You can also activate the Scale, Rotate and Translate tools in sticky or supra mode using the x, c, and v keys, as you would in any 3D view.
Selecting and moving points, polygons, edges and clusters is just as easy as moving objects in a 3D view. Once a selection is made, as described in the previous section, click the Scale, Rotate, or Translate (s, r, t) button in the command bar of the texture editor. Then use the mouse to manipulate the selection.
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You can also activate the Scale, Rotate and Translate tools in sticky or supra mode using the x, c, and v keys, as you would in any 3D view. |
Maintaining the Aspect Ratio During Rotation
When you’re working with non-square texture images, selections of UV coordinates can become distorted when you rotate them. Holding down the Alt key while rotating your selection preserves its aspect ratio and prevents distortion.
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You can also preserve the aspect ratio when using the Rotate by 90 CW and Rotate by 90 CCW commands, as described in Mirroring and Rotating Points. |
Setting the Pivot for Scaling and Rotation
By default, a selection of sample points is scaled and rotated relative to its center of gravity (COG). However, you can scale or rotate a selection relative to any point in the texture editor work area by setting and activating the pivot.
The pivot is represented by the pivot icon, a 2D version of the XYZ icon that appears in the 3D views. The first time that you activate the pivot, it appears in its default location, which is the lower-left corner of the texture image.
To activate the pivot
• Click the Activate Pivot button 
in the texture editor command bar. The pivot icon appears. Now any scaling or rotation operations are performed relative to the pivot point rather than the selection’s COG.
To change the pivot position
1. Click the Set Pivot button 
in the texture editor command bar. The pivot icon appears.
2. Click and/or drag anywhere in the texture editor work area to position the pivot icon.
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• To help you position the pivot point more precisely, you can enable snapping. For more information about the different texture editor snapping options, see Snapping Tools. • Use the “ . ” (period) key in Supra or Sticky mode to quickly toggle the Set Pivot tool on and off. |
To deactivate the pivot
• Once you set the pivot point, the pivot remains active. To deactivate it, simply click the Activate Pivot button 
again.
Rather than selecting with one tool and moving your selection with another, you can use the Move Component tool move points, polygons, and edges with a single operation.
Click the Move Component button 
in the command bar or press m to activate the tool. Then click and drag a component to the desired location.
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Holding down the Shift key while using the Move Component tool moves all of the components that are under the mouse pointer when you click. This is useful for moving overlapping points when you are working with symmetrical texture maps. |
When you need to move a selection of sample points to a precise location, you can use the U/V position boxes in the texture editor command bar to enter specific U and V coordinates for the selection. The selection is repositioned in one of two ways, depending on whether the Split Components option (Set button 
) is activated or not:
• If the Split components option is activated, each point in the selection is translated to the specified UV coordinates.
or
• If the Split Components option is not activated, the selection’s center of geometry (COG) is translated to the specified UV coordinates.
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• Using the U/V position boxes is one of the easiest ways to “straighten” lines of points. Select the points, make sure that the Split Components function is activated, and enter a U or V position. The line is straightened along the appropriate axis. • The U/V position boxes behave like any other edit boxes in that: - They support the same types of inputs. For example, typing 0.2+ moves the selection by 0.2 units. - They support scrubbing using the mouse. For example, you can select the value and scrub with the mouse, or use the mouse wheel to increase or decrease the U or V position value. |
Rather than move individual selections, you can define a surrounding area of influence that moves with the initial selection. For example, if you activate Proportional mode and move a single point on the chin of a face model, the rest of the face moves as well, in relation to the initial move.
To activate proportional mode
• Click the Prop button in the Transform panel.
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Right-click the Prop (Proportional) button to open the Proportional property editor so you can set the area of influence for the Proportional mode. |
Snapping lets you align points, polygons, or clusters when moving them in the texture editor. You can enable different snap targets and adjust the overall snapping “sensitivity.”
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You can set texture editor snapping options only from the texture editor’s Snap menu. The snapping options set in the main command panel have no effect on the texture editor. |
In the texture editor, snapping works on a closest-point basis, meaning that when you transform a selection of multiple sample points, the point closest to the mouse-down position is snapped to the target.
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When snapping is enabled, the normal mouse pointer for any transform tool is replaced by the snapping icon. The point closest to the center of the icon’s “crosshairs” will be snapped to the target. |
Snapping works with multiple UV coordinate sets, meaning that if more than one set is displayed in the texture editor, you can snap selections of the one UV set’s coordinates to another. For more information about working with multiple sets of UV coordinates, see Editing Multiple UV Sets.
Do one of the following:
• Click the Toggle Snapping button 
in the texture editor command bar.
or
• Choose Enable Snapping from the Snap menu in the texture editor command bar.
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To toggle the mouse behavior while manipulating the mouse, hold down Ctrl. If snapping is enabled, this will temporarily disable it, and vice-versa. |
You can define the target(s) to which your selection can snap. These targets are toggled on and off from the Snap menu in the Texture editor’s command bar.
• Grid is the global coordinate grid.
• Points are sample points.
• Edges are the lines that connect two points.
• Midpoints include the midpoint of polygons and polygonal edges.
• Pixel Corners is the corner of a pixel where it meets three other pixels.
• Pixel Edges is the edge of a pixel where it meets another and changes value. This setting is useful for applying a very precise color to a specific point or group of points.
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Snap targets are not mutually exclusive: you can enable as many of them as you want. If more than one target type is enabled, the selection will snap to the closest available target. |
The snap gravity is the size of the snapping “box” around the mouse pointer. The element you are moving snaps to a target only if the target is within this box. The size is defined in pixels, so it is effectively larger the farther you are zoomed out.
To set the snap gravity
• Choose Snap > Snap Gravity from the texture editor’s command bar. The larger the setting, the bigger the snapping “box.”
Using the texture editor, you can select any number of points and collapse them along the horizontal and vertical axes or onto a single coordinate. This is useful if you wish to assign particular pixel values to several points.
• Collapse Horizontally moves the selected points to a single position on the horizontal axis while retaining their position on the vertical axis.
• Collapse Vertically moves the selected points to a single position on the vertical axis while retaining their position on the horizontal axis.
• Collapse moves all points in the selection to a single coordinate in the center of the selection.
To collapse points
1. Select any number of points from anywhere on the surface.
2. Click the Collapse, Collapse Horizontally, or Collapse Vertically from the texture editor command bar.
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Collapsed selections are not converted to a single point. You can still select the individual points and move them after collapsing them. |
Autodesk Softimage v.7.5