Page 262 - Kitab3DsMax

Part II: Working with Objects

FIGURE 7.11
By moving the pivot point of the bee, you can control how it spins about the flower.

Using the Align Commands

The Align commands are an easy way to automatically transform objects. You can use these commands to line
up object centers or edges, align normals and highlights, align to views and grids, and even line up cameras.
Aligning objects
Any object that you can transform, you can align, including lights, cameras, and Space Warps. After select-
ing the object to be aligned, click the Align flyout button on the main toolbar or choose Tools ➪ Align ➪
Align (or press Alt+A). The cursor changes to the Align icon. Now, click a target object with which you
want to align all the selected objects. Clicking the target object opens the Align Selection dialog box with
the target object’s name displayed in the dialog box’s title, as shown in Figure 7.12.
The Align Selection dialog box includes settings for the X, Y, and Z positions to line up the Minimum,
Center, Pivot Point, or Maximum dimensions for the selected or target object’s bounding box. As you
change the settings in the dialog box, the objects reposition themselves, but the actual transformations don’t
take place until you click Apply or OK.
Cross-Ref
Another way to align objects is with the Clone and Align tool, which is covered in Chapter 8, “Cloning Objects
and Creating Object Arrays.” n

214

6/30/10 4:15 PM
13_617779-ch07.indd 214 6/30/10 4:15 PM
13_617779-ch07.indd 214