As a 3D scene designer, consider these tips to create your scenes faster, more easily, and more accurately.
Use the Origin
Organize your mesh work about the scene origin.
As you work on meshes, try to keep them close to the origin of the scene [0,0,0]. That’s where the 3 colored axes cross, defining the center of the scene. This can make your design work easier, especially when nesting scenes.
Learn how to change the origin and pivot of your meshes.
You can move the origin and pivot of any mesh to make it easier to use. Learn more about changing the origin and pivot.
Use Temporary Groups
Create a group to align meshes near the origin for easier work, then delete the group when your work is done.
The origin of the scene at position [0,0,0] is often the default point about which you, the scene designer, move and zoom. When editing features, for example, you will note that meshes closer to the origin are often easier to manipulate.
If you need to work on a mesh that’s farther away from the origin, try temporarily moving it to the origin to complete your work – then return it exactly where it was before – with a technique based on a temporary group.
Use views
Reset Origin on Some Imported Geometry
Hide other meshes that are unrelated to your work: it’ll make your task easier.
Create a new temporary positioning group in the design tree by selecting meshescreate group.
In the explorer, find the mesh you want to edit which is too far away from the origin. Drag it’s entry in the explorer into the group. You’ll see it now appear nested within that group.
Select the group (not the mesh), and use the move gizmo to move the group’s position such that the mesh inside it moves close to the origin. Note that the mesh’s original position vector is not edited.
Now that the mesh is close to the origin, make your edits to the mesh, or add features to it.
When done, find the mesh in the design tree, and move the mesh out of the group. In the 3D scene, note how the mesh immediately returns to its precise original position.
Delete the temporary group.
Your updated mesh is back exactly where it should be.
Restore the visibility of those other meshes you hid in step 1. (Or leave them hidden, and use Snap to make them visible when necessary.)
To help you align objects precisely, don't forget you can change from the default view.
Use one of the orthogonal perspectives when selecting vertices; it helps select just the vertices you're looking for. Using only the default isometric view can lead to accidentally selecting unwanted vertices behind the ones you're interested in.
When you create a new mesh, it always appears the same way: the origin of the mesh will be placed at the origin of the scene.
However, when importing geometry into a new mesh, the origin of this new mesh may be in a strange place. For example, a mesh you import from a CAD file may have the origin 30 meters to the left. Or a mesh of a tree you bought online may have the origin set well below the roots of the tree. Since the origin of the new object is always placed at the origin of the scene, this may mean the mesh itself may be so far away from the origin that it does not appear at all.
If you’ve imported a mesh, and it appears in the node tree but not in the scene, this may be the source of your problem. You have a number of ways to resolve this.
Move the invisible mesh to the origin.
Right-click the mesh’s name in the explorer, then select “Center Geometry to Origin”.
Select the imported mesh in the node tree, and use the properties to temporarily scale it down.
Select the imported mesh in the node tree,then click the “frame scene” button, to position the camera so the mesh is visible.
