Rotate Manipulator Handle?

# 1 04-04-2012 , 10:01 PM

Acid44

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By pressing insert, you can move around the manipulator handle so the object is centered on different parts and stuff. But what about rotating it? On a car I'm modeling there are two visible fans pumping air in to the front radiator, they have to be rotated -18.255 degrees on the X axis to match the rotation of the radiator, is there any way I could freeze the transforms, so it all shows 0, but still have it act as if it weren't frozen, so I could rotate it along the objects Z axis for the fans to spin, instead of it rotating along the world's axis and rotating all wonky?

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# 2 04-04-2012 , 10:21 PM

EduSciVis-er
Join Date: Dec 2005

Location: Toronto

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Yeah, but it's weird and confusing and why alias why.

Go into component mode, then select the question mark in the status line; this includes local rotation axis. Select the LRA, and then rotate it the desired position. Go back to object mode, and you should have your custom rotation axis if your rotate tool is in local.

Is that what you want?

-stwert

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# 3 04-04-2012 , 10:32 PM

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Thanks for sharing Stewrt I didn't know that one,

gubar

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# 4 04-04-2012 , 11:52 PM

Acid44

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Yeah, but it's weird and confusing and why alias why.

Go into component mode, then select the question mark in the status line; this includes local rotation axis. Select the LRA, and then rotate it the desired position. Go back to object mode, and you should have your custom rotation axis if your rotate tool is in local.

Is that what you want?

Originally Posted by stwert

Sounds like it, but I have no idea what any of that means. I went into component mode (you mean click the little button that says "Select by component type", right?) but didn't see a question mark anywhere.

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# 5 05-04-2012 , 12:02 AM

EduSciVis-er
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This is what I mean... (Maya 2009, hope it hasn't changed)

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-stwert

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# 6 05-04-2012 , 12:05 AM

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you dont have to hold the insert key...all you need to do is hold down D key and either X or V at the same time to alter the pivot point for move or rotate acid. Also in 2011 you cant now set the tools rotation axis to an edge etc like the move tool..this is new. Is that what you wanted? When you select the tool go into tool settings and its all there, the ability to change the rotation axis I think came in 2010..not sure

cheers bullet

bullet1968

"A Darkness at Sethanon", a book I aspire to model some of the charcters and scenes

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# 7 05-04-2012 , 12:08 AM

EduSciVis-er
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You're right bullet, in the newer versions they have set to point, edge, face etc. for the rotate and scale tools. In the older versions, you have to use the method above in component mode, which also gives you the interactive part of it.

-stwert

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# 8 05-04-2012 , 12:21 AM

Acid44

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Ha! Thanks Stuart, worked perfectly , though Maybe I've done it wrong, but the X rotation value of the object is still at -18.255, and freezing transforms resets the manipulator again, is that just going to happen no matter what, or is there a way to have 0,0,0 transforms and the rotated manip.?

Bullet, I think I'm a bit tired to have any clue as to what anything means in the tool settings at the moment, but it doesn't seem so

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# 9 05-04-2012 , 12:29 AM

EduSciVis-er
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Hmmm... not sure. Can you freeze transforms and then do the rotation?

-stwert

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# 10 05-04-2012 , 12:34 AM

Acid44

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That's what I did, also if I type in the value instead of rotating it by had, the object itself rotates along with the handle

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# 11 05-04-2012 , 03:25 AM

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aahhhhh stwert yes you may be right....I was taught a different way where you create a cube...set that to the angle you wanted, then parent the object you have frozen...then it aquires the rotate etc attributes from the cube and then delete the cube...painful but works...is that similar stwert? thats how Rick taught me to regain local axis after I accidently froze the transforms.....I guess too you could put it at any angle etc and it will work.

cheers bullet

bullet1968

"A Darkness at Sethanon", a book I aspire to model some of the charcters and scenes

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