Make Tumble Tool Rotate Around Selection

[skogzort]

Hello,

I am learning Maya and would like to be able to somehow (script or whatever) make the Tumble Tool rotate around what ever I have selected to work on. Currently when I rotate it will not keep sub-selections (verts/polygons) in the center of the screen. It rotates them out of the view panel so I can no longer see what I

[yashu]

Panel Menu (if not visible press SHIFT+M) -> View -> Camera Tools -> Tumble Tool OptionsBox -> enable Tumble on Object.

[naughty]

No one uses the tumble tool because it's a total waste of time and a pointless way to lose the tool you are currently using. To tumble or move around in your model viewports simply hold down the ALT key. then use LMB for tumble, MMB for pan and RMB or scroll wheel for Zoom (or LMB+MMB if you are an old timer)

In Maya, the tumble function rotates the camera around it's aim point, which is always (AFAIK) at the center of the screen. This may be different in Max, I don't remember Max that well now but I do remember it being far more of a pain in the ass to orbit and navigate in 3d viewports than it was in Maya once you know how to do it.

just get used to pressing f often and using the ALT key to tumble. switching tool just to tumble is pointless.

if you want to use Maya effectively you really need to discard all your Max conventions (and vice versa).

:nathaN

[joojaa]

QUOTE(Naughty @ 01/15/07, 01:05 PM) [snapback]257199[/snapback]
if you want to use Maya effectively you really need to discard all your Max conventions (and vice versa).

Yes thats a good advice, trying to force maya into becoming max is tedious, but also pointesss because that way you loose everything thats good in maya and just gain everything thets bad in max.

But yes you could actually do what your asking. but i wouldnt because theres prenty of good reasons not to, Practice itll soon be second nature,

[skogzort]

Thank you for the responses!
I realize there is more than one way to access the tumble tool. The problem I

[joojaa]

QUOTE(skogzort @ 01/15/07, 08:57 PM) [snapback]257241[/snapback]
I guess programmatically it would be like saying: “Whenever I make a selection, assume that “f” has been hit and skip the auto-zoom”

Yes you can juts hook a scriptjob onto selection changed, sure

But again that makes it hard to manipulate stuff accurately (for eample if your selecting convoluted faces inside a building between fingers and those faces are big you can get very far away from target). Learn to use the navigation tools i assure you that it is INDEED NOT AS HARD AS YOU MAKE IT SOUND, So in a way your just wasting time on stuff you don't need. If on the otherhand you just spend your time trying not to learn it your just making your life seriously harder. But yes trick is to use pan mostly (if you look at people when they navigate in maya or most 3d apps you see that they move like crabs most of the time).

practice in this case its really worth it. you don't actually need to use f all you need to do is learn to hold down other hand on alt and then use your mouses middle and left button for control. Indeed i can pretty much walk freely in the 3d space, without thinking about what im doing it just happens. It takes roughly 30 minutes worth of practice to sink in (ive actually never seen person whuld wouldn't get it in more than that)
QUOTE
with out this extra step of having to wait for Maya to “re-focus”(hit F) every time you make a new selection.

About "re-focus" do you mane you have animated focus on... yes in that case just switch it off window -> settings-> preferences cameras section and unchek the animated transitions

Again learning teh keyboard shortcuts is wise enough

PS i guess your one f those guys whos been using something like proe or solidworks Well i assure you the free movement of camera is way better, because if yo have this scriptjob you cant pan anymore.

[skogzort]

JooJaa,
Thank you for that helpful suggestion! Disabling the animated transitions has sped up the process and saved me some time. I realize it

[yashu]

the camera tools -> tumble tool is exactly the same context that ALT + LMB uses, thus every setting you change on that one turns to the alt+lmb tumble too.

'tumble on object' is just what you want, i use it all the time and i find it much more comfortable
than the default 'tumble on center of view' mode.

[joojaa]

QUOTE(yashu @ 01/16/07, 12:00 PM) [snapback]257299[/snapback]
'tumble on object' is just what you want, i use it all the time and i find it much more comfortable
than the default 'tumble on center of view' mode.

Yes this is one of those things thats a bit different. Tumble object is sane dfor example for machine parts but not really sane for things as houses (or indeed even machine assembies). But thing is tumble camera is more flexible,and more general purpose. theres absolutely no question on wich is better ultimately (the other has 6 freedom degrees and the other 5)

IT maybe sometimes carries more overhead to learn, maybe by as much as 10% but thing is theres plenty of stuff tumble object CANT do, wich means for 10% overhead you gain twice as much control. Wich for the sake of doing the BEST possible work flow is much better. Because the other option is to get used to 2 tools instead of 1. (which means more buttons!!!!!)

However tumble object isnt exactly rocket science to make But for the sake of the argument this ones more efficient.

but yereah having to push 6 buttons inst overhead, in general whenever i use maya i hold down 3-4 buttons simultaneously 40% of the time (alt+mmb+lmb, d+v+mmb, ctrl+shift+a... and so on). but i dont really think about it. they just happen to be there. SO having pushed 6 buttons isn't really a measure of efficiency (what is is how much time it took to accomplish the task, wich is different because theres only so many fuctions you can map to the buttons accessible easily for left hand). In fact to write this post i push a lot of tehm and its by far the most efficient wayy to do text.

Ill whip up a video that shows the difference.

PS i do understand that may is TOTALY WHACKED if your left handed, but theres nothing i can do for that