There are multiple methods for aligning models to the grid. The following will show a simple method followed by a more complicated one.

1) Simple Alignment

Often, an object out of alignment can be corrected by opening the “item” tab on the right-side panel, and looking for the rotation values. We can see here that the values on all three axis are rotated, these can be “zeroed out”. Simply select the value to be changed and type 0.

2) Complex Alignment

If we look at the rotation values of this cube, we can see that it shows 0 for all axis. This means we need a way finding those values, in order to return it back to the original rotation.

We will need an empty to do this, so press Shift + A and choose empty → plain axis (an empty is invisible geometry which is generally used for operations such as this one).

Next, turn on snapping (the magnet at the top), from the drop-down select edge, then turn on “align rotation to target”.

Select the empty and press G to move it. The snapping will allow it to snap to any edge on the cube. Once it is on the desired edge, clickplugin-autotooltip__default plugin-autotooltip_bigClick

Depending on the device, clicking refers to the user action for selecting an element. For devices with a mouse, this means pointing to the element followed by pressing the left mouse button. On devices with touch displays, this refers to tapping or tapping and holding (iOS: long touch). to place it.

Select the empty and hold shift to select the cube second. Press Ctrl + P and clickplugin-autotooltip__default plugin-autotooltip_bigClick

Depending on the device, clicking refers to the user action for selecting an element. For devices with a mouse, this means pointing to the element followed by pressing the left mouse button. On devices with touch displays, this refers to tapping or tapping and holding (iOS: long touch). “object” to parent the cube to the empty. The couples the cube to the empty, and shares the rotation values.

The rotation tab now shows the rotation of the empty, and since the cube is parented to the empty, we can move them together. Note: the empty will not snap to all axes, this is important for then next steps.

We can now simply zero out two of the axes. The third requires an extra step, because the empty is not perfectly oriented to the cubes Z axis. If we were to zero out that axis, the cube would remain visually slightly rotated.

We remove the parent to repeat the process, press alt + P and choose “remove parent and keep transformation”. This will apply the rotation to the cube.

Snap the empty to the top edge this time, in order to get accurate an accurate value on the z axis. zero out the z axis

The empty was actually flipped when it snapped to the edge, so the cube is technically backwards after zeroing. We could rotate it again by 180, as needed, since the cube is now square on the axes. When finished, press Alt + P to apply the transformation and de-parent.