A few words about gizmoControl

Submitted by Martin Breidt on Thu, 2007-08-16 03:46

I recently released a new script called 'gizmoControl'.

While I think the script can be very useful, the names used and my explanations might be suboptimal and therefore, I'll try to better explain what use this script can be.

So what does the script do?

The script will allow you to use any scene object to control the gizmo of a modifier. After running the script, the gizmo will use exactly the same position, rotation and scale as the scene object you picked. If your scene object's transformation is animated, the gizmo will follow. This will work for ANY modifier gizmo that uses position, rotation and scale.

Some examples

  • Use any type of constraint for your modifier, e.g. animate the plane of a Slice modifier along a path.
  • Attach the UVW Map modifier gizmo to some scene object, effectively creating something like a WSM (World space modifier) version of the UVW Map modifier. If the mapped object moves, the UV texture remains fixed in space; if the control object moves, the UV texture will move along.
  • Control the symmetry plane of a Symmetry modifier by some normal scene node.
  • Link a Displace modifier to a scene object.
  • Split an object into two: One Slice modifier removes the top of an object and a second Slice modifier removes the bottom; the two gizmos are kept in sync by running this script twice with the same dummy helper node.

Known problems

  • Unless you use the 'Keep Offset' option by holding down SHIFT while you create the link, the gizmo will jump to the position of the control object as soon as you run the final step of the script; if you use a Slice modifier, that might result in your object disappearing as the Slice removes all of your object.
  • If you delete the control object, the modifier gizmo will be locked in space (it does not know where to move) and you have to delete the modifier (or better: assign a new controller to the modifier gizmo). v0.3 added a button to clear the link.
  • The workflow can be improved, too much clicking required now.
  • Not a lot of error checking right now, it's still a beta version.