Drop to the Surface and Eyedropper

One-key actions: End drops the pivot together with the selection to the surface below it, and the eyedropper I takes a position, rotation or scale from another actor.

Resetting the pivot's rotation and scale (Shift+R, Ctrl+Shift+R) and the 90° turns ([, ]) are described in Virtual Pivot.

Drop to the surface: End

Press End — the pivot drops to the nearest surface straight below it:

• Normally the pivot is the parent of the selection, so the selection drops with it as one piece.
• In Edit Pivot only the pivot moves, the actors stay where they are. It's a handy way to put the pivot on the floor next to an object.
• If N-Pivot (N) is on, the pivot also tilts to the surface normal at the hit point — and the selection with it.
• The cursor follows the pivot, and if the point is out of the frame, the camera moves to it.

The drop is undone with one Ctrl+Z step.

The ray goes straight down from the pivot, no further than 100 m. If there is nothing below the pivot, End does nothing.

End with Transform Each

With Transform Each on, End works differently: it drops every selected actor straight down to the surface below it. It's a quick way to «drop» many objects to the floor at once, however they are turned.

• The ray goes along the world −Z axis from each actor's Origin, whatever the coordinate system and the pivot's rotation. If one actor is selected, the ray goes from the pivot.
• If you picked anchors for the actors in Edit Pivot under Transform Each (for example, the centre of the bottom face), the ray goes from the anchor, and it's the anchor that lands on the surface.
• The actors' rotation doesn't change.
• The selected actors and the ones attached to them don't get in each other's way.
• An actor with no surface below it stays in place.
• After the drop the pivot goes to the last selected actor.

The whole drop is one Ctrl+Z step.

To drop actors along any direction and see the result first, use Directional Drop.

The eyedropper

The eyedropper takes a value from any actor in the level and gives it to the selection. No need to copy numbers from the Details panel.

1. Turn on one of the gizmos: Translate (W), Rotate (E) or Scale (R).
2. Press I. The cursor turns into an eyedropper, the gizmo dims.
3. Point at the donor actor. The component under the cursor is highlighted with a yellow box.
4. Left-click. The value is applied, and the eyedropper turns off.

What it takes depends on the gizmo:

The eyedropper's axes

While the eyedropper is on, the X, Y and Z axis buttons on the Stripe UI light up green — these are the eyedropper's own axes, not your axis constraints. Every time the eyedropper starts, all three are on: the value is taken whole. Turn an axis off with its button or with F5, F6, F7 — the eyedropper takes only the remaining axes from the donor, and the selection keeps the rest:

• Translate — the world X, Y, Z coordinates, in any coordinate system;
• Rotate — Roll (X), Pitch (Y) and Yaw (Z), as in the Details panel: for example, Z alone takes the donor's heading and keeps your own tilts;
• Scale — the scale on the X, Y, Z axes.

The eyedropper doesn't change your usual axis constraints: after it the buttons show them again.

The donor is picked by what you see on the screen, not by collision: you can take a value from a mesh without collision. If the click lands on empty space, the eyedropper stays on — click again.

To leave the eyedropper without changes, press Esc, I again or right-click. Q, W, E and R leave the eyedropper and switch the mode right away. F5, F6 and F7 turn off the eyedropper's axes. Other keys do nothing while the eyedropper is on.

Where the value goes

• Several actors — the pivot gets the value, and the selection follows it as one piece. In Translate the pivot moves to the donor's Origin together with the group; in Rotate the group turns around the pivot so that the pivot gets the donor's rotation.
• One actor — the actor itself gets the value. If you moved the pivot, the pivot is the reference point: in Translate the pivot (for example, a bottom corner of the actor) lands on the donor's point, and the rotation and the scale are applied around the pivot, which stays in place.
• Transform Each — each selected actor gets the value on its own. In Translate this means all the actors land on one point.
• Edit Pivot — only the pivot gets the value, the actors stay in place. If you take a rotation, the coordinate system switches to Custom so that the pivot's rotation stays after you leave Edit Pivot.

The eyedropper on spline points

When you edit spline points, the eyedropper takes the value from another point of the same spline. The point under the eyedropper is highlighted with a green circle — the actor behind it isn't highlighted and isn't taken.

With Transform Each each point gets the value on its own, like the actors: in Translate all the selected points land on the donor point, in Rotate each one turns in place.

In Edit Pivot the eyedropper on a point puts the pivot at its position (Translate) or gives it its rotation (Rotate); the points themselves don't move.

Applying the eyedropper is undone with one Ctrl+Z step.