Wishlist: A "Move To/From" Teleporter Extension

Have you ever had to move an object by lining up the center of one object to the center of a face on another object? But the object movement itself blocks the line of sight? Sure, x-ray mode can work wonders here, but what if there was an extension which allowed you to move an object precisely, by just three clicks?

  1. Select the object to be moved (it would have to be grouped, I imagine) .
  2. Select the inference point on that object which needs to attach to the destination (endpoint, midpoint, center, etc).
  3. Select the outside inference point to which the group will be moved. This would make that object jump to that spot, attached exactly where it needs to attach.

This jumping function would bypass all that actual manual moving, which can be especially awkward when moving/navigating something through the “air” and around other objects. This extension would be more like precisely teleporting an object, and much less like herding cats.
This might be better set up like a cut/paste, but without those actual linear steps, and with a Paste destination and insertion point.

Does a plugin like this already exist? And if so, would someone point me towards it?

Not exactly what you are asking for, but I had a similar idea here and got some great extension recommendations!

Please pardon my mentioning it, but it’s really not difficult to align objects simply using inferencing. If you’d rather not use X-Ray (or if that’s otherwise inconvenient), you can almost always close in on a hidden target incrementally by moving along one axis at a time. This picture is from another recent request similar to yours.

In any event, I’m not sure why you so lightly dismiss use of X-Ray, since it allows you to do precisely what you’re talking about.

-Gully

Wade, thanks for the link! I’ll check out those suggestions!

Gully_Folye,
Yes, X-Ray is great for finding destination points, which is why I said it “can work wonders.” Regardless, moving objects through space in general is often cumbersome, as the object wants to jump to any available inference, which is why people even need to see that multi-step photo you shared.
Instead, if the destination point can be precisely and quickly identified, a teleportation of the object would simply be faster, especially in a complex model. It would cut down on both the navigating-by-axis steps AND the steps of involving X-ray.
Precision isn’t the issue here, but rather increased Efficiency. Doesn’t everyone want to be more efficient?

Just checking because some people miss this point, when you move things do you click and drag them or do you click and release?
If you click and release on the point you want to attach, the thing is stuck to your cursor until you click again where you want to place it. You can zoom, orbit and pan with it attached to get to where you want to go.

As I said, just checking because I’ve know people with 10 years of SU still not know that.
There is another plugin not mentioned in the linked thread called Snap Connector that you might like.

Box,
I know what you mean. I keep trying to get my students to click and release instead of drag, for many tools, but especially for the line and move tool.
I’ll check out Snap Connector, thanks!

Another way would be to create a line that starts at one point (from) and goes (eg) up for a set distance clear of everything, Then create another line that goes up for the same distance starting at your destination (to). Now you have two easy to find end points that you can use for your movement: select the object, click move, click on the top of the “from” line, click on the top of the “to” line. Select both tall reference lines and delete them.

Box,
Snap Connector looks cool. I still would love for it to be as simple as the 3 steps I mentioned, using existing inferences instead of creating snap points, but this is pretty close. Plus, Snap Connector has the align and rotate feature, which is great. Thanks.
Gadget2020 - I think I get what you’re saying. Are you suggesting making use of the move tool’s ability to move something preselected from a distance? Without actually clicking on the object itself? So it would be like a surrogate or virtual move, once the precise vectors are established, and that bypasses the issue of visibility. Brilliant.

It’s used all the time when drawing in CAD (at least I use it all the time): draw a line to act as a reference so that it extends beyond the actual “working” space, then include that line in the selection - zoom out and you have an easy, visible click and drag point.
Similarly, draw a line to act as a “holding point”, then move what you want away from the “working” space so it’s easier to edit, then you have a point to snap it back to when done editing.