Drag a number on the model

WhereThe top bar: the row of words that begins File, Edit.

DoDownload p4-02-start.blend from Files above and open it. Then choose File > Save As and save it under the name below, in a folder of yours. Open an exercise file and keep the start file safe (P0-07) shows how.

Typemy-handles.blend

You should seeThe 3D view shows a round stone standing in four claws, with nothing selected. The Outliner, the list at the top right of the window, lists the stone and its head, and the title bar, the strip above File and Edit, begins my-handles. The first picture is the 3D view and the second is the title bar.

It worked whenThe title bar, the strip above File and Edit, begins my-handles.

WhereThe sidebar: press N with the pointer over the 3D view if it is shut, click the CAD/CAM tab, then Setting in the section bar. Then the 3D view.

DoClick a claw: the one that faces you, a little over half way up its length. The picture marks the place.

You should seeSmall pink marks stand on the head. Select the head means this on this page and on every page after it: click a claw. A click on the stone selects the stone, not the head. If no pink marks show, you clicked off the head: click a claw again. Each pink mark is a handle: a dot with a stem, a bar with a square at each end, or a cross, and each stands where a number acts. The words to the right of the head are buttons on the model: a click on one acts at once. The button Done, one of the words beside the head, puts the handles away. The head has an orange line round it, and the Head Builder panel shows the head’s numbers.

It worked whenPink marks stand on the head and the word Done shows beside it.

If it goes wrongNo pink marks show: you clicked off the head, or on the stone. Click a claw again, a little over half way up. If they still do not show, press the bar Handles on the Model in the Head Builder panel until it is lit blue, then click a claw.

If it goes wrongA number in the panel changed: your click landed on a handle and moved it. Press Ctrl+Z once, and click the claw again, further from the pink marks.

WhereThe 3D view: rest the pointer on a handle, without pressing, and wait a moment.

DoRest the pointer on the arrow at the top of the claw that faces you, Over the table.

You should seeA label shows beside it: the handle’s name and its number, “Over the table 2.00 mm”. The mark turns white. The two pictures show two handles that way: Over the table and Depth; Claw and Nudge show their labels in steps 8 and 10. Nudge, the bite: how far a claw reaches over the girdle, the thin edge round the stone’s widest part. Its label gives it as a share of the claw’s thickness as well. These handles stand on one or two of the claws, not on all four. Read the label before every press: it names the number you will drag.

It worked whenA label shows beside the handle and the mark is white.

WhereThe 3D view, the arrow at the top of the claw that faces you. Press means: hold the left button down, and keep it down while you drag (on a touchpad: press the pad down and keep it pressed while you slide). Rest the pointer on the handle first and read its label: that is the number you will drag.

DoRest the pointer on the arrow and read its label, then press on it, drag it a little upward and let go.

You should seeThe claws grow taller as you drag. Rest the pointer on the handle again: its label reads “Over the table 2.51 mm default 2.00”. Over the table in the panel reads the same, with fewer decimals: 2.51 on the label may read 2.5 in the field.

It worked whenThe panel’s Over the table is bigger than 2 mm and the claws are taller. Your number will differ from the one in the picture, which reads about 2.5 mm.

If it goes wrongThe pink marks vanish: you pressed off the head, and the head was deselected: click a claw, then try again.

If it goes wrongAnother number changed: you pressed on the wrong handle: press Ctrl+Z once and try again, resting the pointer on the handle first and reading its label.

WhereThe 3D view: move the pointer off the sidebar and into the dark area.

DoPress Ctrl+Z once.

You should seeThe claws drop to where they stood: the whole drag is one step. The label of the handle reads “Over the table 2.00 mm” again, and the panel reads 2 mm. This is exact: Ctrl+Z puts back the starting number, whatever your drag made. The claws are back at their first height, as they stood in step 3.

It worked whenThe panel’s Over the table reads 2 mm.

If it goes wrongNothing moves: the pointer is still over the sidebar. Move it over the 3D view and press Ctrl+Z again.

