Move, rotate, scale and measure

Select a part and a gizmo appears on it: a set of coloured handles. Red is the X axis, green is Y and blue is Z. Drag a handle to change the part along that axis.

E

Move

R

Rotate

T

Scale

Q

Hide the gizmo

D

Dynamic place: drag the selected part over other surfaces

Shift

Hold while dragging to snap to round steps

Move a part

1. Select the part. To move several parts together, select them all, or group them first with CtrlG.
2. Press E.
3. Drag one of the arrows. A small read-out shows how far the part has moved.
4. Hold Shift while you drag to move in round steps sized to the model.

Rotate (R) and scale (T) work the same way. With Shift held, rotation snaps to 15° and scale to steps of 0.1.

Choose the snap step

While you hold Shift and drag a handle, turn the mouse wheel to change the step. Wheel up gives a coarser step and wheel down a finer one. A move steps through 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50 and so on. A turn steps through 1°, 5°, 10°, 15°, 30°, 45° and 90°. A scale steps from 0.01 to 1. The part takes the new step at once, and the step is kept for your next drags.

While snap is on, a small green pill at the top of the viewport, beside the camera pill, shows the step, for example Snap 10 mm or Snap 15°.

Gizmo axes: World or Local

Hold the Move, Rotate or Scale button on the tool strip, or right-click it, for a short list. World lines the gizmo up with the scene’s X, Y and Z. Local lines it up with the part’s own axes, as the part is turned. In Edit mesh the list also has Normal, where the gizmo’s Z points along the average normal of the picked pieces, so a face can be pulled straight out of itself.

Type exact values

1. Click Transform in the toolbar above the parts tree, in the left sidebar. The Transform card rises into place at the foot of the left sidebar, under the parts tree.
2. It has three columns, Position, Rotation and Size, with a row for X, Y and Z.
3. Click a number and type a value, or drag it sideways.
4. Press Reset to put position, rotation and size back.

The switch beside Reset turns the third column from Size into a scale factor. It works for instanced copies too. A scale typed for a group in the parts tree scales the parts inside it, with undo, and Reset takes it back. Tab goes down each column.

Several parts at once

The nine fields work on a whole selection too. With several parts selected, a field shows the number when every part has the same one, and mixed when they differ.

A number you type goes to each part on its own, about its own origin. Every part gets that position, that rotation or that size, and the other eight numbers of each part stay as they were. The whole change is one undo step.

• Locked parts, shared (instanced) copies and parts with no thickness along an axis are skipped. A message lists what stayed.
• With more than 400 parts selected, the fields just say mixed, without comparing the parts. You can still type a number into them.
• The Scale switch is respected: with it on, the third column is a scale factor for every part.

The gizmo helps too. When the selected parts are all turned the same way, the gizmo keeps that turn instead of snapping to the scene’s axes as soon as a second part is picked. To line parts up on an axis or space them evenly, see Align parts.

Right-click a column heading to copy all three values or paste them onto another part. The units follow Display units in the Scene card of the right sidebar.

Dynamic place

Dynamic place moves a part by dragging it over the model, instead of by its handles. The part rests on whatever surface is under the pointer and turns to face it, as when you drag a part out of the library onto a model. It is handy for putting a bolt on a plate or a bracket on a wall.

1. Select the part, or several parts.
2. Press D, or click Dynamic place on the tool strip (an arrow pointing down at a dot, beside the ruler and the pencil). The Dynamic place card opens over the viewport. The gizmo is hidden, and a thin blue box appears round the selection to show which box is being set down.
3. Press on the selected part and drag. The part follows the pointer and rests on the surface under it. The underside of the box touches the surface and never sinks into it.
4. Let go to drop it there.
5. Press Esc or Done to close the card and get the gizmo back.

A press that is not on the selected part selects as usual, and a press with Shift, Ctrl or Alt held is left alone. If the view is exploded, put the parts back together first.

What the options mean

Align to surface

On to begin with. The part turns so that its top points away from the surface it rests on. Off: the part keeps the way it faces and only slides.

Seat bolts by the head

Off to begin with. A bolt goes in by its shank, so only its head is left standing on the surface, as if it were screwed in. Other parts rest as usual. It needs Align to surface.

Land on the grid

On to begin with. Where nothing is under the pointer, the part lands on the grid. Off: it stays where it last rested.

Top axis

Which of the part’s own axes, X, Y or Z, counts as its top. It is the part’s axes as it stands when you first pick it up. Z is the default when Z is up.

Direction

+ or −: whether the top axis points away from the surface or into it. Choose − to put a part on upside down.

Gap

How far the part floats above the surface, in millimetres. A negative number sinks it in.

Turn

Turns the part about the surface it rests on. Type an angle, or press 0°, 90°, 180° or 270°.

Reset gap and turn

Sets the gap and the turn back to 0.

While you hold a part, the mouse wheel turns it in steps of 15°, and the Turn box follows. Press Esc during a drag and the part goes back to where it was before the drag.

The whole drag is one undo step. Choosing a gizmo with E, R or T also ends Dynamic place and closes the card.

Copy and duplicate

CtrlD

Duplicate the selection

CtrlC

Copy the selection

CtrlV

Paste

Lock a part or a group

Right-click a part in the tree and choose Lock, or press Lock beside its name in Properties. A locked part cannot be moved, and delete skips it. It has a red lock where its icon was. Choose Unlock to release it.

Right-click a group and choose Lock everything inside, or press Lock in the group’s Properties, to lock every part in it. The group shows the red lock while all of its parts are locked; if only some are, it stays a folder and reads Lock.

Measure

1. Press M, or click the ruler on the tool strip at the left edge of the view.
2. Click a point on the model. A dot follows the pointer to show where you will pick.
3. Click a second point. The distance appears between them.
4. Measure again, or press M or Esc to leave measure mode.

• Dragging still turns the view while you measure.
• While you measure, a yellow Measure pill sits at the top of the viewport. Click it to leave measure mode.
• Measurements stay on screen after you leave measure mode, and are listed in the card Measurements in the right sidebar. Click a row there to pick that measurement: its line gets thicker and its label turns yellow.
• Clear all in that card removes them.

Undo

Moves, turns and scalings are undo steps, whether you dragged the gizmo or typed a value.