Total thanks Mark, I had just been thinking I needed to sort out the way to shift the preset view cameras in the view tool bar to an object that didnt have horizontal/vertical orientation. I knew there was a way and I knew it would be covered in the Manual but hadnt got around to it. Thanks to that timely post of yours I am now selecting Object View/World View no problem at all.
Neil Cooke ________________________________ From: Mark Heuymans <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Sun, October 18, 2009 1:52:28 PM Subject: Re: input plane vs. view window > Where are view ports and their behavior described in > detail, where in the manual. This seems such a basic thing for me to > not understand...manual page? > Reference Manual / Realsoft3D / Models / Geometric Objects / Geometric Primitives / Input Plane , quote: "Input Plane The input plane object is a plane in 3D space. It stores the orientation of a modeling plane (=view's input plane) and the grid origin. You can place input plane objects to those areas of the scene where modeling actions are happening frequently. You can then set the modeling orientation and grid origin quickly by drag and dropping a suitable input plane object from the select window into a view window. You may also apply the auto focus tool to zoom into the region defined by the input plane square. For example, when modeling a room interior, it may be a good idea to put an input plane object on the ceiling, on the walls and on the floor... The input plane property sheet contains controls for plane orientation (HPB angles) and the position of the grid origin included in the plane. The Current property is used whenever a view window is set to Lock to Input Plane state. When the current input plane is modified, the view updates automatically. " and from Reference Manual / Realsoft3D / Windows / View : "View Camera Every view window owns a private 'camera'. A view camera stores attributes which are familiar from real world camera: position, aiming direction, focal length etc. Thanks to this view camera concept, you can 'take pictures' i.e. render images on a view window without creating an actual camera object into the scene hierarchy. A view camera is identical with the camera objects in the scene hierarchy. You can easily assign all settings from a view camera to a camera object and back. Input Plane The input plane is a flat, infinite 2D plane in the 3D modeling space which you see through the view windows. The mouse pointer position is projected to the underlying input plane. This way 2D coordinates from the mouse become translated into 3D coordinates. the input plane is, by default, connected to the view camera so that it always remains orthogonal to the camera. You can also unlock the input plane and model in a perspective manner. For example, you may want to view a room scene using a final camera view, place the input plane on the floor and move people inside the room along the floor to obtain an optimal composition. The input plane becomes visible when you activate grid drawing. The input plane always matches the space division into grid snapping intervals. You can move and rotate the input plane using the view controls, numerically from the view property window or using the popup menu. Most geometry creation and modify tools read their coordinate input from the input plane position. Certain tools (those using object handles) do not rely on the input plane, but project the mouse input to circular handles, axis systems etc. directly. For example, when you edit SDS object faces, input plane may be irrelevant. " ----------------------------end quotes I used custom input planes when modeling on a hexagonal structure. It worked but I keep forgetting the details - but that's probably me... most of the time the RS tools fit me like a glove, but this is not one of them. A little more attention to this important subject in the manual would be welcome! > as a side note what if I wanted to move those selected points > numerically in X direction by a certain amount of units? Move/ > translate numerically comes to mind, where is that? > > Holding x, y and z while dragging does affect things nicely, thanks, I > believe it was you that gave me that > > Dean Open View / Numeric Window from the menu. While moving the object (or rotating or whatever) hit 'n' and you can enter a value in the Numeric window. I use it all the time! hope this helps, Mark H