WhereThe 3D view, the same arrow.

DoHold Shift, press on the arrow, drag it the same distance as in step 4, and let go. Then press Ctrl+Z once.

You should seeThe number moves about a tenth as far: “Over the table 2.05 mm default 2.00”. Shift is for the last small change, when the figure matters. In this run the plain drag moved it +0.51 mm and this one +0.05 mm: about a tenth. Yours will be other numbers, but the same ratio if you drag the same distance. The picture shows the head just before the Ctrl+Z.

It worked whenYour fine drag moved the number about a tenth as far as the plain drag did, and after Ctrl+Z the panel reads 2 mm.

WhereThe 3D view, the same arrow.

DoPress on the arrow and drag it up. Keep the button down, press Esc, then let go.

You should seeThe claws jump back to where they stood when you pressed. Esc is the way out of a drag you do not want: nothing is left to undo. The label reads “Over the table 2.00 mm” again. While you held the button the number read 2.51.

It worked whenThe label reads 2.00 mm, the number before the drag.

WhereThe 3D view, the bar with a square at each end, halfway up one of the claws, on the side of the head: Claw. The picture uses the claw at the left.

DoHold Ctrl, press on the bar, drag it outward, and let go. Then press Ctrl+Z once.

You should seeThe claws grow thicker. Ctrl snaps the number to its step, here 0.05, so the label reads a multiple of 0.05 (1.05, 1.10, 1.15 and so on): “Claw 1.10 mm”. Claw in the panel reads the same. The picture shows the head just before the Ctrl+Z.

It worked whenThe label of Claw reads a multiple of 0.05 above 0.90, and after Ctrl+Z the panel reads 0.9 mm.

WhereThe 3D view, the arrow under the foot of the claw that faces you, the claw nearest you: Depth.

DoPress on the arrow, drag it up toward the stone, and let go. Then press Ctrl+Z once.

You should seeThe claws’ feet rise. The label began at 3.02: with Depth at 0 the foot plane stands 3.02 under the girdle’s lower edge, which the add-on works out from the stone. The first drag sets Depth as a number, a smaller one, and this handle has a stop: a short drag already reaches it. The label then reads “Depth 2.66 mm flush with the second rail”: the feet stand flush with the second rail’s underside, at 2.66. The foot plane’s own 3.02 stands 0.35 below that. The picture shows the head just before the Ctrl+Z.

It worked whenDepth in the panel is no longer 0 mm: it reads a number under 3.02 (here 2.66), and after Ctrl+Z it is 0 again.

WhereThe 3D view, the arrow on the inner face of one claw, where it passes the stone’s edge: Nudge. The picture uses the claw at the left.

DoPress on the arrow, drag it a little, and let go. Then press Ctrl+Z once.

You should seeThe claw reaches further over the stone’s edge, or less far. Nudge, the bite, starts at 0.25 mm: that is the bench’s figure for a head, and the setter cuts the stone’s notch from it. The label reads “Nudge 0.43 mm, 47 % of the claw default 0.25”: it adds “default 0.25” whenever the number is not the default. A bigger Nudge is a drill number here, not a head to cast. After Ctrl+Z it says “the default” again. The picture shows the head just before the Ctrl+Z.

It worked whenThe label of Nudge reads a new number, and after Ctrl+Z it reads 0.25 mm, the default.

WhereThe 3D view, the button Done on the model.

DoClick Done, look at the head, then click a claw once.

You should seeThe handles go, so that you can judge the head with nothing over it, and the orange line goes too. The click on a claw brings the handles back. The numbers do not change: Over the table reads 2 mm and Claw 0.9 mm.

It worked whenThe pink marks are back on the head after the click.

WhereThe 3D view: move the pointer over it.

DoPress Ctrl+S.

You should seeBlender writes your copy at once, with no question, because the file already has a name. An asterisk, *, in the title bar marks changes that are not saved, and it goes now. Save your work and get it back (P0-12) says more about saving.

It worked whenThe title bar begins my-handles and carries no asterisk.