exquisite stuff.

i figured out what the issue with the snapping was.

if i want to move a face, i select the face. i then go into curve snapping mode.

gesturing over an edge while middle-click didn't do anything because i had to get out of face mode and go into edge mode.

then, i can middle click + gesture of the edge i want.

slightly unintuitive... since by definition, curve snapping should know i want to snap to anything that is a curve.


also, concerning the "retain component spacing" the help file says :
"Turned on by default. This means that while Maya moves the component, relative spacing is maintained. Turn this option off if you don’t want to preserve relative spacing while translating and snapping polygonal components. "

this is still unclear, since when turned on and off, the result was exactly the same. referring to your tutorial, if i snap the face to the edge, then what relative space would be maintained, the space between the face and the edge? the face moves and the edge stays, so i don't see how anything is maintained.

indeed!