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I'm trying to get productive with blender. Now I have this challenge I can't solve. I imported parts of a cnc chair I'm designing. Precisely positioning the parts is my goal. How can I do this ?

So I want to go from here: enter image description here

To here:

enter image description here

In the last screenshot the part look aligned but not exactly :( I tried to figure out snapping but I get the impression that's not gonna cut it, I'd love something like sketchup style moving/rotating/positioning.

I've been also looking into the NP-station add on, I can't get that to work though.

Edit:

Thanks for the answers and replies. It looks like I want/need something like np-station or mesh align plus. Tiny-CAD only seems to work in edit mode (?) while I need to align and position objects. Getting into origin and the 3D cursor was useful too.

But I placing my bets on getting mesh align plus to work for now.

MrExplore
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  • You will want the TinyCAD addon. It good face and vertex snapping tools. – Leander Nov 24 '19 at 19:27
  • Assuming no convenient alignment of object axes to faces, and arbitrarily skewed parts, this is one of a number of ways to align face-center to face-center... check out @moonboots' answer, too.. – Robin Betts Nov 24 '19 at 20:26

2 Answers2

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Here are some useful tips for precise modeling in Blender:

01) Set your units to milimeters
Properties Panel->Scene->Units->Length

enter image description here

02) Set snapping to Increments
and enable Absolute snapping.

enter image description here

03) Use orthographic view and side views
This allows you to use grid better, and align precisely
Orthographic view shortcut: Numpad 5
Viewpoint shortcut: ~ or use Numpad numbers.

Switch to orthographic view and out enter image description here

Use ~ to switch views enter image description here

04) Make use of Quad View enter image description here

05) Learn to use 3D cursor and work with Object origin.
These are very powerful together for precise object alignment.
enter image description here

06) Adjust your grid scale.
The default setting is good for most situations, but sometimes you may need to adjust it.

enter image description here

07) Blender is no CAD, but it will get you there :).
And as @Leander said - tinyCAD addon.
Enable it in Preferences->Addons (and Save preferences)

enter image description here

jachym michal
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my advice would be that if you want that to perfectly match you should model it first as a whole piece and then separate the object. in Edit mode you can also go to Viewport Overlays and Enable some Measurements.

Edit: You can also change the pivot to active element and use the scale option to 0 align some edges, vertices or faces, locking the axis you don't want to be deformed.

enter image description here

Csarb3d
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  • Uhm yeah, but my modelling skills at this moment are rhino, sketchup solidworks and a bit 3ds max. This model came from rhino. These are my first steps in blender and I would like to test/make shure that exact positioning and aligning can be done in a efficient way – MrExplore Nov 24 '19 at 17:31