3ds max - rotate a object shortcut

michi.be

I'm really feeling dump at the moment. I can't find a simple shortcut in my max 2010 manuals, nor a little script with a button to rotate a object or selection around 90 degrees.

Most times I use the "r" key to rotate with the mouse then but I would like to have a simple shortcut to do the job so I can save the manual rotating.

It must be there!

SimonT

You could activate "Angle Snap Toggle" and set it to 90° or use a maxscript command

rotate $ (angleaxis 10 [1,0,0])

rotates current selection ($) 10° around x axis (1,0,0) ~ (x,y,z)

michi.be

But I have no idea how to bind the script lines to a key or so.

I just would like to press a key and the object rotates 90°, press it again and it rotates again around 90°.

Mark Dygert

You're script will need a header and the code SimonT noted, edited to suit your needs.

Main Menu > MaxScript > New Script
macroScript MyRotateScript --This is the name of the script as it will be saved when run.
category:"MyTools" -- This will be the category that shows up in the Customize > Customize UI Menu.
buttonText:"MyRot" --This is the text that will be displayed in the button if you ever assign it to a button.
toolTip:"Rotates the current selection" --This is the text that pops up if you hover over the button.

rotate $ (angleaxis 10 [1,0,0]) -- rotates current selection ($) 10° around x axis (1,0,0) ~ (x,y,z)

Save the script, it doesn't matter where, when its run or evaluated (ctrl E) the script will be re-create internally within max.
Run or evaluate the script once it will show up in the Customize > Customize UI menu.
From there you can assign it to a keyboard shortcut.

hyrumark

Use the transform toolbox instead, Edit Menu->Transform Toolbox. You can set the number of degrees to rotate, and also bind the rotation button to a hotkey if needed.

sprunghunt

look for "Rotate CCW" or "Rotate CW" in Customise > customise user interface > keyboard .

It rotates the object by 45 degrees perpendicular to the current view. So in top view it rotates about the Z axis. In user view it depends on what angle you're looking at the object.

michi.be

Great stuff here. Thanks guys. Polycount rocks hehe
I use the Toolbox now. It#s right under my "Pivot Buddy".

The Toolbox acts a bit buggy sometimes. If I try to click sometime I only get the little "bar" like if I try to move the UI. Very strange but Autodesk'is I guess..
Maybe I'll try one of the other solutions here too..

Jimpaw: I think Blender will make me steal old grandmas because of it's UI.
I know there will be some kind of new UI but I just had a quick look.

hyrumark

michi.be wrote: »

The Toolbox acts a bit buggy sometimes. If I try to click sometime I only get the little "bar" like if I try to move the UI. Very strange but Autodesk'is I guess..
Maybe I'll try one of the other solutions here too..

Yeah, sometimes the buttons get buggy if you move the toolbox from it's default screen position. But it's easy to fix, you just need to close it, then open it again and it will work fine from then on for the rest of your Max session. And I love the little "reset xform" button as well as the pivot aligning buttons. Super useful little set of tools!

WarrenM

Super resurrection!!

OK, I've bound the RotateCW command to a key but mine is defaulting to 90 degree rotations around the view axis and I'd like to change that to 45 or even 15. Is there a spot somewhere in Max where that setting is stored? 90 is of limited value...

monster

Looks like it's hardcoded to 90 degrees, or 30 if the shift keys is pressed.

You can create your own hotkey as Mark explained above, change the rotate command to the screenspace one, and use whatever value you wanted.

macroScript MyRotateScript
category:"MyTools"
buttonText:"MyRot CW"
toolTip:"Rotates the current selection CW"
(
	PolyBoost.SmartRotate 15
)

WarrenM

Oh there we go! Nice, thanks!