Navigation plugin

Plug Ins
1

Bonjour,

I have seen on this forum several messages from users wishing to activate the Ctrl+Shift+RMB combination by default. I am also in this case.

Waiting for version 8 and the Rhino.Options.View.RotateViewAroundObjectAtMouseCursor option,
Here is a plugin that positions the camera target on the object under the mouse in order to interpret the Ctrl+Shift+RMB behavior.

Installation

This plugin is on the Yak server and is called AutoCameraTarget (Current version is 1.3.0).

image

Utilisation

There is only one command: ToggleAutoCameraTarget with three options:

  • active activates or not the automatic positioning of the target.
  • marker displays a dot at the target location.
  • debug displays the elements used for the calculation of intersections. Useful to understand

You can enable automatic camera targeting when Rhino starts with the command line in the settings: Rhino Options > General > Command Lists

ToggleAutoCameraTarget active=Yes marker=Yes _Enter

Performance / Todo / Issues

Special mention on SubD objects:
The function that retrieves object meshes is RhinoObject.GetRenderMeshes.
Its behavior is strange with SubDs: https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/rhinoobject-getrendermeshes-bug
This can make using this plugin unpleasant when there are a lot of SubD type objects.

jmv

4 Likes
3

:tada: V2 more than a pivot point

Update v2.1.0

Now, modifier keys can be configured for plan views or not independently.
(plan views are when the camera is above the construction plane).

v2.1.0-settings
v2.1.0-settings862×682 35.2 KB

1 Like
4

AutoCaperaTarget v2.2

  • Default construction planes
  • Named construction planes
  • One tool: parallel/perspective
  • Grasshopper shortcut
  • Flexible menu
  • Configuration
    • Persistent Will make the menu always visible.
    • Volatile The menu will close as soon as you click on a tool otherwise it will close when it loses focus.
    • Position Specifies where the menu should appear:
      • Center brings the menu to the center of Rhino.
      • Static makes the menu appear in its last location.
      • Pointer brings up the menu centered on the cursor.
      • Bottom brings up the menu just below the cursor.
      • OffsetX and OffsetY will offset the menu in pixels from the chosen Position.

jmv.

5 Likes
5

Heya jmv,

Thanks for working on the plug-in :slight_smile:

I’ve had some issues in testing it, as shown here in v2.2:

I tried playing with the sensitivity settings and whatnot but nothing helped.

The plug-in only seems to work as intended if I install v1.3 or earlier:

With that said, I think I’m quite comfortable with my workflow using Jarek’s SetTargetToCursor script because I’ve realized that I like being able to set a target, have it center on the screen, and then rotate around it without changing the camera target.

Though personally, my biggest reason for not switching to v1.3 (even though if I’d discovered it when I first picked up Rhino, I probably would have used it over Jarek’s script) is that the plug-in does not seem to use any of Rhino’s built-in camera rotation settings.

image

I like using the last option (shown above) since it is a totally free camera, no locked axes.

I hope this helps!

6

Hello @vcruzdesigns,

Thanks for the comment.
Version 2 does not support high resolution displays with DPI other than 1/1,
I had the same problem on my laptop.
A few months ago I made a fix on Github but didn’t send it to Yak (I felt like this plugin was only useful for me).
I was trying to update the Yak plugins towards the end of the month.

That said, version 2 doesn’t add much to rotation around the cursor and the source code has gotten really messy. while version 1 will work on all Mac/Windows screens and is simpler.
So if you only want to rotate the camera around the object under the cursor, version 1 is probably the best choice.

jmv