Hi,
Is there a way to temporally modify the pivot when doing transformations on a primitive, point or edge.
I haven't really used Houdini for modeling so far, but I want to start dedicating exclusively in Houdini.
Now a basic workflow of mine has being. Extrude, transform extrude again. I know the poly extrude vop has a transform extruded front option but I cannot find a way to momentarily move the pivot of the transform. I have the same problem with the edit tool, basically everything is nice but I kind of require to momentarily transform the pivot of my selection to properly control the transformation.

In other packages is quite common to change the pivot or even match the pivot to other primitives or elements, say to transforms points based on the pivot of another primitive, however I am more than open to suggestions on other workflows.

If you activate Transform Extruded Front, in the properties of the polyextrude, you will be presented with a transform matrix where you can adjust the pivot only for that extrusion.

Enivob
If you activate Transform Extruded Front, in the properties of the polyextrude, you will be presented with a transform matrix where you can adjust the pivot only for that extrusion.

Hi Enivob, I noticed the parameter but it does not seem to do much, and it does not have a visual reference of where the pivot is, as the handle does not move with the pivot. But my main issue is with the EDIT or Transform node. With the Transform node the handle moves with the pivot, but My question I guess is: is there no graphical way to move the transform handle wherever I want it? and then transform from there?
Here I placed an example where I moved my transform pivot near the place where I would like to rotate the selection. I did this by adjusting the pivot parameter of the transform vop….

Ok! I found it in another post!

The answer is the' key and the Ins key!
the ' key is what I was searching for, it will temporally move the handle to wherever you want to transform from that particular location!
As always Houdini doesn't disappoint!

Ah, talk about a hidden feature. It took me a while to even detect that the key had any affect on the Transform handles. But when you press the key, the center of the transform turns into a blue block then you can freely move it where you want. Press the ‘ key again and the blue block disappears and the Transform, once again, works as a transform.

Thanks for the tip!

PS: I wonder if you could emulate Blender’s 3D cursor using this technique? I always liked the cursor and snap options in that package.

Hello,

I'm having the same issue. However, I'm runnning on a german system and have trouble using the ' key to get the desired result. Can you tell me how the action is called that the key is mapped to, so I can look it up manually in my hotkeys preferences? Thanks a lot!

Hello,

I'm having the same issue. However, I'm runnning on a german system and have trouble using the ' key to get the desired result. Can you tell me how the action is called that the key is mapped to, so I can look it up manually in my hotkeys preferences? Thanks a lot!

8BitBeard
Hello,

I'm having the same issue. However, I'm runnning on a german system and have trouble using the ' key to get the desired result. Can you tell me how the action is called that the key is mapped to, so I can look it up manually in my hotkeys preferences? Thanks a lot!

in hotkey manager, start in context of Houdini-> panes -> geometry viewers -> handles -> transform handle -> TOGGLE HANDLE-GEOMETRY DETACHMENT is the one you are looking for, though not sure how it may be phrased in German.

Eric Lindell

8BitBeard
Hello,

I'm having the same issue. However, I'm runnning on a german system and have trouble using the ' key to get the desired result. Can you tell me how the action is called that the key is mapped to, so I can look it up manually in my hotkeys preferences? Thanks a lot!

in hotkey manager, start in context of Houdini-> panes -> geometry viewers -> handles -> transform handle -> TOGGLE HANDLE-GEOMETRY DETACHMENT is the one you are looking for, though not sure how it may be phrased in German.

Sorry I´ve been away from my computer for a while. But Eric seems to have you covered

On that note I feel we lack a good course on hard surface modeling in Houdini. I feel the program could be really fun to use building spaceships, vehicles, etc. But like any other program you need to get used to the tools. Any recommendations?

Nicolas Heluani

Eric Lindell

8BitBeard
Hello,

I'm having the same issue. However, I'm runnning on a german system and have trouble using the ' key to get the desired result. Can you tell me how the action is called that the key is mapped to, so I can look it up manually in my hotkeys preferences? Thanks a lot!

in hotkey manager, start in context of Houdini-> panes -> geometry viewers -> handles -> transform handle -> TOGGLE HANDLE-GEOMETRY DETACHMENT is the one you are looking for, though not sure how it may be phrased in German.

Sorry I´ve been away from my computer for a while. But Eric seems to have you covered

On that note I feel we lack a good course on hard surface modeling in Houdini. I feel the program could be really fun to use building spaceships, vehicles, etc. But like any other program you need to get used to the tools. Any recommendations?

Rohan Dalvi does some good houdini tutorials, I haven't watched this one yet though
http://www.rohandalvi.net/advmodeling [rohandalvi.net]

Eric Lindell

8BitBeard
Hello,

I'm having the same issue. However, I'm runnning on a german system and have trouble using the ' key to get the desired result. Can you tell me how the action is called that the key is mapped to, so I can look it up manually in my hotkeys preferences? Thanks a lot!

in hotkey manager, start in context of Houdini-> panes -> geometry viewers -> handles -> transform handle -> TOGGLE HANDLE-GEOMETRY DETACHMENT is the one you are looking for, though not sure how it may be phrased in German.

oh god thank you so much. This may be one of my most used functions before switching to Houdini and I really missed it.

Interesting…the ‘ key doesn’t do anything on my system, even though my hotkey manager is showing what 8B mentioned.

Maybe I'm not using a setup that would show it?