topic How can I adjust distance gap between groups / elements? in 3ds Max Forum

How can I adjust distance gap between groups / elements?

trpld_ss — Fri, 27 May 2022 18:35:42 GMT

Hello!

I'm trying to adjust distance between groups / elements.

Is there any possible way though...?

For single objects, there's a script called Scale Move Tool by Joel Hewitt

I have no idea how to achieve this for groups or elements.

I can't use scale because it ruins the meshes' scale obviously.

For the stairs, it's one mesh and I want each element inside to have some gaps between.

I scaled it down in the screenshot to demonstrate, but I want them to be the exact same size.

For the groups example, the same logic is applied.

I want to adjust only the distance without ruining their sizes.

I would be appreciative for any solutions!

Thank you.

Re: How can I adjust distance gap between groups / elements?

10DSpace — Fri, 27 May 2022 22:02:21 GMT

Have a look at the Max Spacing Tool.

Re: How can I adjust distance gap between groups / elements?

trpld_ss — Sat, 28 May 2022 08:18:19 GMT

Thank you for the suggestion but 3ds Max's spacing tool is more of a clone tool not for adjusting distance/spacing.

Re: How can I adjust distance gap between groups / elements?

10DSpace — Sat, 28 May 2022 13:48:18 GMT

@trpld_ss

Sorry, my mistake. Brain freeze on my part re spacing tool vs what you want.

I know of no "Distribute Evenly" function native to Max for elements or for objects/groups. But with a little math and some creativity there is a script I found called distributeselection.ms that can avoid needing to do the task completely manually.

The script is here: http://www.scriptspot.com/3ds-max/scripts/distribute-selection-0

The script will distribute a selected group of objects evenly. So lets say you have 10 objects that are currently just touching each other along the x axis, but you want a gap of 1" between them. 10 objects would have nine 1" gaps. So you need to add a total of 9 " to the current span of objects by moving the 2 outer most objects + 4.5 " and - 4.5 " along the x axis away from the other objects. Then you select all of the objects and run the script with only the X axis checked and the script will evenly distribute the objects resulting in the 1 " gap that you want. This will work for both individual objects and groups.

But for elements, you would have to temporarily detach the elements to individual objects with each of their pivot points centered on the new object, repeat the above steps on these new objects and then reattach the elements into a single object if you want them as a single object. The Object Detacher and Object Attacher scripts from Neil Blevin's Soulburn scripts are great tools to help with this:

http://www.neilblevins.com/art_assets/scripts/soulburnscripts_for_3dsmax.htm

If you are distributing only a few elements, it would obviously be easier to just do the offset manually, but I think you are asking about a use case with more elements.

Re: How can I adjust distance gap between groups / elements?

trpld_ss — Sat, 28 May 2022 14:36:12 GMT

Yeah, I guess there's no ways to achieve this with native features...

Your way seems way easier compared to what I've been doing

I really appreciate your time and also thank you so much for sharing your tips!