Centering Objects

[mattjgerard]

So, I'm struggling with trying to get objects centered that might not have accurate axis when imported. Most of our objects are STL files, but it seems I can never get the coordinates for the objects to 0,0,0. If I click on the CENTER button under POSITION, it doesn't make it 0,0,0. If I manually tyoe in 0,0,0, it goes off axis and is not in the center of the scene.

When I export an XR file, so far its been best to use OBJECT as the center rotatation, but I know there will be some times when the object is an odd shape, and the center of the geometry is not where I want the rotate center to be. Would using a dummy object be best for this, then select that dummy object as the center when going through the XR wizard? Is there a "best practices document somewhere that I can peek into?

This seems to be an issue I need to figure out that has to do with the Group's axis and the parts axis's that live inside that group. I want to really be able to just type in 0,0,0 and have the model in the center, set the camera target to 0,0,0 and adjust the inclination to get the starting angle.

Is it best practice to set up a camera for the first view, then use those numbers in the XR wizard? Even if my camera is locked, it goes into an unsaved state when I get to a certain point in the Wizard dialogs.

[guest84672]

I suggest that you import your model using "center" and "snap to ground". This will center the object based on it's bounding box.

If you select "Object" as your rotation center, then the center of the bounding box will be used. If you have an object with an odd shape then you can select a custom rotation center under "Custom".

I hope this helps.

[mattjgerard]

Yep that would probably  help. Importing  centered would most likely fix some issues that I'm having. The ones I'm struggling with will be the ones that are already built and imported and textured without regard to "center" . But that's not Keyshots' fault

[guest84672]

You can always "center" after the fact, by hitting the button in the "Position" tab.

[wayoutwestmultimedia]

Thank you for this!! Huge help.