moving base points to target points

[gibby]

Hello,

I'm a newbie to XSI (v6.02) and I've got a question. Might seem kind of dumb to the experts, but here goes:

I'm used to working in AutoCAD. In AutoCAD they had a feature for moving objects whereby you choose a base point on the object and a target point where you want it to move to. The base point you choose on the object would line up exactly onto the target point. In XSI, I see how to move objects (with the transfer tool) but it seems to only want to move the center point. Is there a way of indicating a base point and a target point (using snapping)?

[mechis]

hold down alt to move a temporary center and then hold down control to snap the object wherever you want it to go.
~Mechis

[gibby]

Sorry, I must be doing something wrong.

When I hold down alt, that seems to turn on the orbit tool. Are there any other specific conditions I need to know about?

[mechis]

Are you using the normal xsi navigation buttons? S key should be zoom, pan, orbit, not alt.
~Mechis

[mechis]

oops........

I just checked in xsi and while I don't know why the alt button would make the camera orbit (unless maybe you're not in the default xsi navigation setup), I didn't quite tell you the right thing to do.

What you should do:
press and hold v
while pressing v, also press alt... you should see an icon with a circle at the intersection of the axes
move the icon wherever you want
let go of alt. Now, as long as you still have the object selected, the center will be wherever you moved the icon previously. If you deselect the object, the center reverts back to where it was originally

To do the snapping, press and hold v
while pressing v, also press ctrl (before doing this be sure you have snapping enabled and check what type of compenent you are allowing yourself to snap to)
Then you will see axis icons at all the snap locations available to you.

That's a lot of instructions I wrote up there... but it's really easy once you get the hang of it. I'm pretty sure this is described in the manual too.... check that out for more instructions!
~Mechis

[gibby]

I switched my interaction model to the SOFTIMAGE|XSI one, and now all your recommendations work. Thanks a lot for the help, mechis.