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I'm a total noob to Blender.
I have a plate that I designed in CAD and imported into Blender as an stl. I would like to align the plate to a vase (also designed in CAD and imported as an sty), however the plate's origin is not perpendicular to the face. Using various tutorials, I tried to transform the origin (Object>Set Origin>Origin to Geometry, Origin to 3D Cursor), but I can't seem to make it work, it remains askew relative to the plate's surface, and never at the center. Plate with origin not normal to the surface Plate with nodes Vase and plate to align Any suggestions on how to align the plate's origin at the plate's center and with the normal perpendicular to the surface ? I've spent about 4 hours and watched about 10 videos but none seem to address my issue or work as proposed.
Many thanks in advance !

Thank you @moonboots for the clear, step-by-step instructions. I manually selected every node on the outer rim of the plate in edit mode.

Plate with outer rim selected Below is the result. I then go into object mode and Object>Set Origin>Origin to 3D Cursor.

Just a note, when I am in object mode, the circle doesn't seem to be selected.

Plate in object mode

Below is the result: Resulting orientation

It is much better but the origins are not yet fully aligned with the surface, as you can see. I performed the steps twice, both times with the same result.
Just a note, the origin isn't on the surface, but below. I don't know if that indicates something ?

I'm using v3.7, my graphics card isn't advanced enough for v4.2 it seems.

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  • $\begingroup$ The Set Origin options only set the location of the origin (or in case of choosing Geometry to Origin the geometry's location), they do not align any rotation (or scale) to anything, because for your eyes it may be obvious how the plate is correctly aligned, but Blender has no idea if it should not actually be exactly as it is. The other thing is: why did you design it with this arbitrary rotation? But what I see in the first screenshot is, the object has rotation values different from 0° - why not simply set them all to 0°? Or clear the rotation with Alt+R? $\endgroup$
    – Gordon Brinkmann
    Commented Sep 24 at 7:36
  • $\begingroup$ Quick side note: you cannot see Edit Mode selections in Object Mode, that is absolutely normal. In your description you say you set the origin to cursor, but you mention nowhere that you did those Transform Orientation steps which @moonboots explains in his answer. Have you only set the origin or did you do the rest as well? Because the orientation at the end looks to me like before in Edit Mode with the selected edge loop. $\endgroup$
    – Gordon Brinkmann
    Commented Sep 24 at 10:22

1 Answer 1

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First thing, to put the origin at the circle's center, select an outer edge, press ShiftS > Cursor to Selected:

enter image description here

Then in Object mode, right click and > Set Origin > Origin to 3D Cursor:

enter image description here

Now, for the orientation, keep the circle selected and create a new orientation in the Transform Orientations panel:

enter image description here

Back to Object mode, in the Options panel, activate the Transform Affect Only > Origin option:

enter image description here

Then go into the Object panel > Align > Align to Transform Orientation:

enter image description here

Your origin is now aligned with the orientation, deactivate the Transform Affect Only > Origin option, to align the object with the global axis, press AltR.

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  • $\begingroup$ Since question and answer have no specified Blender version, it may be worth noting that since Blender 4.2 it is much easier to set the origin to the selection, no need to use the 3D cursor and switching to Object Mode: after selecting the outer circle in Edit Mode, right-click and choose Snap Vertices > Origin to Selected from the context menu if you are in Vertex Select mode, or no matter in which selection mode you are you can choose from the menu Mesh > Snap > Origin to Selected. $\endgroup$
    – Gordon Brinkmann
    Commented Sep 24 at 7:56
  • $\begingroup$ Sorry, that's nonsense...? If you make the same selection of vertices (for example, only the outer loop of vertices), you get the same locations for cursor and origin with both methods: Cursor to Selected vs. Origin to Selected. So it depends on what you select if the origin will be at the center of the circle afterwards, not on the method. Here the values, I've selected the fields so that all decimal places are shown: location values $\endgroup$
    – Gordon Brinkmann
    Commented Sep 24 at 8:35
  • $\begingroup$ I guess you need to read my explanation again... I do not say anything about Geometry to Origin. $\endgroup$
    – Gordon Brinkmann
    Commented Sep 24 at 8:59
  • $\begingroup$ Edit: OK my bad now i understand, but I can't find the option in 4.2.1 $\endgroup$
    – moonboots
    Commented Sep 24 at 9:18
  • $\begingroup$ When you are in Edit Mode with Vertex Select you can find it by right-click context menu: context menu > snap vertices and in all selection modes no matter if vertex, edge or face you will find it in the Mesh menu under Snap: mesh > snap. $\endgroup$
    – Gordon Brinkmann
    Commented Sep 24 at 9:27

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