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I find myself doing the following quite often:

  1. go into edit mode
  2. select a single vertex
  3. press Space to enter the search menu
  4. type cur

  5. select Set cursor to active

    Set cursor to active

  6. leave edit mode
  7. press Shift+Ctrl+Alt+C to get the set origin choices

  8. Choose Set origin to 3D cursor

    Set origin to 3D cursor

This seems like a very tedious process to me. I'm sure there's a shorter version of setting the origin to a vertex. Please tell me how to make this process more efficient.

I am open to installing an Addon if necessary.

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    $\begingroup$ OK, but I hope somebody will give a more complete answer, because i do this steps quite often too and a way to automate it would be handy. $\endgroup$
    – thibsert
    Commented Mar 16, 2019 at 12:29
  • $\begingroup$ I don't think there is any built-in way as of 2.79. There were talks it will be In 2.8. With addons it can be made faster, like with Dynamic Context menu (built-in one), see blender.stackexchange.com/a/71319/1245. There are also some 3-rd party addons as well though their workable state is to be checked $\endgroup$
    – Mr Zak
    Commented Mar 16, 2019 at 12:55
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    $\begingroup$ Related: blender.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2387/… $\endgroup$
    – batFINGER
    Commented Mar 16, 2019 at 17:43

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
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Steps 3/4/5 can be replaced by Shift+S (for Snapping) / O.

Step 8 can be replaced by T. In general, you can look for underlined letters in such menus.

I also wrote an add-on to automate the process: OriginToSelection.py.

Install the add-on via User Preferences / Add-ons / Install from file, don't forget to activate it (check the box before its name). Press Spacebar and search Origin, then select Origin To Selection.

Be careful, I'm new to publishing add-ons and I'm pretty sure it can cause crashes. Save your work before using!

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  • $\begingroup$ The plugin is cool. Works fine so far. $\endgroup$
    – Thomas Weller
    Commented Mar 16, 2019 at 13:30
  • $\begingroup$ It works but is insecure (ie, it drops an error if used in Object mode), and i can't guarantee it won't crash Blender. Using Dynamic Context as suggested by Mr Zak seems way better (and it's build-in). $\endgroup$
    – thibsert
    Commented Mar 16, 2019 at 13:39
  • $\begingroup$ I wonder why the bother with the context overriding in your addon. Consider having it poll only when in 3d view and edit mode. As it is it will fail silently when run when no 3d views in screen. $\endgroup$
    – batFINGER
    Commented Mar 16, 2019 at 15:29
  • $\begingroup$ I still don't understand that context thing really well. Before packing it as an addon I was running it trough the script window, so the overriding was necessary (I think?). You say it's safe to remove it ? Edit : it works well without it, thank you! $\endgroup$
    – thibsert
    Commented Mar 16, 2019 at 15:35
  • $\begingroup$ Can override going the other way when testing in the text editor, ie if __name__ == "__main__": bpy.ops.my_new.operator(ctx, 'INVOKE_DEFAULT') $\endgroup$
    – batFINGER
    Commented Mar 16, 2019 at 19:32
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Little bmesh helper script.

The process to move the origin involves making the new point the origin by subtracting it from all other verts, effectively making the point origin (0, 0, 0),

Finally translate the matrix world of the object, in the opposite direction, such that the global location of vertices stays the same, ie move the object by the difference in global coordinate of the point to the former origin.

mw.translation += mw @ pt - mw @ Vector()

or since mw @ Vector() == mw.translation can set the translation to

mw.translation = mw @ pt

Run in edit mode. Moves origin to selected geo.

import bpy
import bmesh
from mathutils import Vector
context = bpy.context

ob = context.edit_object
mw = ob.matrix_world
me = ob.data
bm = bmesh.from_edit_mesh(me)

selverts = [v.co for v in bm.verts if v.select]
if len(selverts):
    pt = sum(selverts, Vector()) / len(selverts)
    #T = Matrix.Translation(-pt)
    bmesh.ops.translate(bm, vec=-pt, verts=bm.verts)
    mw.translation = mw @ pt # replace @ with * for 2.7x
bmesh.update_edit_mesh(me)

As an addon for 2.80

enter image description here

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  • $\begingroup$ does it work for blender 2.78a,2.79? $\endgroup$
    – Michael_Ben_David
    Commented Mar 16, 2019 at 19:13
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    $\begingroup$ Without testing (library upgrades for 2.80 have bombed my 2.79 build, too lazy to fix atm) Pretty sure the required changes to make it work for 2.7x is replacing any @ with * and change the version accordingly in bl_info $\endgroup$
    – batFINGER
    Commented Mar 16, 2019 at 19:16
  • $\begingroup$ well anyways the other addon works for me too $\endgroup$
    – Michael_Ben_David
    Commented Mar 16, 2019 at 19:19
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    $\begingroup$ Yes this one is by no means better, simply more "mesh-centric". The other addon in theory will also work for other types like curve and armature too. Script wise wanted to show how to do this without toggling edit mode, which can mean death to an edit bmesh. $\endgroup$
    – batFINGER
    Commented Mar 16, 2019 at 19:24
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    $\begingroup$ This one also works better with the Undo logic of Blender. As the Undo history is independent in Edit and Object mode, the other addon leads to a hard to predict behavior when using Undo. $\endgroup$
    – thibsert
    Commented Mar 16, 2019 at 23:02

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