4 Replies Latest reply: Apr 2, 2013 4:25 PM by TorQue[MoD] RSS

    Inherit object's pivot?

    TorQue[MoD] Community Member

      Ok this is a slightly weird subject but I'll do my best to explain what I'm hoping to do.

       

      Inside 3D Studio max, its possible to adjust the pivot center of an object to anywhere in space. So if for example, I've got a sphere in my scene and I want to have a bunch of cones spin around the center of the sphere (to create the basic shape of a sun graphic) I can just change the cone's pivot to be in the exact center of the sphere and then when I rotate and copy the cone, they will all be perfectly centered around the sphere.

       

      Tying to do this in Photoshop however is proving rather difficult. Since the triangle representing the sun's rays is smaller than the circle representing the sun, I can't move the traingle's pivot to match the center of the sun because the bounding box for the transform isnt  big enough. If I duplicate the sun and merge the triangle and the sun together, the merge action re-adjusts the pivot to be in the center of both objects so its no longer in the correct center of the circle. I can however move the pivot point to the approximate location now because the bounding box is larger, but I don't need the approximate location, I need the exact location.

       

      Is there a way to move the pivot to a specific coordinate? Or am I going to have to move everything onto a perfectly square canvas and snap everything to grid lines?

       

      I'd just like to know an easier way to do this for the future. If this doesn't make sense, I can make a video.

        • 1. Re: Inherit object's pivot?
          conroy Community Member

          Enter transform mode. Drag the pivot wherever you want. If the bounding box has a small width or height and that's preventing you from dragging only the pivot then hold down Alt/Option and drag the pivot. If the pivot is dragged so it's not at the bounding box centre or on a handle then no point will be highlighted in the proxy in the Options bar and you'll be able to enter coordinates in the X and Y fields of the Options bar for precise positioning of the pivot.

          • 2. Re: Inherit object's pivot?
            TorQue[MoD] Community Member

            Ok so that's almost exactly what I was looking for... the Hold Alt part was what I was missing... couldn't get the pivot to move outside the bounding box.

             

            The only other question is.... is there a way to simply tell an object's pivot to snap to another object's pivot instead of to a grid line? The Snap To Options are all on but there isn't an entry for Pivots. Unless they're called something else?

            • 3. Re: Inherit object's pivot?
              conroy Community Member

              As far as I know, a pivot won't snap to anything except the centre and handles of its associated bounding box. I think you'll need to copy the coordinates of the other object's pivot to the pivot that's being moved.

              • 4. Re: Inherit object's pivot?
                TorQue[MoD] Community Member

                Oh well. Better than nothing. Thanks for the help!