Snap to... 3D CURSOR. ("G, X, Ctrl + move mouse" - we can't do this with Shift+S)
It happens that you need to align vertex (or several selected elements at the same time) along some axis relative to the 3d cursor. Now in Blender this is not possible.
User @evandroewd also agrees with me, and here are his thoughts: "The utility of snap options (instead of the snap pie menu which is shift + S) is that you can quickly use CTRL + mousemove to temporarily auto snap, during the regular G / R / S operations. Right now you can auto snap to several options (accessed through CTRL + SHIFT + Tab) but the cursor is missing, which would be much more handy and faster to use than pressing shift + S + Selectedto3DCursor "
3 Comments
There is a method to do this, but it isn't very handy, and it's a bit hard to discover on your own.
In the Pivot Point options, there's an option called "Locations Only". When it's selected, move, rotate and scale commands do not change objects' rotation and scale (in Object mode). This means that you can Scale objects, and they'll get closer to each other, without changing size. And you can also scale objects in a constrained axis using the 3D Cursor as the pivot, so that they line up perfectly on a line that goes through the 3D Cursor.
Since the functionality already exists, it's more of a UI thing - "what's the best, most logical, most user-friendly way to implement this". I don't think Snap menu is a good choice for this.
* @Janne Joensuu * I gave this a shot (I'm assuming you mean the 3 checkboxes in "Transform/Affect Only") but with LOCATION enabled Scaling had no effect on the meshes.
2 meshes, in Object mode. I'm missing something.
EDIT: I got it to work, although I don't know HOW, all the settings seem the same.
* @jeric_synergy * You have to have multiple objects selected, and the pivot point can't be Individual Origins. It's a bit tricky. Try using the Scale tool from the toolbar instead of the hotkeys, the visualization it provides is actually useful for this type of stuff.