Moving or scaling along a live object axis

You can set the Move Tool / Scale Tool to move/scale objects along the axis of a live object. Most commonly, you would make a construction plane live, but any object can be set live.

Example: moving an object along the axis of a live object

1. Create a construction plane ( Create > Construction Plane).
2. Rotate the plane.
3. With the plane selected, click the Make the selected object live icon in the Status Line, or select Modify > Make Live.
4. Create another shape (here, a polygon torus).
5. Do one of the following to open the Move Tool settings:
   • Double-click the Move Tool icon.
   • Select Modify > Transformation Tools > Move Tool > .
6. In the Move Settings section of the Move Tool options, change the Move setting to Along Live Object Axis.

   The move arrows of the move tool align to the live construction plane.

   

By clicking and dragging the move arrows, you can now move the torus in a constrained manner: along the surface in two directions or at exact right angles to the surface.

Clicking and dragging the center point of the move arrows moves the object with default behavior (snap to live geometry). For more information, see “ Modify > Make Live” and “ Move Tool”.

The geometry of the live object doesn’t matter; the move aligns to the axes of the live object.

Orient the Move/Scale axis towards a point

You can set the Move Tool / Scale Tool to transform the selected object along an axis defined by selecting a point.

Example: To set the axis of the Move Tool

1. Select an object.
2. Double-click the Move Tool icon in the Toolbox.

   The Tool Settings editor appears.

3. In the Tool Settings editor, click Set to Point.
4. Select a vertex in the scene. It can be a vertex on any object, including the currently selected object (right-click the object and select Vertex from the marking menu).

The axis of the Move Tool changes.

You can see the new axis settings by opening the Move Tool settings (double-click the Move Tool icon or select Modify > Transformation Tools > Move Tool > ) and examining the three boxes under Custom Axis Orientation.

You can use an almost identical workflow to set the axis of the Scale Tool by substituting the Scale Tool in the above steps.

Align the Move/Scale axis with an edge or face

You can set the Move Tool / Scale Tool to move the selected object along an axis defined by an edge or a face.

Example: To align the Move axis with an edge or face

1. Select an object.
2. Double-click the Move Tool icon in the Toolbox.

   The Tool Settings editor appears.

3. In the Tool Settings editor, click Set to Edge or Set to Face.
4. Select an edge or face in the scene. It can be an edge or face on any object, including the currently selected object (right-click the object and select Edge or Face from the marking menu).

The axis of the Move Tool changes.

You can see the new axis settings by opening the Move Tool settings (double-click the Move Tool icon or select Modify > Transformation Tools > Move Tool > ) and examining the three boxes under Custom Axis Orientation.

You can use an almost identical workflow to align the axis of the Scale Tool by substituting the Scale Tool in the above steps.

Move/Scale along custom axis

You can set the Move/Scale Tool to move/scale objects along a custom axis.

1. Do one of the following to open the Move/Scale Tool settings:
   • Double-click the Move Tool icon or the Scale Tool icon.
   • Select Modify > Transformation Tools > Move Tool > or Modify > Transformation Tools > Scale Tool.
2. In the Move Settings (Scale Settings) section, enter the x, y, and z offset of the custom axis in radians.