Settings and Macros/Distance3D Description

This macro measures the distance between two 3D objects.

The measured values are displayed in the Control Panel of the macro as well as directly in the 3D viewport.

To use the macro, feed your 3D scene to the Input, drag'n'drop the Distance3D node to a Display View, drag and drop the nodes of the objects to the Object 1 and Object 2 fields in the control panel of the macro.

The measurement is important for instance, when you define the Fog3D ranges or Camera3D focusing plane. In such cases the camera may be used as one of the two objects, thus you measure the distance from the camera.

Node Inputs

• Input

  3D Scene Input. Required.

Controls Tab

• Object 1 

  3D Scene Input. Drag and drop the first object's node here.

  Object 1 Transformations (optional)

  3D Scene Input. If any 3D transformation tools are applied to the first object, drag and drop the last one from the chain here. The distance will be calculated considering all the transformations then.

  Object 2 

  3D Scene Input. Drag and drop the second object's node here.

  Object 2 Transformations (optional)

  3D Scene Input. If any 3D transformation tools are applied to the second object, drag and drop the last one from the chain here. The distance will be calculated considering all the transformations then.

  Area Width, Area Height 

  Slider controls. Define the size of the analyzed area.

  Measured Data 

  Group of controls. Displays the measurement results.

  Text Size 

  Slider control. Size of the text in the 3D viewport.

• Tips

• If you switch to another tool and back, the measured values displayed in the Control Panel are lost. To restore them, you need to refresh the Distance3D tool by either pressing Ctrl+P twice or by changing any parameter.
• You can also access the measured results in the Sliders tab. The parameters in that tab don't loose the data after you select another node and they let you connect parameters of other tools to the distances.

Download Distance3D_v01-3

Development History and Discussion on PigsFly

To install the macro, place the downloaded Distance3D_v01-3.setting file to your Fusion:\Macros folder.
Then you can insert it to the Flow either choosing from the main menu: Tools>Macro or by pressing Ctrl+Space and typing the tool name.

Gregory Chalenko