Rotate - what controls the center point?

[QuasiMoto]

What controls the center point when you "rotate" a model?

Is there a way to choose the point when rotating?

Thanks

 

[jackk]

Use the middle mouse button to move the selected element to the center of the screen. This will become your new center of rotation.

 

[kevwoogs]

Using your left mouse button, click on a point and thats your rotation center!

 

[jackk]

Kevwoogs: you must have customized your mouse settings! (or maybe you have a 2 button mouse?)

It is the middle mouse button, and all rotations are about the center of the screen. As you rotate you will see 3 orange lines at the center of rotation along with a spherical circle, unless you have geometry in front of them.

If you rotate with the cursor inside the sphere, you get a 3D rotation. If you rotate with cursor outside the circle, you get a 2D rotation in the plane of the viewport.

 

[QuasiMoto]

So is there a way to have the part rotate around it's centroid by default?

Also, is there a way to pick a point on the model to use as the center or rotation?

 

[kevwoogs]

Jackk - I agree, I was a bit hasty in my reply. I also didnt see your response when replying!

QuasiMoto - Yes. If you tap your mid mouse button on a point in the model, it becomes the CoR.

 

[QuasiMoto]

[QuasiMoto - Yes. If you tap your mid mouse button on a point in the model, it becomes the CoR.]

Thanks!

Is it actually a point on the model, or some imaginary point with respect to the view. (Not in front of my PC right now)

On a related note, I hooked up my spaceball today, and am finding it doesn't work as well in rotate mode as other modelers I have used. When zoomed in close, the rotate mode is fairly worthless because the part does not rotate around it's centroid, but rather some unexplained point way out in space????

Any tips would be appreciated here as well!

 

[Albigger]

If you middle-click on some geometry, this will re-center it in your screen and make it the new center of rotation.

If you middle-click off the part or somewhere out in space (which I would NOT recommend) you will rotate about some point off in space and this often causes extreme rotations and the part to rotate off the screen very rapidly.