Cutting to an Angle

A tutorial on how to cut things to angles.

Updated with a dome gif image! First off, welcome to this tutorial about cutting thing to an angle!

IntroWell I was making something nice n rounded a while ago and needed to cut it to an angle so that I could rotate it to make a circle. The problem was that I wasn't quite sure how to cut it to an angle so that I could copy and rotate it without any of it overlapping. There's a very simple solution for this, and I'm surprised I didn't think of it when I needed it. Just simply create a block the exact same size as the thing you want to cut and place it on the other side of where you want the origin to be and rotate!

Let me go into this with more detail.

Step 1Create your block and cut it how you'd like it to be from the side. Image loading

Click to enlarge

Step 2Now, create a block of the same size and place it on the other side, so that the middle of the 2 blocks is where you want it to rotate around. Image loading

Click to enlarge

Step 3Select both of the blocks and press clt+m. This brings up the transformation window. Make sure "Rotate" has a dot next to it and put the angle you want in the Z box. If you want 15 degree segments then use 7.5, for 30 use 15 etc. I'll be using 15 degree segments, so I have to rotate it by 7.5. Now select the side you want to cut to an angle and cut it horizontally from the middle/origin of the 2 blocks. Image loading

Click to enlarge

Step 4Rotate it back again, so -7.5 for me, then move it away and then move it back again. This is because it sometimes goes a few pixels off the grid for no apparent reason and this moves it back to the grid. Now rotate it again in the same direction (that's another -7.5 in my case). Cut it horizontally again. Image loading

Click to enlarge

Step 5You should now have a block cut to the angle you want (15 in my case). Image loading

Click to enlarge

Step 6All you have to do now is duplicate it (shift+drag), move it back to the same place as the first block and rotate it (again, 15 in my case). You can delete the block you don't need and rotate the cut blocks or you can keep the block, duplicate both pieces, move them to the same place as the original blocks and rotate them at the angle you cut them. Since you still have the other block, along with the cut one, it will rotate around the middle point.

Click to enlarge

Now with dome gif! dome tutorial gif goes here

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6y

Sarkdog Joined 10y ago

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fucking magical
thanks
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9y

Semp Joined 10y ago

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May be easier if you use the "Paste Special command" rather than manually doing this process multiple times. For the values in the "Paste Special", there is a special trigonometric algorithm for determining what values to set for the rotation and x, y shift. I remember it was up on one of the big surf mapping forums; I'll see if I can find it...

Mantra
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GusMac Joined 12y ago

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Ah very clever

Mantra
better for being baked
9y

Jomann Joined 11y ago

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Jomann

I must say this is brilliant! You can also use this technique to make roads! because the texture rotates along with the brush if you make your rotation small enough you can make a perfect turn!! its really amazing!
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You can watch the video and refer back to this tut :D I didn't really want to post the vid because it was badly done and done in a rush while half-asleep. :P I thought it might be useful for someone to see it being done though, even with the mistakes.
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delete_me_ Joined 9y ago

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Pros: Very useful. good explained Cons: no explanation at the video Improvements: use micro to give explanation Notes: I'm going to use it myself
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