Object movement with the mouse

Next to modifying object poses through the coordinate and transformation dialog, objects can also directly be manipulated using the mouse: when objects (and some items) are selected, then they can be translated or rotated using following toolbar buttons:

[Manipulation toolbar buttons (position and orientation)]

By default, translation is performed in the world's X-Y plane. It can also be performed along a different axis/plane and relative to a different reference frame for each individual object, depending on the settings in the position dialog. A cyan overlay drawing indicates the current translation plane or axis.

By default, rotation is performed around the object's own Z axis. It can also be performed around a different axis or relative to a different reference frame for each individual object, depending on the settings in the orientation dialog. An overlay drawing indicates the current rotation axis.

Default translation and rotation step sizes (snapping) can be adjusted in the user settings dialog, but it is recommended to keep values of 5 centimeters and 5 degrees respectively, or to set the step sizes for objects on an individual basis. Snapping can temporarily be disabled by holding down the shift-key AFTER the mouse button was pressed down during object manipulation. In a similar way, alternative translation or rotation axes can be temporarily activated by holding down the ctrl-key AFTER the mouse button was pressed down during object manipulation.

The object/item translation toolbar button can also be used when the simulator is in the vertex edit mode.