Action: Moving, Rotating, and Scaling Objects

Transformations change an object's position, size, and orientation without changing its shape. "Transform" is basically a fancy way of saying "move, scale, and rotate".

Transformations are relative to an object's (or component's) pivot point, and take place along/around either the world axes, object axes, or local axes.

Moving an Axis, a Light, or a Camera

There are two methods to move an axis, a light, or a camera:

• With a manipulator in the viewport
• With the numeric fields in the object's properties

To freely move an object:

1. In the Tools box, choose Translate. Or press T.
2. Click and hold the axis, camera, or light to move.
3. Drag the object where you need it.

To constrain the movement of an object along one axis:

1. In the Tools box, choose Translate. Or press T.
2. Click the axis, camera, or light to move to display its manipulator.
3. Move the cursor over one of the manipulator's axes to make it active (yellow).
4. Click and drag the axis to move the object where you need it.

To constrain the movement of an object to a plane:

1. In the Tools box, choose Translate. Or press T.
2. Click the axis, camera, or light to move to display its manipulator.
3. Move the cursor over one of the manipulator's planes to make it active (yellow).
4. Click and drag the plane to move the object where you need it.

To move an object precisely along one axis:

1. In Schematic view, click the object to move.
2. Do one of the following to edit the X, Y, and Z position fields:
   • Drag a position field to move the object.
   • Click a position field to display the calculator. The object moves as soon as you click Enter.

Rotating an Axis, a Light, or a Camera

There are two methods to rotate an axis, a light, or a camera:

• With a manipulator in the viewport
• With the numeric fields in the object's properties

To rotate an object:

1. In the Tools box, choose Rotate. Or press R.
2. Click the axis, camera, or light to display its manipulator.
3. Move the cursor over one of the manipulator's ring to make it active (yellow).
4. Click and drag the ring to rotate the object.

To precisely rotate an object:

1. In Schematic view, click the object to rotate. This can be an axis, a light, or a camera.
2. Do one of the following to edit the X, Y, and Z rotation fields:
   • Drag a rotation field to rotate the object around that axis.
   • Click a rotation field to display the calculator, and then enter a value. The object rotates as soon as you click Enter.

Scaling an Axis

There are two methods to scale an axis:

• With a manipulator in the viewport
• With the numeric fields in the object's properties

To scale an object uniformly in all directions:

1. In the Tools box, choose Scale. Or press E.
2. Click and hold the axis of the object to scale.
3. Drag cursor to scalle the object to scale uniformly in all directions.

To constrain the scaling of an object along one axis:

1. In the Tools box, choose Scale. Or press E.
2. Click the axis to display its manipulator.
3. Move the cursor over one of the axis' handles to make it active (yellow).
4. Click and drag the handle to scale the object along that axis.

To constrain the scaling of an object to a plane:

1. In the Tools box, choose Scale. Or press E.
2. Click the axis to display its manipulator.
3. Move the cursor over one of the manipulator's planes to make it active (yellow).
4. Click and drag the plane to scale the object in that plane.

To scale an object precisely along one axis:

1. In Schematic view, click the object to scale.
2. Do one of the following to edit the X, Y, and Z position fields:
   • Drag a position field to move the object.
   • Click a position field to display the calculator. The object moves as soon as you click Enter.
   Note: Enable Prop to scale uniformly in all directions.