Placing objects
Prerequisites
A model must already be in the scene. Import one with File ▸ Import 3D Model… (Ctrl+I) or drag an asset from the Library into the viewport.
The Drag tool
Press Y to activate the Drag tool, or click the Drag button in the viewport's left-edge tool strip.
Click and drag an object in the viewport to reposition it. The object moves according to the active drag mode.
To leave Drag, choose another tool by pressing Q, W, E, R or T.
What the Drag tool moves
By default, dragging a part moves its whole top-level assembly — dragging a bolt moves the entire product it belongs to.
- Hold Shift as you start the drag to move only the part you clicked.
- Hold Ctrl to move the group that directly contains the part.
- If both Shift and Ctrl are held, Shift wins (the narrower scope).
The Drag tool is refused with a message in these situations:
- "Drag: … is locked" — the part or an ancestor is locked.
- "Drag: … is set immovable" — the Immovable flag is on in the Object panel.
- "Drag: turn on rec in the Animation panel to move this animated object" — the part has keyframes, Record is off, and there is no active composition.
Drag modes
Two modes control how a dragged part moves. Right-click the Drag button to choose the mode; the status bar confirms the active mode.
Surface crawl — "Follow nearby surfaces, climb curves and slide around obstacles." The object's base stays on the nearest surface as you drag.
Surface placement (simple) — "Place the object's base directly on the face under the pointer." The object snaps to the face directly below the pointer.
Over empty space
When the pointer is over empty space, the Drag tool falls through to camera navigation — middle-drag pans and right-drag dollies as normal. The Alt key retains camera orbit in the Maya navigation profile.
Snap and gizmo precision
Snap to Increments applies to Move, Rotate and Scale gizmo drags, not to the Drag tool.
While dragging a gizmo handle:
- Hold Ctrl to temporarily invert snap for that drag.
- Hold Shift for finer precision steps (controlled by Precision divisor in snap settings).
Access snap settings: right-click the Snap button in the viewport rail, or Edit ▸ Settings… ▸ Viewport / Gizmos ▸ Snapping (Move step, Angle step, Scale step, Precision divisor).
Numeric transform
Edit ▸ Transform… (Ctrl+T) opens a dialog for entering position, rotation and scale values.
Limits:
- Applies to the last-selected part only. "Select a part first" appears if nothing is selected.
- Scale: the three axis fields are averaged into one uniform scale. Non-uniform scale entered in individual fields is averaged.
Keyboard nudge
With a part selected (and focus not in the Animation panel, the Outliner or a text field), these keys move or rotate it:
| Key | Action | Step size |
|---|---|---|
| Arrow keys | Translate ±X / ±Y | 0.25 world units |
| Page Up / Page Down | Translate ±Z | 0.25 world units |
| Shift + Arrow | Rotate around Z and X axes | 5° |
| Shift + Page Up/Down | Rotate around Y axis | 5° |
| Shift + + / − | Scale uniformly | 5% |
Note: when the Animation panel has focus, the arrow keys step through frames instead of nudging. When the Outliner has focus, the arrow keys navigate the tree.
Align to floor or another object
Right-click a part in the Outliner and choose Align ▸ for these options:
| Command | Action |
|---|---|
| To Floor | Move the part so its lowest point rests on Z = 0 |
| To Home | Drop the part to Z = 0 and centre it at the world origin |
| To Object Below | Drop the part onto the top surface of the object directly below it; falls back to Z = 0 when nothing is below |
| To Ground (orient) | Rotate the part onto a stable face, then drop it to Z = 0 |
| Restore CAD Parent and Placement | Restore the CAD-authored parent assignment and position (keeps animation) |
| Restore Initial Import Placement | Return to the position at initial import (keeps animation) |
| Restore Initial Parent and Placement | Restore both the parent and position at initial import (keeps animation) |
| Reset to CAD Position | Return the part to the position it had in the source CAD file (keeps animation) |
Follow Original CAD Assembly, Bake Follow over Work Area and the two custom-rest commands are in Align ▸ for eligible imported parts. Break Placement Link (Keep Pose) appears on any attached part.
Align ▸ is disabled for locked rows ("Locked — unlock the row to move it").
The Immovable flag (Object panel) blocks drag, gizmo movement and all Align commands.
Follow an imported assembly
These tools use assembly placement data already imported into the document. They work in the active composition and keep the part's own animation editable.
- Select an unlocked, movable imported part in the Outliner. Its original imported assembly must still exist.
- Right-click and choose Align ▸ Follow Original CAD Assembly.
- The part follows that assembly's evaluated motion while keeping its current location in the Outliner tree. Check the chain badge and placement tooltip, then scrub the timeline to inspect the result.
If the import has no stored attachment, the app reports Placement cancelled: Original CAD attachment is unavailable. A missing assembly, a dependency cycle or a transform that cannot be resolved also causes a refusal. The status bar explains the reason.
To detach at a particular pose, move the playhead there and choose Align ▸ Break Placement Link (Keep Pose). This removes the follow dependency or baked attachment while preserving the current pose and the part's own animation.
Bake the assembly motion
- Select a part that currently follows its imported assembly.
- Set the animation work area's start and end. If no work area is set, VIZid uses the composition's animation range.
- Choose Align ▸ Bake Follow over Work Area.
- Inspect the new Baked placement position, Baked placement rotation and Baked placement scale channels in the Animation panel. The status bar reports the sample count and baked range.
