Snapping Settings
Snapping settings affect how tools in Valence 3D behave. When snapping is enabled most tools will snap to increments of 0.05 units or will snap to the grid and/or the subgrid. These settings are grouped under Snapping Settings page in the Settings sheet.
Settings Sheet
Snapping
By default Snapping Enabled is turned ON. To disable snapping, set the Snapping Enabled toggle to OFF. Snapping behavior is different for each tool. For example the move and scale tools snap to the grid and subgrid intervals. The rotate tool snaps to 5 degree increments. Other tools, such as the extrude and inset tools snap to increments of 0.05 units.
Snap to Grid
For Snap to Grid to work, snapping needs to be enabled. By default Snap to Grid is turned ON. When Snap to Grid is enabled the move tool will snap to the grid and subgrid intervals when the tool is near one of the grid lines. The subgrid interval is set by Grid Divisions below.
Grid Divisions
The Grid Divisions stepper sets how many subgrid divisions sit between the major grid lines, and it determines the snapping increment used when Snap to Grid is on. The increment is 1.0 / Grid Divisions, so with the default of 4 divisions the move tool snaps every 0.25 units. When Snap to Grid is off, the move tool snaps to whole grid units instead.
This is the same setting as Grid Divisions in the SCENE settings — changing it in either place changes both the grid you see and the snapping increment.
Snapping Options
Beyond the grid, Valence 3D can snap to the geometry already in your scene. Every option below is ON by default, and every one requires Snapping Enabled to be on. You can toggle them here, or without leaving the Modeler by long pressing the snapping button to bring up the Snapping sheet — the two are the same settings.
Snap to Vertex
Snaps to the positions of vertices on nearby meshes. In Vertex selection mode the vertex you are dragging is excluded so it cannot snap to itself.
Snap to Face Center
Snaps to the center of nearby faces. In Face selection mode the face you are dragging is excluded.
Snap to Edge Center
Snaps to the midpoint of nearby edges. In Edge selection mode the edge you are dragging is excluded.
Snap to Mirroring Plane
When the mesh has an enabled Mirror Modifier, this snaps the vertex you are dragging onto the mirroring plane — the reliable way to weld a half-model's boundary vertices flat against the plane.
Snap to Intersections
Snaps to wherever your touch intersects the surface beneath it, instead of to a particular vertex, edge or face feature. Use it to place a selection anywhere on another mesh's surface.
Snap to Origins
Snaps to the origin (pivot point) of nearby meshes.
Update on Move
Update on Move is ON by default. While you drag along an axis, Valence 3D recalculates which snap targets are in range, so geometry that becomes nearby mid-drag can be snapped to. With it OFF, the snap targets are collected once at the start of the drag — which can make dragging smoother in dense scenes.