Align one object to another, not 2 objects together?

Is it possible to align one object to another? As in, the 2nd object selected is static, and only the first object moves to align? This is how many 3d applications work for align, but I can’t seem to get Rhino to function this way. I suspect it might be a custom macro of sorts to copy the co-ordinates of the 2nd object, and apply them to the first object.

Thanks,
Carl

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Try 2 or 3 pts. orient

Hi Carl - hmmm- yeah - if you pick just the one object you can align it anywhere, but you may need to use an object snap to hit the stationary object where you want it.

-Pascal

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Can you expand on the Orient 2pts or 3pts please? I am always trying to align parts - screws to nuts, pipes to holes and so on. This can sometimes be frankly a pain but I get through but i know there must be an easier way.

Thanks

Dan

Opening this up again. Maybe @Helvetosaur knows of a script? I tried the Align tools in Maquetools but didn’t find answer there. Something as simple as telling one rectangle Crv A to align to the center of Rectangle Crv B.

Anyone?

Hi Alan - what’s wrong with Align? That is exactly what it should do…

-Pascal

@Alan_Farkas As Pascal said, Align has a lot of tools for this - it’s basically a 2D tool, so you need to do it in the correct view. Otherwise, for specific types of alignments, Orient works as a combined Move/Rotate/Scale(optional) tool, failing that, specific scripts can be created.

Rectangles - any closed planar polygon curve - should respond to the Center osnap.

–Mitch

Yes, understood – but there are times where things are messy, and just having a tool as mentioned would be very helpful.

Hi Alan - I am confused… you said:

That is handled by Align… where does the messy part come in? Do you have an example you could post?

-Pascal

I’m just saying sometimes I have a lot of geometry in my scene (i.e. the scene is messy), and don’t want to have to hide geo, etc – or there’s lots of geo in a single object, and it’s hard to find the center point to drag and snap…

There’s no problem. I know there are other ways to kill the cat. I’m just saying it would be a useful tool ,as the person before me suggested.

Hm - OK but… this is the missing link for me; what is the useful tool, exactly?
(BTW, Isolate/Unisolate is a great quick n easy way to temporarily simplify messy scenes.)

-Pascal

What shold i do, if i need to align center of grouped pattern to center of grouped rectangles?


Align centers command doing it right, but it moves both groups to the center of mouse cursor, while it should move center of one group to center of another without moving second group.

I think that’s the point of topic starter and i agree with him =) There should be command, where you could pick at first one master geometry (group or whatever), and at second - some other geometry that you want to move to center of master geometry.

You just need to have a way of snapping to the target center. If it’s a circle or a polygon, the Cen osnap will do it. If not, Between or some other snap might get you there, or perhaps make a bounding box and get the center of that. Select the objects to move, group them, then run Align/center, then snap to the target center.

Thank you, but i know how to achieve the result =) my question is, why so simple action needs so complicated solution? Bbox - align centers - group - move with osnap. I have dozens operations like this and It really blows my mind =))
Look how they did it in ArtCam for example (Autodesk CAM software), it’s so simple and useful!

I am confused - Align should do exactly what you are asking if the set of scallop curves is grouped - run Align, select the group, choose Concentric as the mode and snap to the center of your target rectangle.

-Pascal

What if my master object not only one curve, but group of curves - i can’t snap to center of group of curves. To achieve that i need to create bounding rectangle of grouped curves, hide them and leave only bounding rectangle, then i can snap my geometry to rectangle and delete it. It should be much easier, don’t you think? =)

Hello - if the target is a group of curves with no obvious center or Between snap point, then yes, you’ll need a bounding box - no need to hide anything though.

AlignConcentric.py (1.0 KB)

@sahasg552 - Here is a quick script that does what I think you want -

To use the Python script use RunPythonScript, or a macro:

_-RunPythonScript "Full path to py file inside double-quotes"

RH-62902 Align: Choose a target object or objects

-Pascal

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What would be nice though if bounding boxes of objects could be toggled on and off and be snapable

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Yes, that would be nice to have… my pie in the sky is that bounding boxes, Gumball, and Box edit were all basically kind of one thing…

-Pascal

That’s what i’m talking about! Thank you, Pascal!