The Coordinate Display area shows the position of the cursor or the status of a transform and lets you enter new transform values.
The information in these fields varies, depending on what you are doing:
- When you are simply moving the mouse in a viewport, these fields show the current cursor location in absolute world coordinates.
- While you are creating an object, these fields also show the current cursor location in absolute world coordinates.
- While you are transforming an object by dragging in a viewport, these fields always show coordinates relative to the object's coordinates before the transformation was started.
While you are transforming an object, these fields change to spinners, and you can type values directly into them. This is an easy alternative to using the Transform Type-In dialog.
- While a transform button is active and a single object is selected, but you are not dragging the object, these fields show the absolute coordinates for the current transform. See “Interface,” below.
- While a transform button is active and multiple objects are selected, these fields are blank.
- When no object is selected and the cursor is not over the active viewport, these fields are blank.
Procedures
To display the position of the mouse in feet or metric units:
- Choose Customize
Units Setup.
- Turn on one of the main categories (Metric, US Standard, Custom, or Generic Units) and choose from the drop-down list.
The coordinate display is now in labeled units.
Example: To position an object in the center of the world:
- In a viewport,
select an object.
- Right-click and choose Move from the quad menu.
- Select the value in the x coordinate field, then enter 0. Press Tab.
- Type 0 in the Y coordinate field, and press Tab.
- Type
0 in the Z coordinate field.
Tip: Right-clicking the spinner arrows for a coordinate sets the value to zero.
Interface
One way to transform an object is to enter coordinates directly in the Coordinate Display fields from the keyboard. You can do this in either of two modes: Absolute or Offset.
Click the Absolute or Offset button to toggle between the modes:
Absolute sets the exact coordinates of the object in world space.
Offset transforms the object relative to its existing coordinates.
While typing in the Coordinate Display fields (X,Y,Z), you can use the Tab key to move from one coordinate field to another.
When you transform an object, the information shown by these fields depends on the type of transform:
- Move displays the offset XYZ coordinates based on the current coordinate system. For example, if you're moving an object and you're constrained to the X axis, only the X readout will change, displaying the offset of the move along the local X axis.
- Rotate displays the offset angle in degrees about the axis or axes the rotation is performed around. This is dependent on both the axis coordinate system, and the local/center toggle button.
- Scale displays the offset XYZ scale in percentages.
You can get the absolute as well as offset information through the Transform Type-In dialog available on the Edit menu or by right-clicking a transform tool button on the main toolbar.