9

Quick Align 465
It does not necessari ly cause two objects to be the
same size. T here will be no change in size if neither
of the objects has prev iously been scaled.
Quick Align
Main toolbar > Quick Alig n (on Align flyout)
Tools menu > Quick Align
Keyboard > Shift+A
Quick A lign lets you instantly alig n the position
of the current selection to that of a target object.
If the current selection is a single object, Q uick
Align uses the two objects’ pivots (page 3–995).If
the current selection comprises multiple objects
or sub-objects, Quick Align aligns the source’s
selection center (page 1–447) with the pivot of the
target object.
Procedure
To use Quick Align:
1.
Select one or more objects or sub-objects to
align.
2. Press Shif t+A or choose Quick Align from
the Tools menu or Main toolbar > Align flyout.
The mouse cursor turns into a “lightning-bolt”
symbol. When positioned over an acceptable
alignment target, a crosshairs symbol also
appears.
3. Clickanobjecttowhichtoaligntheselection
from step 1.
The alignment is performed.
Nor mal A lign
Main toolbar > Normal Align (on Align flyout)
Tools menu > Normal Align
Keyboard > Alt+N
Normal Align uses the Normal Align dialog to
align two objects based on the direction of the
normal (page 3–980) of a face or selection on each
object. ToopentheNormalAligndialog,select
theobjecttobealigned,clickafaceontheobject,
and then click a face on a second object. Upon
releasing the mouse, the Normal A lign dialog
appears.
If you use Normal Align while a sub-object
selection is active, only that select ion is aligned.
This is useful when aligning sub-object selections
of faces, since otherwise there’s no valid face
normal for the source object.
Normal Align respects smoothing g roups and uses
the interpolated normal, based on face smo othing.
Asaresult,youcanorientthesourceobjectfaceto
any part of the target surface, rather than having
it snap to face normals.
Foranobjectwithnofaces(suchashelperobjects,
space warps, particle systems, and atmospheric
gizmos), Norma l Alig n uses t he Z axis and origin
of the object as a normal. Thus, you can use a Point
object (page 2–23) with Normal Align.
Other alignment tools on the Align flyout are Align
(page 1–462), Quick Alig n (page 1–465),Place
Highlight (page 1–467), Align to Camera (page
1–468),andAlign to View (page 1–468).
Procedure
To align normals:
1.
Select a source object. This is the object that
movesduringalignment.