Rotate Gizmo

[Mister Kerman]

Hi, I was wondering if there's a surefire way to make sure something is perfectly "straight" when you rotate something.

 

Generally when you build something in the VAB or SPH, the root part will by default face North(..?). All assumptions aside, there is no reference point for the editor to determine which way is the "right" way for something to face when you're adjusting the rotation.

 

Example: I have a tail fuselage part (The cone shaped tail, I don't remember what it's called.) which I would like to attach fixed landing gear to with mirror symmetry. Because there is an angle and it is not perfectly straight (in regards to which direction the rest of the plane is facing), I'm forced to eyeball the angle when adjusting it with the roatation gizmo. This can be a little bit off if I don't do it perfect, resulting in catastrophic unplanned disassembly on the runway.

 

If a part is facing the usual 90° incriments and made of right angles (such as a cylindrical fuel tank or structural piece etc.) this isn't an issue and you can rotate with the "angle snap" activated which always snaps it into the right position easily.

 

Am I stuck eyballing degree by degree if right angled parts aren't used or is there a better way?

 

ALSO: When I adjust their position with the "move" gizmo, landing gear tends to act super crazy and floats to a new spot usually not attached to the craft, and I can't tweek it to go where I want, generally forcing me to leave it wherever I place it originally. I can still rotate them fine, but it's very troublesome if their exact position on the craft matters... Which of course it always does. Anyone have a trick for getting around that?

Edited July 3, 2016 by Mister Kerman

[FullMetalMachinist]

Select the rotate gizmo (or press '3'), then select the part you want to rotate. Press 'c' to toggle angle snap on and off (the indicator is next to the symmetry indicator, snap on is a hex, snap off is a circle). Make sure angle snap is on, and then press 'f' to toggle between 'local' and 'absolute' rotation modes. Put it in absolute mode, then the angle snaps line up with the global coordinates and will be perfectly straight when you rotate the part. 

7 minutes ago, JHadden123 said:

ALSO: When I adjust their position with the "move" gizmo, langing gear tends to act super crazy and floats to a new spot usually not attached to the craft, and I can't tweek it to go where I want, generally forcing me to leave it wherever I place it originally. I can still rotate them fine, but it's very troublesome if their exact position on the craft matters... Which of course it always does. Anyone have a trick for getting around that?

I have also had trouble with this, but haven't looked into it to see if it's a reported bug. I'm interested to see if anyone else has this problem. 

[Greenfire32]

FullMetal's got you covered on the main stuff. As for the floating attachment problem when you go to rotate something, I find that if you turn angle-snap off before you rotate, that effect is lessened quite heavily. Completely gone in most instances.

[Mister Kerman]

Haha dangit. You managed to quote my spelling error. I thought I was going to fix it all sneaky-like... Anyways thanks for the speedy reply!

 

I'm leaving this topic unanswered until one comes along. Probably just another bug we'll have to learn to live with until SQUAD squashes it; even if they have tiny boots on and have to stomp on it a few times until it's actually dead.

Edited July 3, 2016 by Mister Kerman

[Jimbo Jangles]

5 hours ago, JHadden123 said:

ALSO: When I adjust their position with the "move" gizmo, landing gear tends to act super crazy and floats to a new spot usually not attached to the craft, and I can't tweek it to go where I want, generally forcing me to leave it wherever I place it originally. I can still rotate them fine, but it's very troublesome if their exact position on the craft matters... Which of course it always does. Anyone have a trick for getting around that?

I have seen this happen many times, but not just when attaching landing gear. For me it seems to depend more on the part I'm attaching to, not the part being attached. For instance, an I-beam will almost always have errors when attaching another part and using the move gizmo, but a fuel tank hasn't caused it once.