# Is there a way to assign an object to coordinates on the local axis using Python?

The current task I'm working on is moving objects in 4 basic relative directions. By using the local axes this can be accomplished relatively easy through View3d port.

However to script this behavior I can't figure out how to directly set coordinates in local space. The command "object.location" seems to always work in global coordinates. If I want to move, rotate, etc I can do this (or equivalent):

bpy.ops.transform.translate(value=(0,1,0), orient_type='LOCAL')


But I don't want to move objects, instead I want to place them. For instance in this picture the y-axis is flipped. The above command would correctly move it down one unit.

However I'm currently working with numbers that represent the actual location, so if I enter:

object.location[1] = 1


I would want the same action - moving down one unit. Is there a way to do that (outside of calculating world space coordinates and moving accordingly)?

This behavior is consistent no matter where I place the object origin or apply location transformations. It changes the relative coordinates but not the direction in which the axis is applied.

• Anyone have pointers in the right direction? Would solve quite a few problems for me if I knew how to get coordinates in orientation to the local axis (as opposed to relative to the local origin). – Sam Vimes Sep 27 '19 at 21:05

Believe this is the answer... although there may be better solutions.

In essence when the local x and y axes are flipped then the matrix looks like this:

>>> cab.matrix_world
Matrix(((-1.0, 1.5099580252808664e-07, 0.0, 0.0),
(-1.5099580252808664e-07, -1.0, 0.0, -0.12700000405311584),
(0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0),
(0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0)))


The key values there being the scale values which represent the flipped axes. So this axis is determined the following way:

matrix = cab.matrix_world
axis = (matrix[0][0], matrix[1][1], matrix[2][2])
axis = (-1, -1, 1)


Then to get the relative local coordinates the scale factor has to be multiplied by the local coordinates:

x = cab.location[0] * axis[0]
y = cab.location[1] * axis[1]
z = cab.location[2] * axis[2]


This gives x,y,z as if the whole coordinate system revolved around the local axis (instead of having local coordinates still being given in relation to a parent). This may only work in cases of the axes being flipped, since other rotations use more of the matrix (haven't got that far yet).

The reason I need this work in terms of location as opposed to translation is due to the fact that I keep an offset slider parameter for the user, which is the distance from the wall. Applying this slider to a translation does not work correctly, while being able to use the local axis with relative distance does.

If there are better solutions to this I'll update/replace this answer. However the answers I could find dealt with using local axes with translation, rotation, etc.