24 chapter 1 ■ Sculpting, from Traditional to Digital
Drag to create line on surface Click and drag on line to move
the transpose lineClick and drag end circle to move line
endpoint
Figure 1.28 Using the Transpose tool
- Enter Transpose mode by pressing W. You will now have a transpose line on the screen.
Click on the 3D ring and drag to a point on the canvas to draw a new transpose line
(Figure 1.29). Because we are in Move mode at the top of the screen, this will allow us
to move the ring. Notice that there are two other buttons, for Scale and Rotate. If these
buttons are active, the transpose line will scale or rotate the ZTool instead of moving
it. The transpose ring can be repositioned by clicking on the line itself; to move an end-
point, click on one of the three circles. To use the transpose line to manipulate the cur-
rently selected subtool, click inside one of the three circles and drag with the mouse.
When you are in Transpose mode, hover your mouse over each circle. The func-
tion of the circle will be displayed in the upper-left corner of the screen. For example,
in Move mode the outer circles will stretch the model while the center circle moves it
relative to other subtools or the document window. Once you understand the trans-
pose line, you can use a shortcut to enter it (or Scale mode) and instead of drawing the
line, simply Alt-click and drag on the model. It will move or scale the subtool as if you
were clicking in the center circle. - Click in the center circle and drag. You can see how the Ring3D tool can be easily
moved and placed in space. If you need to move it back from your view, simply rotate
the model so you are looking down on it. Place it approximately in the lion’s mouth.
We’ll use the Move brush to adjust the shape of the mouth to better grip the ring
(Figure 1.30).
Figure 1.29 Ring with transpose line click and drag in
the center of the indicated circle to move the ring.
Figure 1.30 Moving the mouth into position with the
Move brush