[Bf-funboard] Move constrained Normal?

[Jason van Gumster]

Ruth Ivimey-Cook <ruth at ivimey.org> wrote:

> I keep finding myself wanting a Constrain option - like X, x, z etc - 
> that constrains the move to a direction Normal to the edge or face.
> 
> Have I missed this somewhere, and if not could it be added with an "n" 
> constrain key? This is the default constraint for Extrude, so I hope I 
> have missed it...

You're aware of the default behavior of (using grab as an example) G > Z > Z
moving your selection along the object's local Z-axis, right? You can modify
this behavior a bit by changing the Transform Orientation dropdown in the 3D
View's header. By default, it's set to Global and the UI kind of makes you
think that it's only relevant to the transform manipulator. However, if you
change it to Normal, then the second time you press Z for constraining, it will
lock to the normal axis rather than the local one. With this, you can also move
your selection along the plane orthogonal to the normal with something like
G > Shift+Z > Shift+Z.

Hope that helps.

  -Jason