Installation:

1. install the persistent base if not already installed
2. drag the node into the link editor and press the install button
3. delete the node from the scene after install is complete

Panel Controls

• Status - changes to Green color and "Ready" after an axis is locked/chosen
• Enable Snapping - vertex movement(in degrees) will be in steps instead of smooth
• 1/5/15 Buttons - quick presets for the snapping for 1,5 and 15 degree steps
• Snap Step - the angular distance the vertices move when snapping is enabled
• X,Y,Z- display of the shear value in degrees

Widget Controls

• Arrows - shear in the mesh local X,Y,Z directions (RGB=XYZ)
• Spheres - lock/select the axis for shearing - required before using the arrows to shear
• Center - orange shear center indicator, default is the center of the selection
• Circles - set the center for the shear operation at the bounding box extents
• Origin - set the mesh origin as the shear center
• Selection - set the selection center as the shear center

Circle positions will correspond to the bounding box of the selection, except for a zero size edge will have some set offset

Usage:

1. Make a point edit selection and zoom in to see it well. The widget size is determined by the selection size.
2. Start the shear tool.
3. Rotate the view if needed to get good access to the controls.
4. Lock/select an axis using the sphere controls.
5. Choose a center for the shear. The default is the selection center.
6. Use the arrow controls to shear the selection.

Sample use case

Notes:

• The tool does not play well when the mesh has a pivot.
• 45 degree shear is good for right angle turns.
• The arrows are in local space, so the apparent positive and negative directions can appear reversed when dragging.
• Single plane/face selected(sketchy note)
  • lock parellel to the face to get twisting style shear from the other parallel axis and lean using the perpendicular axis
  • the locked will define the moved points, so if z locked then top and bottom will move, if y locked then left and right will move
  • lock perpendicular to face and move center perpendicular circle will give sliding, like translation
• Single edge selection(sketchy note)
  • lock direction and center on same locked axis circle bbox min or max
  • pull on perpendicular to move out
  • pull on parallel to slide along edge direction
• Object face not in line with any local axis(sketchy note)
  1. snap pivot to face with rotation(or face with rotation to center)
  2. object coord nav so can see change
  3. use flatten axis tool, uu version has option to remove the pivot, can also manually disconnect and remove the Pivot node

Dev Notes:

• The arrows only allow dragging either horizontally or vertically in the 3d view. After a short distance either the up/down or left/right motion of the mouse is ignored.
• The Object Render Attributes can be used to make a widget element invisible, but then it cannot be made visible again. This is the reason the selected axis is made transparent. It's not 100% transparent because it will still show when hovered over. Did not want it just popping into view from nothingness.
• if any bbox dimension is zero then use value of 0.25 plus and minus for the circles in that direction. This is just outside the size of the center widget.

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