# Object place/rotate handling

**URL:** <https://forum.formlabs.com/t/object-place-rotate-handling/926>\
**Category:** Feature Requests & Ideas\
**Created:** [February 21, 2014, 7:43am UTC](https://forum.formlabs.com/t/object-place-rotate-handling/926 "2014-02-21T07:43:59Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ClayCowgill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5daacb/32.png) [@ClayCowgill](https://forum.formlabs.com/u/ClayCowgill)\
**Post date:** [February 21, 2014, 7:43am UTC](https://forum.formlabs.com/t/object-place-rotate-handling/926/1 "2014-02-21T07:43:59Z")

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I would like for a mouse “click and drag” when done on the support material to always be a ‘translate’ (move) on the build area regardless of whether or not I am in ‘Orientation’ or ‘Layout’ mode. &nbsp;(Logic being that by that time I’ve oriented the part and generated supports, then the next thing I want to do is place it-- just like working through the operations on the tool/button bar in order top to bottom.)

The issue I have is that too often I’m orienting a complex part and generating the support structure (which can take a surprisingly long time now when the printer’s served by an older Windows machine-- so I often leave and come back some time later) and then having lost track of what mode I was using I accidentally try to click and drag the part to position it only to rotate it by mistake. &nbsp;That results in the freshly generated support structure being removed and ‘undo’ only restores the part orientation, not the supports. &nbsp;(“lather, rinse, repeat”.)

Since any rotation nukes the support structure and since regenerating it can be quite slow I’d think avoiding its accidental destruction would be A Good Thing.

Possible Band-Aids could be:

1. undo also restores support structures

2. for anything but ‘trivial’ models, pop a dialog box confirmation for any operation that would kill the support structure.

3. click and drag on support material in ‘orientation’ mode switches you to ‘layout’ mode automagically

Personally, I can think of no time that I would ever want to grab and rotate a model (by the support structure), so having that just be a shortcut to translation on the build platform plane might be quite handy and have a lower “damn-it! stupid software!” factor. 😉

(and please keep the hinge/front labels on screen all the time-- eventually I’ll memorize it, but it’s annoying to have to switch modes to see them and double-check when you’re still getting used to things…)

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**Author:** ![FordFraker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d2c977/32.png) [@FordFraker](https://forum.formlabs.com/u/FordFraker)\
**Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 8:02pm UTC](https://forum.formlabs.com/t/object-place-rotate-handling/926/2 "2014-02-24T20:02:51Z")

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Thats an interesting perspective. &nbsp;We always love to hear feedback and new ideas, thanks Clay!