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SuperSize is a modeling plugin for Lightwave and Inspire 3D. It allows selected objects to be sized numerically to exact dimensions. It also allows objects to be numerically positioned by any one of 27 bounding handles. The current version of SuperSize is 1.3. Use the About Button to check your version. |
To use SuperSize, first select the points or polygons you wish to modify in the modeler window. If no points or polygons are selected, all of the data on the active layer will be affected. Choosing SuperSize from the plugin menu will present the SuperSize requester shown above from Lightwave 5.x and below from Lightwave 6.x.
The SuperSize requester consists of four distinct rows of inputs:
The Size Numeric Inputs control the final bounding size of the object being edited. Your data will be stretched to fit a box of the requested size exactly. Negative values are acceptable, but you may need to flip the normals of the resulting polygons. The original values of the size inputs will be set to the original size of the object.
Choosing the Constrain Button for a specific axis changes the Size Numeric Input values of the other axes so that the object will be scaled proportionately with the final size specified by the chosen axis. For example if the original size of an object is ("1 m", "3 m", "2 m") changing the Y Size Numeric Input to "6 m" and then choosing the Y Constrain button will set the X and Z size values to "2 m" and "4 m" respectively. This has the effect of scaling the object proportionately by the ratio of the original and chosen Y axis values: 6.0/3.0 = 2.0 while keeping the chosen size of "6 m" for the Y axis.
The Position Numeric Inputs control the final position of one of the bounding handles of your data. A bounding handle may be thought of as one of the points of an invisible 3x3x3 cubic grid stretched tightly over your data. The chosen bounding handle is selected using the Alignment Selectors. The original values of the position inputs will be set to the original position of the selected bounding handle.
The Alignment Selectors choose the bounding handle to be positioned by the Position Numeric Inputs. The X,Y,Z axes may be positioned by the Right/Center/Left, Top/Center/Bottom, Back/Center/Front of the object respectively. There are a total of 27 different unique bounding handles resulting from different choices of the three axes. Each time the Alignment Selector for an axis is modified the corresponding Position Input will change to reflect the current value of that handle.
Pressing the enter key or the tab key inputs the selected value and highlights the next input box. If no input boxes are selected, the enter key is the same as choosing the OK button, and pressing the ESC key will have the same result as pressing cancel.
The OK button will activate SuperSize with the values you have chosen. The Cancel button will cancel any operations and your data will be left unmodified.
The About button provides programming credits and contact information. The Help button provides a quick reference, but is no substitute for this document.
To proportionately scale an object, select any of the Position Numeric Inputs boxes, then click with the mouse at the right end of the highlighted text, or press the "End" button on the keyboard. This will position the flashing cursor at the right end of the input text. Next type an "*" followed by a number, i.e. "3.5". Press "Tab" or "Enter" to enter the text. Inspire/Lightwave should automatically calculate the result for you. This has the effect of scaling the chosen axis by the number that you entered. To quickly scale all other axes by the same amount, choose the Constrain Button for the axis you modified, and the other axes will be proportionately scaled by the same amount.
To offset or move an object by a specific amount, Put the cursor at the end of one of the Position Numeric Input boxes, as was done above for size. Next type a "+" followed by the amount you want to offset the object. You must do this separately for each axis you wish to move along. Remember you can add different units together, "5m + 3in" is perfectly valid! Because an offset is being used, the value of the Alignment Selector for each axis is not important.
To install SuperSize in modeler follow these steps:
To use SuperSize
Current version is 1.0
If you use and like SuperSize (or even if you don't) please let me know.
