Placing Assets with Align and Rotate

Feature availability 🛈
✔️ Personal ✔️ Suite

When you add a 3D scene (*.max) asset to your scene from Connecter, the Integration provides additional workflows for rotating the merged asset, aligning it to objects in the scene or the X and Y coordinate axes.

Rotating assets

At any time during the merge process, you can rotate the asset around its Z vertical axis before making the final click to place the asset in the scene. To rotate the merged asset:

1. Drag from Connecter and merge the asset by choosing one of the “Merge and Place” options. 
2. Press the Ctrl keyboard button. The merged asset will rotate at 90° clockwise. Each consequent use of the Ctrl button will rotate the asset another 90° clockwise.

NOTE: You can rotate the asset while aligning it to a target object using the same Ctrl button interaction.  

Aligning assets

There are two workflows for aligning merged assets to scene objects (target objects). In the first workflow, you choose the target object before merging the asset in the scene, while in the second workflow, you can choose and dynamically change the target object once the asset is already merged in the scene. The two workflows work well together. 

The first workflow gets initiated by default, as the Integration will automatically align the merged asset to the object in the scene you’re hovering while merging the asset. To start aligning the merged asset to an object in the scene (target object):

1. Hover an object in the scene while dragging the merged asset (pressing the left mouse button). 3ds Max highlights the hovered object, so you know exactly what object you aim for; 
2. Release the left mouse button;
3. Choose the desired “Merge and Place” option;
4. Once the asset is merged, you can move your mouse cursor at any point of the object, and the Integration will keep the merged asset’s pivot point aligned to that point on the object's surface. Placing your mouse cursor outside the target object places the merged asset on the XY coordinate plane.

NOTE: Once you choose the respective “Merge and Place” option, hovering another object in the scene won’t align the merged asset to it. This behavior allows you to conveniently navigate the scene and choose the right surface and point of alignment on the target object without having other objects in the scene interfering with the interaction. To change the target object, refer to the workflow described below.

In the second workflow, you merge the asset and choose the target object to align it to. It doesn’t matter if the merged asset aligns with an object you were hovering over before the merge occurred (see previous workflow detail above). To align the merged asset to a target object in the scene:

1. Drag from Connecter and merge the asset by choosing one of the “Merge and Place” options.
   IMPORTANT: Don’t yet place the asset in the scene; you must choose the target object first.
2. Press and release the Alt keyboard button.
   IMPORTANT: For a successful interaction, just press and release the Alt button; don’t press for longer or press and hold it. 
   NOTE: It'll still work if you move the merged asset around the scene while pressing the Alt button. However, the interaction will feel unusual as the Integration would position the asset at some point, depending on your current mouse movement, and then execute the aligning process. For the best experience, aim at keeping the merged asset still while pressing the Alt button.
3. Move your cursor around the scene. The merged asset will not follow, but a dashed line will appear, connecting the asset with your moving cursor. This indicates that you can now choose the target object you want to align the asset with.
   NOTE: Clicking the right mouse button now cancels the process of aiming at a target object, and you can move the merged object around the scene again.   
4. Hover an object in the scene (3ds Max will highlight it) and click with the left mouse button. The merged object will move to the target object and align with it at the point you clicked.
5. Move your mouse cursor at any point of the object, and the Integration will keep the merged asset’s pivot point aligned to that point on the object's surface.  

Aligning with the target object’s normals

By default, the merged asset keeps its orientation along the XYZ world axes when aligning with scene objects. Alternatively, you can orient it to align with the local normal of your target surface. To do so:

1. Press and hold the Shift keyboard button after choosing the target object, and the merged asset is positioned on any of its surfaces.  
2. Click the left mouse button to place the merged asset.

Rotating the asset while aligning

While aligning with the target object, you can also rotate the merged asset. To do so:

1. Press and release the Ctrl keyboard button after choosing the target object, and the merged asset is positioned on any of its surfaces. This will rotate the merged object 45° along the world Z axis or the normal of the surface you’re currently targeting if you use this interaction while holding the Shift button (see “Aligning with the target object’s normals” for details). Each consequent use of the Ctrl button will rotate the asset another 45° clockwise.
2. Click the left mouse button to place the merged asset.

Aligning to X and Y coordinate axes

You can align the merged asset to X or Y coordinate axes during the merge process. This can be useful when, for example, you want to place multiple instances of the merged asset in a straight line in the scene.

To align the merged asset to X or Y coordinate axes:

1. Drag from Connecter and merge the asset by choosing one of the “Merge and Place” options; 
2. Move your mouse cursor somewhere close to the X or Y axis on the coordinate system. The merged asset will follow;
3. Press and hold the Shift keyboard button and move your mouse around the scene. The merged asset will follow the mouse and restrict its movement along the X or Y main axis, depending on which one is closer;
4. Click the left mouse button to place the asset on the desired point in the scene. Press and hold the Shift button to place more instances of the asset in a row along the X or Y axis.

NOTE: This functionality is unavailable while aligning the merged asset to a target object in the scene.