Tool for Quickly Aligning Parts

[sroselle]

In Project Falcon it can be difficult to align parts precisely because it currently requires manual approximation. This leads to time consuming trial and error trying to get it just right.

It would be helpful to have an "Align Tool" to quickly position parts relative to other parts in different ways. A feature like this would really speed up my bashing workflow.

For example...

• I would like to stack one or more parts directly on top of one another - like stacking boxes or crates
• I want to place parts equidistant from one another - like lining up bolts along a beam so they are evenly spaced
• I need to place parts so they line up in a certain direction, front to back, left to right, etc - like lining up a tire so it's exactly centered with a wheel

[Scottyos]

I'm excited for project falcon, had a glance at it this morning and decided to hop in. I had watched all the training videos which I thought were excellent btw.

But I'm curious if I'm trying to line something up like making a tower of cylinders but I want to have them all along the same axis so they are in alignment, is just dragging and eyeballing them? or is there a better way to line things up? If there isn't anything currently there to line them up maybe there's the opportunity for magnet snaps to say the center of a circular face where you can align via snap that way. 

Either way I'm excited to see what I can create in project falcon. 

[Scottyos]

This would be great. I was playing around with PF this morning and had noticed trying to stack 2 cylinders on top of one another was challenging, It would be nice if there were say common snap points that could be used. 

I've used crafty amigo for some woodworking projects and they essentially have 9 points on each side of a cube that can be used as snap points. If we had something similar in PF it could be very useful as that program is largely drag and drop as well, but having the different snap locations makes building and orienting parts a breeze. 

[bjorn.siegert]

Hi, 

no there is currently only the grid snapping and no precise object alignment snapping. We have already an idea up here. But I can see that you already found this :). At the moment I myself treat this lack of precision as more like in real life modeling when things just don't line up perfectly it is still fine and give models a nice organic touch. Hopefully this doesn't block your creativity in Project Falcon! Keep building.

Cheers,

Björn

[sroselle]

@317_618 - this is a great idea! 

Since this is a bit different from the idea of an "align tool" do you mind sharing your idea directly on the Idea Board as a -new- idea?   

It would be great to get some direct feedback specifically on this.  Thanks and please share more ideas if you have them!

[akcharly]

Hi, everyone!

Yeah, this is something that’s really missing right now. When assembling things, sometimes more time goes into trying to place one piece neatly on top of another and not miss by a couple of millimeters than into the actual idea itself. And that kind of pulls you out of the creative flow a bit.

I think even basic align options would already help a lot: center to center, stack on top, distribute evenly, align by axis. It doesn’t have to be a huge CAD-style tool right away, but having a simple set of precise snapping/align actions would be a real lifesaver for kitbashing and quick blockout scenes.

Thank you and have a great day
Best regards,
Andrew.