by AR Utilities·Modeling
Images © AR Utilities. Used for product review; image policy.
Normal Align stands out in the Superhive library for its no-UI, click-click approach to aligning objects by face normal.
Normal Align is a Blender add-on from AR Utilities for sitting one object on the surface of another. It lets you use one face as the "bottom" of an object and place that on top, on the side, or anywhere on another object. There is no UI and no options to configure.
The workflow is direct: start the operator, click and drag on the object you want to move while watching the helper move around, then release. Next, click and drag onto the target object and release, and the source object aligns to the target. You can start the operator from the object context menu or with the alt + A keyboard shortcut. While dragging to position the helper, hold ctrl to enable vertex snapping, which shows the vertices you can snap to along with the midpoint of the face. Hold ctrl + alt to snap to edges, highlighting the end vertices and the edge midpoint.
When positioning the target helper, you can only drag onto a different object from the source; aligning an object to a point on itself is not supported. Documentation is available on the developer's page.
Normal Align is best for blender users who need to sit one object on the surface of another using a chosen face as its base.
Normal Align is completely free to download and use.
Normal Align lists compatibility with Blender 4.2, 4.1, 4.0 and 3.6. It is distributed as an add-on and is marked as Blender Extension compatible. If you are running one of these versions you should be able to install and use it directly. For any version outside this list, check the developer's page for the latest compatibility details before installing, since supported versions can change with newer releases of the add-on.
Normal Align can be started from the object context menu, or by pressing alt + A on the keyboard. Once running, you click and drag on the object you want to move, watch the helper move around, then release. You then click and drag onto the target object, and when you release the source object aligns to the target. There is no separate interface to open or configure, so the whole process happens directly in the viewport.
Normal Align does not support aligning an object to a point on itself. When you drag to position the target helper, you can only drag onto a different object from the source one. The developer notes there was no apparent need for self-alignment. For snapping precision during the move, you can hold ctrl to snap to vertices, or ctrl + alt to snap to edges, with the relevant vertices and midpoints highlighted as you position the helper.
Normal Align is listed as free in this catalog. It is distributed under the GPL license as a Blender add-on. Licensing terms can change over time, so for the current pricing and license details it is best to check the developer's page directly. There you will also find the documentation, along with a way to send questions, bug reports or suggestions to the developer if you run into any issues.
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