procedure) as well as executing (that part of) the procedure.
Eg
Say you’re doing a vector move and the vector needs to be specified by selecting 3 verts (want normal to that plane).
So you’d (with pwr u prefs enabled)

Select geom
rmb move
lmb first vert
lmb second vert
RMB third (and last) vert

This last rmb action executes the op AND includes the 3rd vert in the sequence - thus defining the required plane normal.

With these prefs disabled, you’d have to:
Select geom
rmb move
lmb 1st
lmb 2nd
lmb 3rd
rmb execute.

With longer vector def procedures, the saving, percentage wise, lessens - but if you do a lot of stuff where you are using 2 elements to define a vectore, then it’s useful - imo :slight_smile:

There’s pros and cons to both - a couple of the main objections to ‘the enabled option’ - by those that prefer the disabled approach - were:

Lack of continuity with other commands
Fact that user has to click on an element that’s already selected, during exit / excute - otherwise it’ll get added.

Try both (well, you’ve already been using one of 'em - by definition - but was it ‘normal’ :slight_smile: ) - and make up your own mind.

Strong opinions were present at the time - for both approaches - hence the pref …

hth

pp

#17

<<<Sorry can’t be more helpful …>>>
No, that was perfect PP. I was doing 2 things wrong… I was thinking that the L and M were actually the keys (lol) and I didn’t have the option selected in prefs. silly me.

It’s working perfectly now, and I’m wishing that I knew about it 2 months ago as I use the vector moves all the time… now just a click away… :applause:

<<<less than 30 faces. These objects will exist in real-lif>>>
This is me thinking… hmmm… you’re making 30 sided dice for you D&D games? with a rapid prototyping machine? :hmm: I’m gonna ponder this one for a bit…

<<<A personal taste item … luv’em or hate 'em … enabled in my case.>>>
I’ll have to try them both out - while really thinking about it and see what my hand prefers. At least now I know…

as always, thanks for all the info / help! :slight_smile:

–Jeff

#18

<< rapid prototyping machine? >>

Hehe … … I wish … hand made :slight_smile:

Glad you’ve got the def. cmmd. stuff sorted

<< (no temp. selection enabled) >>
Have you also had problems with this - or are you using it now?
Again, v. useful - imo.
The only(?) problem with this is if you’re using hotkeyed commands a lot, as it’s relatively easy to lose the original selected element during the sequence / tumbling.

So - if (say) you were using Extrude / Rotate / Scale to make a tail / tendril or whatever, from a single start face, then actually selecting would be better.

Again, upto you …

pp

#19

<<<Have you also had problems with this - or are you using it now?>>>

No probs. with the temp selections I just never used it. But I have it on now. Not sure if I’ll use it all the time but at least it’s an option.
I can see how if you were doing that type of extrude with the tail it would be better just to select the part…

…on a different note, I posted my Viper on another board and there were a lot of people that were surprised that I was able (or chose to) use Wings for the modeling. I was kind of shocked to hear people say that because it seems like even high end users will come back to wings to adjust their models sometimes. I’ve never used any of the ‘high end’ packages such as Alias, Softimage, Max, Lightwave, etc so I don’t know what they have to offer (over wings)… In the end as long as you can push the polys where you want them you can get the job done. I seem to use the vector moves ALL the time when I model and as long as I have them I’m pretty happy. So it goes. I guess that was a bit of a rambling there haha - please choose to ignore! :eek:

–Jeff

#20

<< but at least it’s an option. >>

Well, if you’re using hotkeyed commands and doing a lot of single element vector move ops (now on def. cmmd), I suspect you’ll find it useful.

To be able to just hover on the element, recall op via Cntrl+L (say), again hover / rmb on the move vector to execute … well, upto you, - but you won’t find me going thro’ the menus :slight_smile:

Yes, checked out the other bd and noticed the comments - not much to say really - other than ‘it’s their loss’ :slight_smile:

pp