Transform

The Transform tool applies geometric transformations to volume meshes, including rotation, translation, scaling, and mirroring. These operations modify the physical coordinates of all vertices in the mesh, permanently changing its position, orientation, or size in 3D space.

Accessing the Tool

Navigate to the Volume Mesh ribbon tab and click Transform in the Transform section.

Target Object(s)

Before applying transformations, select which volume mesh objects will be affected:

Target	Description
Active Volume Mesh	Apply transformation only to the currently active mesh
Selected Volume Meshes	Apply to all selected volume mesh objects
Visible Volume Meshes	Apply to all visible (non-hidden) volume meshes
All Volume Meshes	Apply to every volume mesh in the project

Transformation Operations

The tool provides five transformation modes, organized as tabs:

Rotate

Rotate the target volume mesh(es) around a specified axis by a given angle.

Rotation Axis

Select one or more axes around which to rotate:

• X: Rotate around the X-axis
• Y: Rotate around the Y-axis
• Z: Rotate around the Z-axis

Multiple axes can be selected for compound rotations.

Rotation Angle

Parameter	Range	Default
Angle (°)	-360 to 360	0

Positive angles rotate counterclockwise when looking from the positive axis direction toward the origin.

Rotation Center

By default, rotation occurs around the object's bounding box centroid. Uncheck Object centroid to specify a custom rotation center:

Parameter	Description
X (mm)	X-coordinate of custom rotation center
Y (mm)	Y-coordinate of custom rotation center
Z (mm)	Z-coordinate of custom rotation center

tip

Press the P key while hovering over the volume mesh to pick a point as the rotation center.

Translate

Move the target volume mesh(es) by a specified distance in each axis direction.

Translation Vector

Parameter	Description	Range
X (mm)	Distance to move along X-axis	±999999999999
Y (mm)	Distance to move along Y-axis	±999999999999
Z (mm)	Distance to move along Z-axis	±999999999999

Positive values move in the positive axis direction; negative values move in the negative direction.

Scale

Resize the target volume mesh(es) by specified scale factors.

Scale Factor

Parameter	Description	Range	Default
X	Scale factor along X-axis	0.00001 - 999999	1.0
Y	Scale factor along Y-axis	0.00001 - 999999	1.0
Z	Scale factor along Z-axis	0.00001 - 999999	1.0

A scale factor of 1.0 leaves the dimension unchanged. Values greater than 1.0 enlarge; values less than 1.0 shrink.

Uniform Scaling

Enable Uniform scaling to maintain proportions. When checked, changing any scale factor automatically updates the others to match.

Mirror

Reflect the target volume mesh(es) across one or more coordinate planes.

Mirror Axis

Option	Description
X	Mirror across the YZ plane (flip left-right)
Y	Mirror across the XZ plane (flip front-back)
Z	Mirror across the XY plane (flip top-bottom)

Multiple axes can be selected for compound mirroring operations.

Matrix

Apply a custom 4×4 transformation matrix for advanced transformations.

The transformation matrix follows the standard homogeneous coordinates format:

| m0  m4  m8  m12 |   | X-axis   Y-axis   Z-axis   Translation-X |
| m1  m5  m9  m13 | = | X-axis   Y-axis   Z-axis   Translation-Y |
| m2  m6  m10 m14 |   | X-axis   Y-axis   Z-axis   Translation-Z |
| m3  m7  m11 m15 |   | Perspective (typically 0,0,0,1)           |

The upper-left 3×3 submatrix controls rotation and scaling. The rightmost column (m12, m13, m14) controls translation. The default identity matrix leaves the mesh unchanged.

Move to Image Center

Move the target volume mesh(es) to the center of the active volume image.

This operation is useful for aligning meshes with CT/MRI image data or centering a mesh within the project coordinate system. Click Apply to translate the mesh so its centroid coincides with the volume image center.

Applying Transformations

After configuring the transformation parameters:

1. Click Apply to execute the transformation
2. The operation modifies vertex coordinates permanently
3. A progress dialog appears for large meshes

warning

Transformation operations permanently modify mesh vertex coordinates. There is no undo after the operation completes. Consider saving your project before applying transformations.

Practical Examples

Rotating a Mesh 90° Around the Z-Axis

1. Open the Transform tool
2. Select the Rotate tab
3. Check only Z in Rotation axis
4. Set Angle to 90
5. Leave Object centroid checked
6. Click Apply

Scaling a Mesh to Double Size

1. Open the Transform tool
2. Select the Scale tab
3. Enable Uniform scaling
4. Set X to 2.0 (Y and Z update automatically)
5. Click Apply

Converting Units from Inches to Millimeters

To convert a mesh modeled in inches to millimeters:

1. Open the Transform tool
2. Select the Scale tab
3. Enable Uniform scaling
4. Set X to 25.4 (1 inch = 25.4 mm)
5. Click Apply

Centering a Mesh at the Origin

1. First, note the current centroid position
2. Select the Translate tab
3. Enter negative values of the centroid coordinates
4. Click Apply

Related Tools

• Interactive Transform - Visual transformation using 3D gizmo widgets
• Render Properties - Control mesh visualization
• Convert to Surface - Extract surface from volume mesh