3-D Rotation and Shape groups

[Guest]

I'm having an issue, I've created groups in powerpoint that I never would
have thought possible, but one thing led to another and I found myself using
it as a 3d image editor for a program I'm working on. I've got pretty far
before I have found a limit that I couldn't work around. I'll present some
relevant facts before I ask my question.
Offset pushes or pulls the shape into or out of the page with respect to the
object being in the 0/0/0 (x/y/z) position. Shapes can be grouped. If they
are rotated prior to grouping, they will snap to 0/0/0 (all of them,
seperately) the first time the group is rotated.

I want to maintain the relative rotation. My work around included using
different offsets and manually creating right and left wheels in the picture
below. But with this engine, which I created by extruding (using bevel and
depth) 2 freeform objects in a group. Due to the nature of extruding a
freeform, it has to be at 30 degrees to match the truck in 330 degrees,
because the truck was extruded from the profile angle, as opposed to head on.
Is there any way that anyone can think of gettting the affect I am after,
where I can have one group (truck+engine) that rotates and the engine stays
in its place. is there another way I can make that engine from profile view.
so the agles matchup initially. I wish they made an option for locking the
group and any new rotate command is mathematically added to each parts
existing angle before the group was formed. Offsets, if used(distance from
ground) will make that hard though, I think.
Any Ideas?

Here's an image that illustrates my question.

http://www.auto-ic.com/modernity/rotate.jpg

 

[Guest]

Complex question. Have you tried saving the grouped items as a picture and
then inserting the picture and rotating it?

 

[Guest]

I haven't, unfortunately I'm trying to insert a whole drivetrain and other
parts inside my fancy, truck-shaped, semi-transparent shape. I rotate it
around all of the time, sometimes just for kicks, but mostly, I'm trying to
get just the right lighting and angle for a an image to use in the software
I'm modeling with PowerPoint. If I made it a picture, I would lose the affect
of all of the images aligned right, inside the boundaries of the truck shape,
while I give it a twirl for the best shot.
The one idea I had was to place two targets away from the images (but
aligned when each's repsective group is aligned), and have one target be for
objects made in the 0 degree plane, and another for the 90 degree plane. The
targets would be part of a group representing each set of objects. It would
make everything a two step process. Align the targets to match, match up
things as if they were in the same group, rotate one, and then rotate the
other to match the targets back up. They were so close to making this
software a pretty heft graphics editor. One that any novice could pick up and
make darned near anything to go in their...er...presentations.

I'll post if it works I guess, unless anyone has another idea.

Oh sorry about the horrible sentences in the first post, I'd be amazed if
anyone was really able to follow.

I like that they took the hidden feature for selecting unseen objects and
made it easy to get to in the format ribbon. It helps when I name all of
those wee parts.

 

[Guest]

Now I see your point. I only know of a few folks who are using PowerPoint as
you've described and Shawn hosts work from most of them:
http://pptheaven.mvps.org/

The other person is an art teacher from New Zealand who was writing a
tutorial on using MS Office's Drawing Tools but it isn't completed yet. I
have an example of his work on my site:
http://www.pptmagic.com/downloads.htm
Scroll down to the Robots of Tudor download

Do let us know how you make out.

--
Thanks,
Glenna Shaw
Microsoft PowerPoint MVP Team
http://www.pptmagic.com