Transform Preferences

| Tool | Transform | Increments

Specifies the default values used for various tool interactions. Many of these options are available directly from the Transform menu.

To display: Choose Transform Transform Preferences from the Transform panel.

Tool

Tool Options

Use 3D Manipulators	Enables the SRT manipulators when using the Scale, Rotate, and Translate tools: If this option is on, click and drag on different parts of the manipulator to transform an object. If this option is off, use the left, middle, and right mouse buttons to transform an object along different axes. The specific directions depend on the manipulation mode set on the Transform panel; refer to the prompts in the mouse/status line at the bottom of the Softimage window for details. This option is the same as Transform Enable Transform Manipulators.
Click Outside Manipulator	Controls how the transform tools behave when you click outside of the manipulators: No Interaction: There is no effect when you click outside the manipulator. Select Tool: Clicking outside the manipulator performs a selection using the current selection filter and the last-used selection tool. Simple Transform: Clicking outside the manipulator performs a transformation using a default manipulation mode: View for the Translate and Rotate tools, or Uni for the Scale tool. SI3D-style Transform: Clicking outside the manipulator performs a transformation as if Use 3D Manipulators is off. The left, middle, and right mouse buttons transform the selected elements differently, depending on the current manipulation mode set on the Transform panel.
Rotate Interaction Style	Controls how the SRT manipulators work when rotating: Spherical: Click on a ring and drag around the ring. Linear: Click on a ring and drag in either direction tangent to the point you clicked. This option allows you to rotate beyond +180 or -180 degrees with a single mouse gesture from any perspective.
Translate/Scale Interaction Style	Controls how the SRT manipulators work when translating or scaling: Axes Only allows you to click on the axes of the manipulator only. You cannot click in-between axes to manipulate along the corresponding plane. Axes + Planes allows you to click on an axis to manipulate along that direction only, or in-between two axes to manipulate along the correspond plane. Axes + Plane Handles provides explicit handles for the planes as well as the axes. This makes it easier to grab a plane's handle when you are looking at an object from behind. Extended Axes + Planes extends the axes of the displayed manipulator in the negative in addition to the positive direction. You can click on either side of the center of transformation to manipulate along the corresponding axis or plane.
Keep Manipulator Visible in 3D View	Displays the manipulator at the edge of the screen closest to the object's center when the object's center or pivot is off-screen (as long as the object is in front of the camera). This allows you to translate an object even if its center is not visible in a 3D view.
Allow Double-click to Toggle Active Axes	Allows you to specify transformation axes by double-clicking in the 3D views. If you are using the SRT manipulators: Double-click on a single axis to activate it and deactivate the others. If only one axis is currently active, double-click on it to activate all three axes. Shift+double-click on an axis to toggle it on or off individually. (If it is the only active axis, it will be deactivated and both of the other two axes will be activated). If you are not using the SRT manipulators: Double-click a mouse button to activate a single axis and deactivate the others: use the left mouse button for the X axis, the middle mouse button for the Y axis, and the right mouse button for the Z axis. Double-click a different mouse button to activate only the corresponding axis. Double-click the same mouse button to reactivate all three mouse buttons.
Translate/Move in XYZ Along Cursor Direction	Controls how mouse movement is interpreted when translating elements or moving points in one of the XYZ manipulation modes (Global, Local, Par, Obj, and Ref). If this option is off, then moving the mouse to the right or up increases values, and moving the mouse to the left or down decreases them. For example, if you press the right mouse-button to translate an object along the Z axis and drag the mouse up in the Top view, the object moves down (in the positive Z direction). If this option is on, then the object always moves in the direction you move the mouse.
Show Axes of Active Transform	Toggles the automatic display of visual cues for transformation whenever a transform tool is active. This option has no effect if Use 3D Manipulators is on.
Show Points in Move Point Tool	Controls the display of points when using the Move Point and Weld Point tools. This does not affect the Tweak Component tool.
Show Proportional Falloff	Controls the display of highlighted components when using Proportional modeling.
Move Point Pick Size	The tolerance in pixels for picking components when using the Move Point and Weld Point tools. A component is considered to be "under" the mouse pointer if it is within this distance. Note that this is the radius for picking the point to move by dragging, not the radius for picking the point to snap to and weld. That radius uses the Region Size set in your Tools > Snap preferences (Snap Snap Region Size or Snap Options). See Snapping Preferences.

