Align2Custom

Blender incorporates 3 operators to align the 3D view :

• alignment to the global transform orientation
• alignment to a local transform orientation
• alignment to the camera orientation

Most of the time these methods become limited when working on a complicated mesh or a complicated scene.

This add-on bypasses these limits by offering 2 custom alignment features for the 3D view :

• alignment to the 3D cursor orientation
• alignment to a custom transform orientation

Features

Alignment to the 3D cursor orientation

This method is based on the ability of the 3D cursor to automatically align itself to the geometry of a face it is snapped to.

Prerequisites and limitations

Blender provides the following operators to snap the 3D cursor to one face of a mesh : SHIFT + RMB click (on the face), the snap menu (SHIFT + S), or the Cursor tool. Unfortunately the first two methods don't change the 3D cursor orientation ; they merely change the cursor position. Therefore there is no choice but to use the 3D cursor tool. However it requires a bit of configuration to work as expected.

First, it's necessary to allow the 3D cursor to align automatically to the geometry of the targeted mesh :

• select the Cursor tool in the 3D viewport toolbar
• open the 3D viewport properties panel (keyboard shortcut N) and select the Tool thumbnail
• in the Active tool section, change the Orientation parameter to Geometry

Important note : Each work mode has its own 3D cursor configuration. Therefore, you'll have to change the 3D cursor Orientation parameter for each relevant mode (Object mode, Edit mode, Sculpt mode, ...).

Second, since you need to switch to the 3D cursor tool to snap the cursor to a face, I strongly recommend assigning a keyboard shortcut (let's say Q for instance) to the 3D cursor tool, so as to speed up the workflow.

Finally, I encourage you to save this configuration in the startup file, so that you don't have to do it again each time you start a new project.

Workflow

Once you have properly configured the 3D cursor tool, switch to it, snap the cursor to the desired face (it should be aligned to the face geometry), and switch back to the tool you were working on before.

Then, use one of the following keyboard shortcuts to align the 3D View to the 3D cursor orientation :

• Top View : ALT + NUMPAD 8
• Bottom View : ALT + CTRL + NUMPAD 8
• Front View : ALT + NUMPAD 5
• Back View : ALT + CTRL + NUMPAD 5
• Right View : ALT + NUMPAD 6
• Left View : ALT + CTRL + NUMPAD 6

Those commands are also accessible in the View -> Align View -> Align View to Cursor top menu of the 3D View.

Alignment to a custom transform orientation

This method is based on the Blender feature that allows to define custom transform orientations.

Preparation

To align the 3D View to a custom transform orientation, it must have been created beforehand.

My method is based on the Normal transform orientation of a face or plane to define a Custom transform orientation :

Workflow

When a Custom transformation orientation is active, you can use one of the following keyboard shortcuts to align the 3D View to its axes :

• Top View : ALT + NUMPAD 7
• Bottom View : ALT + CTRL + NUMPAD 7
• Front View : ALT + NUMPAD 1
• Back View : ALT + CTRL + NUMPAD 1
• Right View : ALT + NUMPAD 3
• Left View : ALT + CTRL + NUMPAD 3

Note : these commands have no effect if no Custom transform orientation is active.

Those commands are also accessible in the View -> Align View -> Align View to Custom top menu of the 3D View.

Installation

• Download Align2Custom V2.0.1 from the release section
• Install the align2custom.py file as a Blender add-on (Edit -> Preferences... -> Add-ons -> Install...)
• Check the 3D View: Align view to custom orientation or 3D cursor option in the list of add-ons

If you prefer hard transitions or if you're facing problems (odd behaviors, performance, ...), the add-on installation panel provides an option to disable the smooth transition during the 3D View alignment.

Changelog

V2.0.1

Bug correction (Issue #3) for Blender 4.0 compatibility.

V2.0.0

New feature : align the 3D view to the 3D cursor orientation. Improvement : smooth alignment transitions.

V1.0.0

First stable release. Only feature : align the 3D view to a custom orientation.