Quick way to move an object some distance from one external vertex to another external vertex?

Question

I'm trying to move away from Autodesk Max, but I work with a lot of 2d plans, and one thing that I do very very often is to move an object ( or vertices of one object ) a distance x, taking as reference two vertices of another object ( or different objects ).

I know that I can do this in Blender using the 3d cursor, but there's three steps involved, and as I said I do this a few hundred times per day. Is there any way ( even if it's an addon ) to do it faster, without middle steps, like in this animation ( from 3dsmax ):

Answer 1

A basic script for doing nearly the same (in object mode):

It is visually different as the object will move at first step then at the second one.

But the result is as expected, I think.

Use D key to use it. You can use Blender snapping options (i.e. snap to vertex) or not.

The principle is to use grab operator with invoke default from a modal operator:

import bpy
from mathutils import Vector

class GrabOffset(bpy.types.Operator):
    """Move an object by an offset"""
    bl_idname = "object.grab_offset"
    bl_label = "Grab with offset"

    def modal(self, context, event):

        #Left click
        if event.type in {'LEFTMOUSE'}:
            #Second left click?
            if self.second_locations:
                #Calculate delta and move objects
                for obj, floc, sloc in zip(context.selected_objects, self.first_locations, self.second_locations):
                    obj.location = floc + obj.location - sloc
                return {'FINISHED'}
            #First left click
            else:
                #Keep locations
                self.second_locations = [Vector(o.location) for o in context.selected_objects]
                bpy.ops.transform.translate('INVOKE_DEFAULT')

        #Aborting
        if event.type in {'RIGHTMOUSE', 'ESC'}:
            context.object.location = self.first_location
            return {'CANCELLED'}

        return {'RUNNING_MODAL'}

    def invoke(self, context, event):
        if context.selected_objects:
            #Keep original locations
            self.first_locations = [Vector(o.location) for o in context.selected_objects]
            self.second_locations = None

            context.window_manager.modal_handler_add(self)
            
            #Invoke grab
            bpy.ops.transform.translate('INVOKE_DEFAULT')
            
            return {'RUNNING_MODAL'}
        else:
            self.report({'WARNING'}, "No active object, could not finish")
            return {'CANCELLED'}

keymaps = []

def register():
    bpy.utils.register_class(GrabOffset)
    wm = bpy.context.window_manager
    kc = wm.keyconfigs.addon
    if kc:
        km = wm.keyconfigs.addon.keymaps.new(name='3D View', space_type='VIEW_3D')
        kmi = km.keymap_items.new(GrabOffset.bl_idname, 'D', 'PRESS', shift=False)
        keymaps.append((km, kmi))

def unregister():
    for km, kmi in keymaps:
        km.keymap_items.remove(kmi)
    keymaps.clear()
    bpy.utils.unregister_class(GrabOffset)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    register()

    # test call
    #bpy.ops.object.modal_operator('INVOKE_DEFAULT')

Answer 2

In Blender the 'Snap With' > Center refers to the transform center in play at the time the snap is invoked. If Transform Pivot Point is set to '3D Cursor', then, with Snap set to With: 'Center' and To: 'Vertex', for an Object Mode snap, the steps are:

• Place the cursor at the source reference point. This could be done with ShiftS to the appropriate selected vertex in Edit mode, or, in Object mode, dragging and snapping the cursor itself, using the Cursor tool. If the Cursor tool's default shortcut: ShiftSpacebarSpacebar, is too awkward for frequent use, you can change it, and/or add it to your Quick Menu.
• Drag the object, hovering over the desired target point.

(A duplicate used, here, for illustration.)

Answer 3

Maybe there's a cleaner way to do it but you could select all the objects, switch to Edit mode, enable the vertex snapping option (CtrlShiftTab to choose the vertex option), select these 5 vertices and duplicate:

Answer 4

They finally added this on Blender 3.5

Now you just need to grab g the object to move, then press b and select the origin vertex and finally just click the destination vertext.

( if you want to change the snapping method in the middle just press ctrlshifttab