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Hi all. I have a question about the scale tool – is the widget supposed to align to the scene in the same way it does for the move tool and the rotate tool?
Mine stays stuck in position and won't allow me to scale an imported object to specific sizes.
I created some 3D type in Illustrator and imported it, but it comes into Dimension on a funny angle. I can manually rotate it to fit, and the move and rotate tools will both change to align to the scene, but the scale tool stays aligned to the object only, meaning I can't give it specific X, Y, Z sizes.
Is it supposed to do this?
As an example:
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not by default no
you can reset the tool that way by right clicking the icon and setting it
I don't use the widget because its a pain when there are a lot of items in the screen and the design team keeps changing it at random anyway
I adjust scale by mouse over the numbers and sliding up or down this gives me the option to scale by size or by scale
p.s, having the lock icon on the scale makes them all scale together in the same way that holding down the shift does when using the widget... pick the way you like best but assume it will change next build mate
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Thanks Ussnorway, I know what you mean about the numbers being more useful than the widget!
My problem is that when I right click the icon and adjust the tool to align to scene, the scale tool does not adjust (only the move and rotate tools do).
Adjusting the values by using the numbers was also not working for me because the 3D object was not set square to the X, Y, Z axis, so it's impossible to adjust one value without distorting the others.
As you see in my pic, the object is type – so I needed the X and Y values to stay the same but adjust the depth of the type with the Z value.
For this instance, I ended up editing my 3D object to sit square and then reimporting it, but would have been much easier just to align the scale tool to the scene and be able to adjust it there.
So does the scale tool not align to scene like the other tools, even when the option is turned on in the tool menu?
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I had another look at your image and it looks off center in the model itself mate
anyway I confirm that scale is working correct for me on Windows... If I was you then I would re-import the 3d model and try scaling first i.e, before moving the text into whatever spot you want it to rendor at
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Not sure what you mean by 'off centre'?
What I'm saying is that the 3D model imports at approx. 34 degrees, and I can manually line it up to match the X, Y, and Z lines, but it's like the model is displaying on the diagonal side of an invisible triangle.
The scale tool then stays aligned to the model, which is now at approx. -34 degrees (to match the X, Y, Z lines of the scene), so trying to scale the 3D model first is not working – scaling in one dimension throws out the other dimensions, even when they are unlocked from scaling proportionally.
Even when the scale tool is set to align to the scene, the widget stays aligned to the 3D model. My images above show the move tool readjusting between the scene and the object – the scale tool does not do this.
Maybe it's a Mac bug? Are you saying that on a PC, the scale widget will change alignment between the scene and the model as per the setting in the tool menu?
As I said before, I got around this by opening the 3D object externally, resetting it so the faces of the object were lined up with the X, Y, Z directions, and reimporting the new object so that it aligned with the scene naturally, but this would have been easier if the scale tool was able to be aligned with the scene.
Is anyone else having this issue?
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imo the model is just made to have a front face that is off centre... more testing confirms the scale widget only scales to X, Y, Z so the way a model is facing can't be changed (for scale!)
to make it scale along some other axis would imo just confuse people but you can ask the dev team to make it work that way and see if anyone else thinks its a good idea
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Yes, I think I was clear that the model was made with a front face that was out of alignment by about 34 degrees.
I can manually align the model to the scene by rotating it, but the scale widget stays aligned to the model.
My original question was whether the scale widget is supposed to be able to align to the scene, as the move and rotate tools do.
This would make it much easier to adjust the model in Dimension, rather than opening it in another app and reconfiguring the model to sit square, and reimporting it.
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You mention that "you created some 3D type in Illustrator and imported it into Dn"
Can you explain how you do that?. Ai files can be imported as decals or background. SVG files also.
Thank you
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both Photoshop and Illustrator can be used to make 3d text (or other shapes) as models that can then be imported into Dimension... I used Photoshop to make my example above
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I use PS also but I never use Ai for creating 3d object model directly in Ai , export it as STL, FBX from Ai and than import into Dn. IMHO that is not possible.?
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Hi Ares – I'm afraid I don't remember exactly and it's possible that I created it in Photoshop? I'm new to Dimension (only been using it for a week now) and have tried many new things over the past week, as well as having a separate issue with .dn files becoming corrupt and unable to be opened.
I only kept the .obj file though, so can't retrace my steps for this process. The interface in Photoshop doesn't look the same as how I remember creating it though, and it was created at a funny angle to the X, Y, Z planes... Extruding a piece of type in Photoshop seems to keep it aligned to the planes by default, which means I would never have had the problem in the first place
Are you able to throw any light on my original question though? If you rotate a model in Dimension and the scale widget rotates with it, are you able to then align the scale widget with the scene, and not the model?
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If I understand you want to align to scene scale widget to scene as you can do with Move and Rotate Toll. See capture
As you can see in drop down menu for Scale tool there is a setting "Align to Scene" with shortcut Q. But I can confirm that it doesn't work for Scale Tool and I am able to reproduce these bug.
I will report Dn Team about this bug (or it not works for Scale Tool as default). Will back to you after feedback.
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its not a bug... he made the model off center to begin with so the scale looks off center in Dimension
the issue is that "align to scene" doesn't work with scale tool... the question of should it work or would that make the widget harder to use is something only testing with answer
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Ussnorway – my question was always whether the scale widget was supposed to align to the scene (as the other tools do) or not, as it wasn't working for me. It doesn't matter that the model was originally angled, as aligning to the scene would resolve that.
If the tool is not supposed to stay locked on being aligned to the model, then it's clearly a bug.
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fair enough, i assumed it should work that way and didn't know it does not until I tested it so others will assume the same thing
at the very least, the ui needs to be made clear about what it should do
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Thanks Ares, glad to know it's not just me, and that the tool isn't working properly. Will keep an eye out for a resolution.
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Photoshop is the best tool of the two ime but some people like illustrator and the tip workflow for that is to export as a svg then use any of the old school 3rd party tools (most of them are free now) to make your svg into a stl which is itself an old standard but still used in a lot of building design software and Dimension can read them
if you pop a post Adobe Dimension: Feature Requests: Top (314 ideas) – Adobe Dimension Feedback Portal the dev team will see it and who knows maybe one day