Create Group aligned to Grid in 3DS Max

[Anonymous]

When working in Grid mode, every created object gets aligned to the activated Grid. Except for Groups, when Groups get created in Grid mode, they get aligned to World Coordinate System. Only workaround I could come up with is to create the objects in World Coordinate System, Group them, and then align the created group to the needed grid, but this is not very efficient.

Is there any smart way to do this, or is this a bug?

Your post subject line has been edited by @hagen.deloss: Create Group aligned to Grid?

[miledrizk]

Hi,

Just let me get this more clear. Are you saying that the group changes orientation the

Moment you create it?

[Anonymous]

I'm trying to illustrate the problem:

In the first case, the when grouping the objects, the Group object itself gets aligned to World Coordinate system (although Grid is activated). So if I select the group (closed), and try to use Local Coordinate System, it has no meaning, since the group's local alignment is the World Coordinate system itself.

In the second case I created the objects with Home Grid activated, grouped them together, and then rotated the closed group.

I would like if grouping the objects in the first case, the object would be created like you can see in second case.

[miledrizk]

Hi,

I understand what you're asking for,

The only thing you can do is to use Grid as a Reference coordinates System

[Anonymous]

Yeah, thanks! I also do what you described.

However, I'm wondering if this functionality is worth to report as a bug? Or is it there for a certain reason for it to work like this?

[miledrizk · Accepted solution]

If you create a new single object while you're in the Grid mode you'll notice

That the XYZ axis are parallel to the home grid and not to the custom one unless

You use the Local coordinate system, in this way the axis will be aligned to the object,

But this happens, not because Max is considering or cares about the fact that you're in the Gird mode,

It does that because simply it's respecting the fact that the local axis

Has to be aligned with the object. The Group is not treated as a single object in that matter,

It's just a collection of objects that you can select in one click. If you Open the group you'll

Notice that using Local coordinate will work, as you would expect on individual objects (aligned to the object).

But if you insist of altering the group's Pivot, you can go to Hierarchy panel, Affect Pivot Only,

And use the Align tool(Align Orientation(Local))

This way you can select the group, choose Local and it will work as you wish

[Anonymous]

@miledrizk thanks for your time. That's another workaround I'm aware of. But this is just a tweak, since if I open the group, the pink box representing the group object is still aligned to world space.

However, I think 3dsMax treats groups as separate objects, at least in a way so that if you rotate the closed group, it can have its own transformation values, and also the pink box representing the group object is represented with these rotation values. If it was the way that you described, rotating the group, and then opening the group, the pink box would be still aligned to world space, and couldn't have any rotation values.

Since the group can be rotated, I would assume it to be logical that if every object created in grid mode inherits the rotation and scale transformation of the active grid, it could work for creating group objects also. It's not that much of a problem, just a nuisance, but still I think it would be logical and useful.

[miledrizk]

The custom grid affects the clicking and dragging creation operations.

Groups are not created like this.

Groups are objects of course, actually everything is an object, maybe

I didn't express myself in a clear way. It's an object that is not treated like

Other objects(when it comes to custom grids)that you need to click and drag to create.

I need to think about your request, if it's a better thing or not, until now

I'm satisfied with using the Grid coordinate system, but i'll give it a thought if i prefer

A different behavior. Maybe you can post a request in the Ideas forum, where you'll get

Others to have a say in it.

[Anonymous]

I appreciate your time looking into this problem.

I might give a shot on Ideas board. But if it messes up some other functionality, it is definitely not worth it. I can live with Grid reference coordinate system 🙂