Snap to Projected Center not working (Maya 2018)

[Anonymous]

I created a big and small sphere and try to use "Snap to projected center" (magnet with cross-hair icon) to place the small object in geometric center of the larger one.  It does not seem to snap to anywhere, and please note all my research and attempts below.  My end goal is to use it to place joints in the geometric center of fingers.  Here is a great tutorial on how it should work in every detail.  Also note that other snapping magnet tools seem to work (i.e. grid, vertex, and curve).  Lastly it seems to sort of works for one axis if I use the move tool in the plane of the other 2 axis.  Is this a bug, as I was just stuck on this issue for a few days to find out it was a bug?

-With "Snap to projected center" magnet icon selected the move tool gismo center turns from a square to circle.

-I make sure to grab the center of the move gismo and none of the axes are highlighted.

-I make sure to use the middle-mouse-button to drag small sphere onto big sphere, but no snapping occurs.

-Tried perspective and orthogonal views and various zoom levels.

-Tried placing object near and far from geometric center manually.

-Unable to try legacy Viewport as it is not available in Maya 2018.

-Same results with new project or using joints instead of spheres.

-Tried using Maya on local PC instead of using remote desktop.

[mspeer]

Hi!

This is for creating joints inside an object.

Please read the Maya Online Help / Documentation for more details.

[Anonymous]

Please take a look at time index 6min (30 seconds) in my video link above (Awesome quick tutorial for anyone), which uses it with a locator object.  The joint tool also has a checkbox for "Projected center" which help when you place each joint manually.   However I am referring to the "snap to projected center" magnet in the status bar.  In any case it is not working for the joints in a finger which is my real goal, and I only used spheres to simplify the questions.

The manual page does reference joints and locators as you indicated.  It also says centers to the selected mesh which is not possible since it becomes unselected when you grab a hold of the joint you are centering.

I really need this feature and would appreciate some help.  My hope is the some strange Maya setting somewhere that is keeping the "Snap to Projected Center" from working.

[mspeer]

Hi!

Sorry, you are right, this is a bug.

It works for all sort of objects but not Polygons.

The problem is that when the pivot of a moving polygon object is displayed in front of the mesh the object will be projected onto itself.

(It works if the pivot is displayed aside from the object)

Workaround:

In node ...Shape: Drawing Overrides -> Enable Overrides ("enable") and disable Texturing.

You can also use other display overrides like template. The object may still project onto itself but only on wireframe.

If you want to disable self-projection completely then disable Visibility.

Please report this problem (bug?) to Autodesk.
Help -> Speak Back -> Report a Problem

[Anonymous]

Awesome, and thanks a bunch as I have been at this for days.  I am somewhat new to Maya so can you help me with the following points.

-For the workaround I disabled texturing as shown on the second image. However the first image shows the joint still did not snap to center.  Does it work for you?

-You say it works with other objects other than polygons.  Isn't almost everything made of polygons like characters and objects?

-What do you mean "pivot of a moving polygon object"?  I turn on snap centering tool and then grab my joint (not a polygon object) with mmb.  Then I move it within characters finger mesh (static mesh).  What mesh is projected onto itself?

-You say it works if I move the pivot aside the object.  Are you saying move the joint pivot outside of its own mesh?

-Is another workaround to turn of visibility of the finger and then try to work blind?

-How did you determine this was a bug, and do you have links?  I will submit the problem as you suggested.

Thanks again!

[mspeer]

Hi!

Snapping works correct for Joints, Lights, Nurbs, ...

but not for Polygons:

I already provided the link for bug report.

Again, in Maya: Help -> Speak Back -> Report a Problem

(In the report please include a link to this forum page)

[mspeer]

Hi!

It will not snap to center, it will snap somewhere inside the volume of the object based on viewing angle and mouse position.

Edit: To snap to center (Pivot) use Snap to Points.

Next bug found:

When using Override with Texturing disabled the object can only be selected at wireframes, that's maybe the reason why this workaround works.

[Anonymous]

You are awesome, but I sent my question to fast and was updated.  Anyway it looks like you video shows a square snapping to sphere outside and not center?  Also is that not polygons which said does not work? 

If you look at my updated question you can see the Joint does not snap to the middle of the sphere even though I have enable override and disabling joint texturing.  In the image I show disabling sphere texturing, but I also tried disabling Joint texturing.

[mspeer]

Hi!

Please read my message above, you are using the wrong snapping mode, the one you try does not snap to center.

[Anonymous]

Away from Maya, but I will try snap to point. However the tool I was investigating is snap to projected center (magnet icon with crosshair). That will help me center joint in finger by means of ray casting. Unlike a sphere the pivot of the character mesh is not useful for snapping.

[mspeer]

Hi!

Ok. it seems i don't understand your problem, or you not me.

Again:

Snap to projected center will not snap to absolute center, it will snap somewhere inside the volume of the object based on viewing angle and mouse position. It also does this not in the video you provided.

[cathy_easthope]

I have an easy workaround for you.
On the polygon object whose centre you want to snap to, switch on its local rotation axes (a cube in wireframe mode is ideal):
Display/Transform Display/Local Rotation Axes

Select the second object with the move tool active and use V middle mouse drag to drag it to the first object near the LRA icon. It will snap to the LRA icon which of course is in the exact centre of the object. (V just selects Snap to Point).
I used this method to give me concentric shells of spheres.