Move / Rotate Model Elements

The model elements move options can be found on the Modify ribbon in the Move section.

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Move or Rotate Selected Items

To move or rotate selected items:

1. Open a model view, if one is not already open.

   1. Go to the View ribbon.

   2. Click the Open 3D Views icon.

2. Select the items you want to move by clicking on them or clicking and dragging over them.

3. To linearly move the selection:

   1. Go to the Modify ribbon.

   2. In the Move section, choose one of the following options:

      • Global to move the selected part of the model a specified distance in the Global Axis directions. For more information, see Global Move.
      • Point to Point to move the selection based upon two selected points for direction and distance. For more information, see Point to Point Move.
      • Rotate to move the selection in a polar fashion. For more information, see Rotate Move.

Global Move

Click the Global icon to move the selected part of the model a specified distance in the Global Axis directions. Enter the desired translation distances into the global axes direction input fields.

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Point to Point Move

Click the Point to Point icon to move elements in the model by clicking on any two points. The selected items will move the distance and direction based upon the vector drawn from your first to your second points.

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Rotate Move

Click the Rotate icon to rotate the selected parts of the model about an axis. Enter the desired rotation angle, and the coordinates of the polar origin (the point rotated about). Only two of the three polar coordinate values are used, the value corresponding to the axis of rotation is ignored. Instead of specifying coordinates for a polar origin, it may instead be chosen by clicking in the model view. To do this, select Click to Locate, specify the appropriate Rotation Angle, then click Click to Apply or Apply to Selected. The cursor will show a finger pointer, with which a polar origin may be specified by left-clicking on a node or snap point.

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For example, say you wish to rotate the selected part of your model 90° about the Global Y-axis. You would enter "90" as the rotation angle. Under specify origin, select Coordinates or Click to Locate. If Coordinatesis selected, enter the X and Z coordinates of where you want the Y-axis rotation to pass through the XZ plane. If Click to Locate is selected, press Apply to Selected, then click a location in the 3D view.

Checking the Adjust Local Axis box will cause the local axis of each member to be rotated along with the model elements. Otherwise, the member local axes will retain their original orientation with respect to the global axes.

Drag and Move in 3D View

You can quickly move selected elements using the drag-and-move feature. To turn this feature on or off, click the "Move Nodes Lock" button on the ribbon toolbar. Unlocking this will enable the drag-and-move feature.

To use this feature, select the elements you wish to move, then click and hold on a reference node (similar to a Point-to-Point move). A red line will appear in the 3D view, indicating that you are in drag-and-move mode. Next, hover over the destination node and release; the selected elements will move to the new location. If you want to move the elements in the Global X, Y, or Z directions, you can hold the Shift key while performing the drag-and-move actions.

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