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In this image i show an example of what i ask: http://prntscr.com/o8aa9c Is there a way to put it on the grip flat. Let's say i can't reset tranforms to 0 because they have already been applied.

Mostly i talk about rotation, because translation, that would be easy, I would just snap it to grid, but it would not be flat on it.

Robin Betts
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Pusyicecream
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  • Related https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/63506/set-object-local-axis-based-on-face-orientation – batFINGER Jun 30 '19 at 16:48
  • Please use the [edit] link at the bottom of your post (https://i.stack.imgur.com/lXFuK.png) and use the tools from this site to upload images so that they are displayed as part of your question. See How to upload an image to a post? –  Jun 30 '19 at 18:34

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This is a duplicate answer: I can't find @moonboots' original. If found, feel free to delete this one.

  1. Decide which face you want the object to lie flat on. In Edit Mode, select the face, and create a Custom Orientation from it. (In 2.79, CtrlAltSpace. In 2.8,Header > Orientations dropdown > '+')
  2. With all the object's vertices selected, CtrlH hook them to a new Empty. They are now frozen, while you transform their local axis.
  3. In Object Mode with the object to be aligned selected. In menu Header > Object > Transform, click 'Align to Custom Orientation'
  4. Go to the object's modifier panel, find the Hook modifier, and apply it.

Now the object's local Z axis will be oriented normal to the chosen face, and it will be easy to rotate the object to align it with the world, or, by snapping, to any other face. You could, if you want to, ShiftAltO pt yhe origin to center of the face, too.

Robin Betts
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  • Maybe I did something wrong, but I couldn't get this answer to work, but when I swapped point 2 and 3 around, then reset the rotation to zero on the object to which the vertices were hooked, then it worked. – Susan Jun 30 '19 at 17:20
  • @Susan Thanks for the feedback.. I checked again.. I'm trying to, but can't get it to fail. Maybe I'm doing something automatically..Don't try to rotate before applying the hook? – Robin Betts Jun 30 '19 at 17:59
  • I'm in 2.79. Maybe that's the reason it doesn't work for me as written? Also, I didn't explain everything I did properly. I hooked the misaligned object's vertices to a plane I'd created in the center of the world (after I realigned that plane to the custom orientation.) When I reset the rotation of the plane to zero, the misaligned object ended up under the plane with its origin above the plane. So I had to move the origin to the geometry, but I ended up with the "misaligned" object being parallel to the home grid. Its location was different but its rotation was right. – Susan Jun 30 '19 at 18:12
  • @Susan Me, 279, and 280. You could introduce complications the way you describe.. I think it's better just to have a clean, independent, world-oriented empty to hook to. it's only there for a couple of minutes.. just to hold the mesh while you rotate the object. Combined parenting, constraints, orientations get my head spinning.. :D – Robin Betts Jun 30 '19 at 18:19
  • @ Robin Betts OK - I was misunderstanding the directions. Where you said "while you transform the object to which they belong" I thought the vertices were hooked to and "belonged to" the Empty. Therefore I aligned the Empty instead of the misaligned object. But the solution of putting a Plane on the same angle as the bottom face, sticking the object to the plane, then zeroing out the rotation of the Plane does put the geometry back how you want it. I'll bear in mind your warnings though. I only got the idea of doing it that way from your answer so either way, thanks. – Susan Jun 30 '19 at 19:49
  • @Susan Ill go back and fix. Thanks – Robin Betts Jun 30 '19 at 19:58