When Auto Key is active, Use Pivot Point Center is automatically chosen and no other option is available.
The axis tripods show the centers that are currently being used.
Applying a rotation with the Pivot Point rotates each object around its own local axis.
When rotating a chain of linked objects (that is, a hierarchy) with Use Pivot Point Center active, the rotation is applied equally to each object in the chain. This results in a accumulated rotations, which makes it easy to animate such effects as fingers curling.
Hierarchy before rotation (parent at bottom) |
Hierarchy rotated |