Hi all.

Do any of you know how to specify how far an object will be moved when you click on it and use the arrows on your keyboard to move it about. I know holding down the shift key will make the object move in smaller steps, but that's still too far for my needs.

I can't just enter in absolute vales as the objects might be moving on 2 axes at the same time depending on it's orientation in the scene.

Regards
James

Hi Rutra

No, what your doing there is clicking on only 1 single Axis where the values are displayed. I'm talking about clicking on the object.

If the object is rotated 45 degrees to the top view and you select it and press the right arrow key, you move on both the X and Y axis at the same time to the right.  This is what I'm trying to control.

The amount it moves on both axis greatly depends on the positioning of the object in the scene relative to position “0” on all 3 axis.

For example, it will move by 500mm with a single press of the arrow if it's more than 1 meter away from position 0. Where if it's within 1 meter of position 0, it will only move 50mm.

Regards
James

Quote - "If the object is rotated 45 degrees to the top view and you select it and press the right arrow key, you move on both the X and Y axis at the same time to the right. "

I'm not sure I get this. If I do this, regardlessly of the rotation of the object, if  I press the right arrow key, it'll move on the X axis only, not on the Y.

Hi Rutra
I'm very sorry about that, I'm trying to explain this in as few words as possible and I made a mistake.

In the top view, rotate the camera 45 degrees and drop an object in front of it. Now click on that object in the main camera view window and press the arrow keys left or right. Your now moving that object on 2 axis at the same time and that's what I want to control in baby steps.

The reason being, I want to create a Stereo Camera setup for rendering anaglyph images.

Hope that explains it better and sorry for my error above.

Regards
James

I believe, you are using a wrong approach for trying to produce stereoscopic or anaglyph images.

If i do understand it the right way, you you are trying to move an object infront of the camera and change the position in relation to the render camera.
But that is not, what the human left and right eyes will be seeing.

The left and right eye are away from each other a certain distance from each other. So the resulting angle and POV towards objects and the surrounding scenery are different from each other, not the position of an object infront of them.

Take a look at my blog-website and read and view a small basic tutorial i've wrote (besides a few other tutorials i've wrote on the same blog), to render images in Vue for anaglyph pictures creation:

http://arraxxon.blogspot.com/2009/08/basic-setup-to-render-left-and-right.html

Maybe this can be of help ...

Hi Arraxxon.
Yes, the object I will be moving is the second camera in the main view which will be exactly what your eyes should see.

At this stage I don't believe Vue can move the second camera in small steps like I need so I will write a small app that will calculate the positions for me on both axis.

Regards
James

I just don't get it, why the camera object has to be moved by the keyboard cursor buttons ...

If i go to the top-view window, i choose each camera, use local or global coordinates system - zoom closer towards the cameras and by selecting and holding the x axes arrow, i can reposition the cameras in really small steps - it only depends on the zoom factor towards the selected camera - the closer i am, the smaller and smoother the repositioning will be ...

Sure you can't move really smooth with the keyboard left/right/up/down keys, those are bigger jumps, even using the shift-key - but if i need really small and exact positioning, i use the movement in the view windows using the Gizmo axes, as described above. I don't understand, why you can't make real small changes that way ...

For example - i zoomed in about 8x , keeping the camera in the top view center.

In the numerics tab in the top right corner it shows on the X-value  "0 mm". Now i click and hold the x-axes in the top-view window and move the camera to the right. This movement step moves the camera to "0.00016 mm". I just wonder, how small the steps are suppose to be, that you are trying to move the camera in ?? 
The "0.00016 mm" are a 160-thousands of a mm of movement distance.
You really need it even more exact ? Well, then zoom in even more then those 8x i did.

By just adjusting the two cameras in the example shown in my blog tutorial by a simple estimation and movement of the Gizmo X axes, my two calculated left and right eye POV images combined show a good 3D effect viewed through a pair of red/blue glasses ...

And - for most of the situations i don't really see the need of a extremely perfect calculation, because for each human being viewing a 3D image, the 3D effect will be more or less working, because each of us got a different visual strength, even different from eye to eye and the distance of the eyes from each other are also changing from one human to the other ...

A little correction - i've zoomed in maybe a few more times then 8x, i've just noticed - but it doesn't change the fact, that you're able to move any object in really small steps, the closer you zoom in towards them - you can tell by the tiny and exact movements in the 3D preview window ...

If you're really desperate, to move in smaller steps using the keyboard keys, instead of using the gizmo axes, then go to "Files -> Options ..." - there you select the "Unit & Coordinates" tab.
Now you can play with the settings in "Length units" and "Snapping grid resolutions" fields - each seperate or in combination with each other - like "Internal unit" to "0.0" and "Millimeters" - and "Position Grid Resolution" (and for rotation if needed "Rotation Grid Resolution") for instance to "0.1mm" or smaller ...
This should make the steps smaller, even using only the keyboard keys ...

Hi Arraxxon.

Quote - use local or global coordinates system

Feck, I have been looking at the L and P options and never even thought of selecting either. I feel so stupid right now. Doh...!!!

Hey, thanks for your help on this, you too Rutra.

Kind Regards
James