Moving an object along a face normal?

[trizzay]

Has anyone figured out any tricks on translating an object along a face normal? For example, in Mirai, you can pick an object, click on "move along face normal", then pick a face, and the object will translate along the normal of the picked face (instead of global x,y,z).

Any tips?

[bosco]

You mean move an object along the surface of another object?

Constrain -> Geometry

The constrained object still exists in world space, but if you parent it to the other object it will exist in that object's space coordinates.

You could also make a curve on surface and use it as an animation path.

[trizzay]

So you mean I can constrain an object to move along another object's face? I can't seem to find the "constrain" command. I'm using Maya 4...

[bosco]

It's under the Animation menu set.

You select the target object first, then the object you want to constrain, then:
Constrain -> Surface...