I have a suggestion for an additional feature that would add functionality to the program without increasing complexity.
When you use the move tool the origin point in the tool could function as a snap point, this would allow the move tool to gain the ability to become a very simple and effective “align tool”. You could for instance snap the origin of a model to the XYZ origin, or use it to snap the origin point to other faces edges or vertexes.
If a designer does not want the snap functionality activated for some reason they could hold down command to temporary disable the snap functionality.
Sketch up has some variation on this idea and it works well for them and I don’t see why it wouldn’t work here too. Honestly if implemented well you could remove the align tool altogether as it would be redundant.
If this seems complex (I assure you that is not) I have merely failed to explain the concept well using words. If you need a better explanation I am very happy to upload I video that might explain the concept better visually. In fact this solution seems so intuitive to me that I was surprised to learn the origin point did something different than what I had expected and had to look it up on YouTube to find out what was happening.
Yes, this needs to be developed. Having the ability to move a model to an origin point is extremely important, particularly when designing for 3D printing.
Hi, sketches can already be snapped to the origin if you turn on grid snapping. After there is a sketch snapped to the origin, any solid body can be aligned to those sketches with the Align tool:
I usually use translate to move an object to origin, sometimes I use align and snap to a sketch or body made at origin. It depends on the design.
However, I have noticed that when using translate to move a selection to origin, it doesn’t seem to snap to origin unless you are looking down on origin from above the XY plane, not looking up at it from below. Not sure if this is intended or not. Or maybe I’m doing something completely wrong.
I don’t think you are doing anything wrong. However, if Grid Snap is turned on, Translate can be snapped to the origin even in 3D view. Does it work differently on your side?
