3ds Max 2012 Bible - Kelly L. Murdock [95]
Working with the Transform Gizmos
The Transform Gizmos appear at the center of the selected object (actually at the object's pivot point) when you click one of the transform buttons. The type of gizmo that appears depends on the transformation mode that is selected. You can choose from three different gizmos, one for each transformation type. Each gizmo includes three color-coded arrows, circles, and lines representing the X-, Y-, and Z-axes. The X-axis is colored red, the Y-axis is colored green, and the Z-axis is colored blue. Figure 7.2 shows the gizmos for each of the transformation types—move, rotate, and scale.
If the Transform Gizmo is not visible, you can enable it by choosing Views⇒Show Transform Gizmo or by pressing the X key to toggle it on and off. You can use the – (minus) and = (equal) keys to decrease or increase the gizmo's size.
FIGURE 7.2
The Transform Gizmos let you constrain a transformation to a single axis or a plane.
Using the interactive gizmos
Moving the cursor over the top of one of the Transform Gizmo's axes in the active viewport selects the axis, which changes to yellow. Dragging the selected axis restricts the transformation to that axis only. For example, selecting the red X-axis on the Move Gizmo and dragging moves the selected object along only the X-axis.
Note
The transformation gizmos provide an alternate (and visual) method for constraining transformations along an axis or plane. This reduces the need for the Axis Constraint buttons, which have been removed to a separate floating toolbar. Learning to use these gizmos is well worth the time. •
The Move Gizmo
In addition to the arrows for each axis, in each corner of the Move Gizmo are two perpendicular lines for each plane. These lines let you transform along two axes simultaneously. The colors of these lines match the various colors used for the axes. For example, in the Perspective view, dragging on a red and blue corner would constrain the movement to the XZ plane. Selecting one of these lines highlights it. At the center of the Move Gizmo is a Center Box that marks the pivot point's origin.
The Rotate Gizmo
The Rotate Gizmo surrounds the selected object in a sphere. A colored line for each axis circles the surrounding sphere. As you select an axis and drag, an arc is highlighted that shows the distance of the rotation along that axis and the offset value is displayed in text above the object. Clicking the sphere away from the axes lets you rotate the selected object in all directions. Dragging on the outer gray circle causes the selected object to spin about its center.
The Scale Gizmo
The Scale Gizmo consists of two triangles and a line for each axis. Selecting and dragging the center triangle uniformly scales the entire object. Selecting a slice of the outer triangle scales the object along the adjacent two axes, and dragging on the axis lines scales the object in a non-uniform manner along a single axis.
Tip
To keep the various gizmo colors straight, simply remember that RGB = XYZ. •
Setting gizmo preferences
For each of these gizmos, you can set the preferences using the Gizmos panel in the Preference Settings dialog box, shown in Figure 7.3, which is accessed from the Customize menu. In this panel for all gizmos, you can turn the gizmos on or off, set to Show Axis Labels, Allow Multiple Gizmos, and set the Size of the gizmo's axes. The Allow Multiple Gizmos option enables a separate gizmo for each selection set object. The Labels option labels each axis with an X, Y, or Z.
FIGURE 7.3
The Gizmos panel in the Preference Settings dialog box lets you control how the Transform Gizmos look.
For the Move Gizmo section, you can set the Relative Size of the gizmo, which is relative to the top Size value, so a setting of 100 percent makes the size of the gizmo a full 30, and a setting of 50 percent makes it 15, or half the full Size value. You also can select to turn the