Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
The same rules apply to the Copy, Instance, and Reference
selections here too. Play around and get familiar with these
features, as they'll make your life a lot easier later on down
the road!
The Align button is another handy little invention.
Figure 2-37:
The Align
button
To make sure we are on the same page, create a box and enter
these attributes in the Create panel.
Length: 50
Width: 50
Height: -10
Now create a teapot and enter 5 as its radius. Select the box
you just created and, as we talked about before, rotate the
plane about 45 degrees so it's tilted. Select your teapot again,
and this time click the Align button. Now you can mouse over
the box we created and see a little icon that resembles the
Align tool icon we just clicked. Click on the box; a dialog box
will pop up, but you will also see our teapot has snapped to the
pivot of the box!
A more useful feature of this tool is that it allows you to
quickly make your object appear to be sitting on a slanted sur-
face. Check the X, Y, and Z rotation check boxes. Now the
teapot is sitting on the surface of the box and we didn't have
to spend five minutes tweaking the position of the teapot!
There are also check boxes for scale. This simply grabs any
scale adjustments you've made to the box and applies them to
the object you're aligning.