Dropping a model on top down view + snap => non-zero y?

oparisy

Hi, in order to create a meshlib, I drag and drop imported meshes in the 3D view using a Top View and the "Snap" option.

I don't understand why X and Z coordinates then properly snap, but the Y coordinate gets a strangely high value instead of 0. This makes the scene hard to understand as soon as I rotate it.

I understand that meshes position is not relevant while creating meshlibs, but I'd like to understand how I can get a reasonable defaut Y coordinate while dropping objects on the 3D view.

Megalomaniak

At a guess it is probably because from the top view you are dropping them onto nothing so there's is no real data on what to snap to. Maybe try creating a procedural cube and give it the sort of volume where its big enough that everything you drop into your scene is dropped onto it?

Not sure if that would work or not though. I don't use drag and drop myself.

TwistedTwigleg

Welcome to the forums @oparisy!

As Megalomaniak said, it is probably because when you are in the top view, especially with an orthographic perspective, there is no data for the Godot editor to use for the Y value. You may want to use the top view, but press 5 on the keypad of your keyboard to switch to perspective view. Then snapping may work as expected.

Megalomaniak's suggestion of making a cube to place the objects is a good idea, because if drag-and-drop uses raycasting or AABB collision detection (which is more likely), the Godot editor should be able to calculate the Y-axis value and place the object properly.

oparisy

Hi, thanks for your answers! So I did some extra testing.

In top orthogonal, I consistently get an y=240 height. In perspective, some meshes already been there indeed seems to help. I'm placing tiles and, once the first is set at y=0, others properly "snap" to it (only once they are first dropped, though: during the "dragging" phase, their y coordinate kinda jumps).

Oh, but I just noticed that they are parented to each other when doing so, in a deep, 1-node wide tree. Not what I'd expect, I want them parented to my root scene.

Following your suggestion, I tried to add a "ground plane" as a basis for dropping objects, but it did not actually help, and the same "parenting" behavior took place.

So the top view is not the quick level layout tool I expected I could get it to be :)