I would like to measure the distance between the yellow points in this image:
How can I do it?
My goal is to cut the cube using the plane, but I must set a precise distance between the plane and the square's corner.
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4 Answers
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You can use the Ruler/Protractor. As of Blender 2.80 the operator was renamed to Measure but it acts like the same way. Good news is that the Measure tool is now directly accessible from 3d View as part of the main Tool Shelf (T) and via ShiftSpacebarM hotkey.
Measure (Blender 2.80+) vs Ruler/Protractor (Blender 2.79)
If you hold down Ctrl while dragging the second marker, the cursor should snap to the intersection point in order to measure the correct distance. With this you can also snap to the edge of the cube and set the desired length:
After that switch into Edit Mode and insert a new Edge Loop (Ctrl+R) into the right spot:
Note: For illustration purposes I've chosen Perspective Views, but Orthographic Views probably more useful to work with in this situation.
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3$\begingroup$ Thanks a lot @poor, I could not find the Ruler/Protactor tool first because I had an old version of Blender. So I downloaded the last one (2.72 version) and now it works perfectly ! What a useful tool ! $\endgroup$– hyperbahCommented Dec 11, 2014 at 17:43
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1$\begingroup$ I have a question. If I use ctrl+click I can snap second marker on a vertex. But I don't know how I can snap first marker. $\endgroup$– 나미손Commented Sep 21, 2019 at 17:39
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If the section of the cut-off happens to be an isosceles triangle, you can simply use Bevel tool to "cut" precisely.
- CtrlB to bevel selected edge;
- Use Offset as bevel type, the amount is how much you want to cut off the edge.
If both lengths are different, you may consider manually translate or slide one of them after beveling.
Another way to do this precisely is as follow: (I'll try to make a text version asap)
Assuming you want different offsets for both sides, one is 0.5, another one is 0.3:
Another related answer is worth to read: How to set a specific edge length numerically
answered Dec 10, 2014 at 11:44
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$\begingroup$ Nice. Simple and easy, but it only works if both sides have the same lenghts. Although 2 lengths are shown in the picture it is unclear whether they are the same. $\endgroup$– p2orCommented Dec 10, 2014 at 20:19
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$\begingroup$ Thanks a lot @LeonCheung, I'm not using the Bevel tool because my triangle isn't isoscele. The second method is very precise too and pretty straightforward. I finally used the Ruler/Protector tool and then added a difference Boolean modifier. It works fine. Thanks again $\endgroup$– hyperbahCommented Dec 11, 2014 at 17:50
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$\begingroup$ Not related to the question, but how do you create those gif demonstration? Is there a tool in blender to do this? I find it incredibly useful. $\endgroup$– GimlyCommented Dec 15, 2015 at 12:59
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1$\begingroup$ @Gimly Blender has a built-in screencast recorder. After that, you can pick whatever frames you want then edit in Gimp or PS, then merge and in other GIF software. I personally use GIF Animator. Hope it helps. $\endgroup$ Commented Dec 15, 2015 at 16:26
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You could also do a Difference Boolean Modifier. It's fairly straight forward and useful for creating things like holes though solid geometry (windows is one good example).
The great thing here is that it can be done with a few clicks without taking into accounting measuring sides, just position the two objects as you want them to be.
Process:
- Cube and Plane
- Add Boolean Modifier and change to Difference, then select the Plane as the object to Boolean the Cube with. I had to flip the normal of the plane to get it to work like you want it to.
- Apply Modifier and hide the Plane.
- In Edit Mode enable Edge Info on the Mesh Display section.
Note: I rarely use the Boolean Modifier until after I'm finished texturing all objects in the scene. This is because the Boolean modifier preserves the Materials and UVs from both objects. This saves me some time because I don't have to spend so much time UV mapping complex geometry and can instead work with more primitive shapes and large, simple UV islands.
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$\begingroup$ This isn't really answering the question as it stands, but method here could be useful to the op in addition to a measuring tool as the the plane can be moved even after the boolean modifier is enabled $\endgroup$– WeaverCommented Dec 10, 2014 at 20:07
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$\begingroup$ Ah, I need to read more carefully. Either way, the options given in all the responses would work splendidly. As you say, the Boolean is mostly for adjusting geometry after measurement, alongside adding extra details to models. $\endgroup$– TRBlountCommented Dec 10, 2014 at 23:13
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$\begingroup$ Thank you @FSLuaGuy, I followed this method to cut the rectangle and it works perfectly! I also measured the distance between the rectangle's corner and the plane, which was my first problem, by using the Ruler/Protactor tool. $\endgroup$– hyperbahCommented Dec 11, 2014 at 17:55
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3$\begingroup$ @FSLuaGuy the links to your images have disappeared. Please use the built in tools on this site to upload images. $\endgroup$– user1853Commented Oct 24, 2015 at 2:54
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There is an add_on called caliper (see this on how to download and install) designed to measure things in blender. Very simple to use: it has two empties that you can position and it creates a text with the distance. Not very pretty... but useful...
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1$\begingroup$ The first link is broken (Google Code was shut down in January 2016). $\endgroup$ Commented Nov 28, 2016 at 17:11
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$\begingroup$ @PeterMortensen thanks for pointing that out. The link has been fixed to the current host. $\endgroup$– user1853Commented Nov 28, 2016 at 17:19