blender 2.50: positioning group of objects precisely

Question

I am new to blender 2.50. I would like to position a group of objects to a precise location. To do this I do the following:

1. Click 'N' to make sure the options panel is visible.
2. SHIFT - RMB (shift right mouse button) on the elements I want to reposition.
3. Click the 'G' key to start a move operation.
4. Click the 'x' key to reposition in the right direction.
5. Now I can drag/shift drag/control drag/shift control drag (not sure how these decide on the increments to use, maybe someone can clarify).
6. Now 'x' varies for the group in the option panel. If I click on the options panel to set x to exactly 3.0 for example, blender moves only one object and not the whole group of objects.

So what can I do to place the group of objects precisely to x=3.0 (dragging or shift/ctrl/shift ctrl dragging only sets approximate values for the x coordinate of the group).

Thanks,

John Goche

Answer 1

OK, I think I've found a way to do what I wanted.

In object mode, I shift right mouse button click the parts I want to absolute position together and hit the CTRL-J keyboard key combination. This combines the separate meshes into one so that they can be absolute positioned together.

Answer 2

1. select all your objects, make the one you want to position the active object
2. press ctrl+p for parenting
3. press 'N', enter your coordinates
4. press alt+p and select "clear and keep transform" to get rid of the parenting again