The bake replaces the follow dependency with editable placement offsets. It preserves the original part channels and still inherits motion from the part's current organisational parent. Outside the baked range, the placement offsets hold their endpoint values; other animation can continue.
Bake step and Bake error in Settings ▸ System ▸ CAD Bridge control sampling and tolerance. A bake can be refused if the transforms cannot be represented or the requested sampling exceeds the limit. A refusal leaves the previous placement intact. Ctrl+Z restores the follow dependency after a successful bake.
Capture and restore a custom rest pose
- Move the playhead to the pose you want to keep. If the part has a placement attachment, use Break Placement Link (Keep Pose) first.
- Choose Align ▸ Capture Custom Rest Pose. The saved pose belongs to this composition and keeps its reference assembly.
- Later, select the part and choose Align ▸ Restore Custom Rest Pose at the desired playhead position. VIZid restores it relative to that reference assembly, retaining existing keys and the current Outliner parent.
Restore refuses if no rest pose has been captured in the active composition or its reference assembly is missing. Each successful placement operation above is one undo step. When operating on several selected parts, a refusal cancels the operation for the whole selection.
Mates
A mate is a geometric relationship record between two parts: an axis alignment (two shafts run on the same line) or a face coincidence (two planar faces sit flush). Creating a mate applies a one-shot snap: the first part you pick moves into position against the second, stationary target.
Mates snap the moving part once; they are not a constraint solver. Check the result after each mate and press Ctrl+Z if a part does not seat as expected.
Access
Right-click a selected part in the viewport and open Mate, near the bottom of the menu, above Delete.
Align Axis to Axis… and Mate Face to Face… are available only when exactly one part is selected. Otherwise they are greyed, with the tooltip select exactly one part to mate.
The mate commands are also greyed while a group is selected (a group row in the Outliner, Ctrl+click or Ctrl+Shift+click in the viewport, or Edit ▸ Select All Parts). The selected part does not have to be one of the two mated parts: the clicks decide which parts are mated.
| Item | When shown | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Align Axis to Axis… | always (enabled for exactly one selected part) | arms an axis mate (two clicks): click a round feature (a shaft, pin or bore) on the part that should move, then the matching round feature on the target |
| Mate Face to Face… | always (enabled for exactly one selected part) | arms a face mate (two clicks) |
| Mates Follow Edits (checkbox) | a document is open | on: mated parts re-seat when a move ends; off: mates are records and one-shot snaps only (status bar confirms) |
| Axis mate — ‹part› / Face mate — ‹part› submenu | once per mate on the selected part | contains the four items below; the title ends (unverified) after a re-import changed a mated part, or (unseated) when a follow pass could not seat it, with a greyed Unseated — … line explaining why |
| ↳ Re-snap | every mate | re-applies the one-shot snap to the current positions; Mate is already seated if nothing needs to move; also clears the (unverified) badge |
| ↳ Animate Hinge | axis mates only | see below |
| ↳ Follows Edits (checkbox) | every mate | lets this one mate sit out follow-on-edit |
| ↳ Remove Mate | every mate | removes the record; neither part moves (Removed mate — parts stay where they are) |
| Frames ▸ ‹name› (‹kind›) ▸ Remove Frame | the selected part carries reference frames | removes that frame |
Steps — face mate example
- Select any one part, right-click it and choose Mate ▸ Mate Face to Face…. The pointer becomes a crosshair and the status bar reads Mate: click a flat face on the part that should MOVE (Esc cancels).
- Click a flat face on the part that should move. A guide cross appears on that face and the status bar asks for the matching feature on the target part.
- Click the matching flat face on a different part (the target, which does not move).
- The first part snaps flush against the target. The status bar reads Mated … — snapped once, free DOFs stay free (no solver). Both parts now list the mate in Mate as Face mate — ‹other part›.
Press Esc at any point to cancel. If a feature cannot be fitted, the status bar reads Mate refused on … and the pick stays armed so you can click another feature.
Clicking empty space reads Mate: click a part (nothing under the cursor). Clicking the first part again reads Mate: that is the same part — click a feature on a DIFFERENT part. In both cases the pick stays armed. If the second click would create an impossible combination of mates, the status bar reads Mate refused: … and the pick ends; choose the command again to retry.
Ctrl+Z moves the part back and removes the mate. The two reference frames the mate created stay on the parts; remove them with Mate ▸ Frames ▸ … ▸ Remove Frame if you do not want them. Remove Mate, Re-snap, Remove Frame and Animate Hinge are each one undo step.
If the second pick cancels with Mate cancelled: the moving part refuses edits while recording, the mate was not created.
Steps — animate a hinge
Current-build limitation: Animate Hinge is not yet reliable in documents that use compositions, which includes new documents. Applying it can shift the part, and the part can swing about the wrong line. After applying it, check that the part has not moved, then scrub the timeline to check the swing; press Ctrl+Z if either is wrong.
- Create an axis mate between the hinge lid and its body (Align Axis to Axis…).
- Right-click the lid ▸ Mate ▸ Animate Hinge (listed under the axis mate).
- The lid gets a pivot on the mate axis and a first Rotation Z key at the current frame, so nothing moves yet. Key Rotation Z at other frames to swing it.
The status bar explains a refusal: the part already has rotation or scale keys, already has a custom pivot, or is scaled unevenly. The tooltip shows the same reason before you click.
Related topics
- Selecting objects — select before you place
- Keyboard shortcuts — full key table