Template:Maya Snap Tools
Fitting two object exactly to each other, like for example two walls, is very tedious just by hand. For this purpose snap tools are available in Maya. Snapping makes objects kind of magnetic to each other. Since transformations act around the pivot point, snapping uses the pivot point as reference. So before snapping an object to another, it’s necessary to reposition the pivot point to the desired reference point on the object. The snap options can be found in the status line above the view ports. These can be enabled by clicking on one of them. To disable a snap option, click on it again. These three snap options are most commonly used:
- grid snap
- curve snap
- point snap
Grid snap is pretty straight forward. The grid becomes magnetic to the pivot point of an object. Use the move tool to move the object and move your mouse cursor to a grid point to snap the object exact to the grid. The point snap works similar and makes the vertices of polygonal objects magnetic. Again use the move tool to move an object and move your mouse cursor to a vertex or corner point of the object to snap to. The curve snap works a little different. Select the object that you want to snap. Make sure that the move tool is selected. Now go to the object you want to snap to. Hover your mouse cursor over a curve or edge and click and drag with your middle mouse button, i.e. the scroll wheel, over that particular curve or edge. The object will jump to that curve or edge. Release your middle mouse button at the desired location.
When you move an object to snap it to another, you can choose to move it in all directions by click and dragging the manipulator in the center of the axis. The object is free to snap in all directions. It is also possible to constrain the snap direction to one particular axis. This so called constraint snapping is done by clicking and dragging just one of the axis of the manipulator and moving the mouse cursor to the desired point to snap to.