Transform Axis Display

Size %	Sets the size of the transformation axes in the viewport.
Hide Transform Axes During Interaction	Completely hides the transform axes as you manipulate. This is useful when performing fine positioning or work where the manipulators can obstruct the geometry.
Show Selected Axes Only During Interaction	Controls whether all axes or only the ones that are modified are displayed while transforming interactively.
Show Initial Transform During Interaction	Leaves a ghosted, gray set of axes in the original location of the element to serve as a visual reference when translating or scaling.
Show Multiple Transform Axes	Shows one set of visual cues for each element in the selection that has a different reference frame. This option can be useful if you are manipulating multiple elements in their separate local reference frames, but it can also clutter the viewports if many elements are selected. This option has no effect if Use 3D Manipulators is on.

Transform

Transform Options

Modify Object Pivot	Modifies the object pivot when Alt+clicking while a transform tool is active. The object pivot is used for storing and playing back local transformation animation, and is also the object's default pivot for manipulation. When this option is off, Alt+clicking modifies the tool pivot used for interactive manipulation only. This option is also available on the Transform menu.
Transform Hidden Objects	Allows hidden objects to be transformed. Turning this option off prevents you from accidentally selecting and transforming hidden objects without realizing it. Turning it on makes it easier to work with transform groups, as well as hidden objects that are inputs for modeling operations.
Collapse Points For Snapping/Absolute Translation	Allows multiple selected points to snap to a single location when translating with Snap on or when typing values directly in the Transform panel. When this option is off, points keep their relative distances to each other and are never collapsed even when COG is off and Snap is on.
Transform Components Independently in Local Mode	Controls how adjacent components are scaled, rotated, and translated in Local mode. When off, adjacent components are transformed according to their averaged reference frame in Local mode. Each disjoint cluster of connected components is treated separately and a single MoveComponent operator is applied per cluster. When on, adjacent components are not treated as a single cluster in Local mode. Instead, each component is transformed separately according to its individual reference frame, one after the other, and a separate MoveComponent operator is applied for each component. Because the transformations are applied sequentially when Transform Local Components Independently is on, the local reference frame of one component may change before it gets transformed. This means that you might not get good results in some situations, such as when scaling edges, and so on. When COG is on, it always takes precedence: all components are treated as a single cluster, whether adjacent or not, and a single MoveComponent operator is applied.

Transform Setup Options

Enable Transform Setups

When off, ignores any Transform Setup properties you may have applied to specific objects using Get Property Transform Setup.

Enable for 3D Supra Selection Only

Controls the behavior when selecting objects that have Transform Setup properties using the Select tool in sticky mode in the 3D views:

When this option is on, the Transform Setup property is ignored when you use the Select tool in sticky mode in the 3D views. This allows you to easily select multiple objects without having the current tool change as you work. The Transform Setup property is still used when you select objects in any other way: using the Select tool in supra mode in the 3D views; using the explorer, schematic, or spreadsheet views; typing a name in the box on the Select panel; running a script command; and so on.
When this option is off, the Transform Setup property is always used and the current tool automatically changes no matter how you select an object.

Marking Options

Automark Active Transform Axes

Automatically marks only the transformation parameters that correspond to the selected axis buttons on the Transform panel (such as only the Rotation's Y button), regardless of the current transformation manipulation mode.

Automark Global Transforms

Automatically marks the global transformation parameters when you are using the Global manipulation mode.

KDisplay Global Coordinates in View Mode

Controls whether the rotation and translation values displayed in the Transform panel are global (relative to the scene) or local (relative to the parent's center) in View manipulation mode. This affects not only the displayed values, but also the effect of new values that you type into the boxes.

When this option is on, the translation and rotation values displayed in the Transform panel are relative to the scene origin (global). In addition, if Transform > Automark Global Transforms is also on, then global transformation parameters are automatically marked when you activate the Translate or Rotate tool in View mode.
When this option is off, the translation and rotation values displayed in the Transform panel are relative to the object's parent (local).

Increments

Snap Increments

Translate	Incremental distance to snap while translating with the Shift key pressed, in Softimage units.
Rotate (degrees)	Incremental angle to snap while rotating with the Shift key pressed, in degrees. These values affect other tools that use rotation increments, including the Knife and Add Edge tools.
Scale	Increment of the scaling factor to snap to while scaling with the Ctrl key pressed.

SRT Increments

Sets the speed of interaction when using the transformation tools. These values apply when Use 3D Manipulators is off or when Click Outside Manipulator is set to SI3D-style Transform. The Scale, Rotate, and Translate values are used when multiple axes are active. The Slow, Medium, and Fast values are used by the left, middle, and right mouse buttons when a single axis is active. All values are relative.