To activate the Rotate Tool, click the
Rotate Tool icon
in the
Tool Box or press E. See
Rotate objects and components for more information.
Note: When working in the
UV Editor, this changes to the
Rotate UV Tool, which contains only a subset of the following options useful for working with UVs.
- Drag the center of the manipulator, or middle drag anywhere on the screen, to rotate in three axes.
- Drag a manipulator handle, or middle drag anywhere with a manipulator handle selected, to rotate in a single axis.
- Shift + drag in
Component Mode to Extrude (see
Extrude a polygon face, edge, or vertex).
- Shift + drag in
Object Mode to duplicate (see
Duplicate).
- Ctrl + Shift + drag in
Component Mode to slide components along their edges (see
Slide components along their edges).
Double-click the
Rotate Tool icon to display its options in the Tool Settings panel as described here.
Rotate Settings
-
Axis Orientation
- Specifies the coordinate system for the
Rotate Tool.
Tip: Middle-click the
button to toggle between the last two selected orientation modes.
-
Object
-
(Default) Rotates the object about the object space axes.
-
World
-
Rotates the object about the world space XYZ axes. In this mode the rings never change.
-
Component
-
Rotates selected components along an average local reference frame that is computed using component properties like the normal.
-
Gimbal
-
Changes only the X, Y, or Z rotation value. In local and world modes, the XYZ constraint rings may change more than one of the rotation XYZ channels.
-
Custom
-
Lets you set a custom axis orientation.
Custom axis orientation is automatically selected when you activate custom pivot editing mode. The offset coordinates update as you edit the orientation of the custom pivot. See
Activate custom pivot editing mode.
You can orient the
Rotate Tool's X-axis to a component in the scene by clicking
beside the
Custom axis fields and selecting one of the following options:
Tip: Middle-click the
button to activate the last selected option.
-
Pivot
-
Edit Pivot
-
Activates pivot editing mode. See
Activate custom pivot editing mode.
-
Reset
-
Resets the custom pivot's position and orientation. See
Change the pivot point.
-
Position
-
When on, snaps the pivot position to the selected component. By default, pivot position snapping is turned on.
-
Orientation
-
When on, snaps the pivot orientation to the selected component. By default, pivot orientation snapping is turned on.
-
Pin Component Pivot
-
When on, locks your edits to the custom pivot in place, letting you use the same custom pivot to transform components on the same mesh or on a different mesh. See
Pin the custom pivot.
Pivot pinning remains locked during component selection changes, object selection changes, and when you switch to
Object selection mode.
-
Bake Pivot Orientation
-
When on, this saves any pivot orientation changes to the selected object's transform as soon as the change is made.
-
Show Orientation Handle
-
Determines whether to display the rotation control in pivot editing mode. Disable this to avoid accidentally re-orienting the pivot if you only want to move it.
- Pivot Reset
-
Determines how the custom pivot's position and orientation is reset when the
Reset button is clicked. Select from the following options:
- Center Pivot: (Default) Resets the pivot to the center of the object's bounding box.
- Zero Pivot: Resets the pivot to the object's origin.
-
Rotate Center
-
Lets you rotate object components about the object's pivot.
-
Default
- Lets you rotate the selected objects about each object's individual pivot point.
Note: In component selection mode, all objects rotate about a pivot point in the center of the selection.
-
Object
- Lets you rotate the selected objects about each object's individual pivot point.
-
Manip
- Lets you rotate all selected objects using the manipulator as a pivot point.
-
Selection
-
Lets you rotate a group of selected objects about the selection's common center point.
-
Modify Translation
-
When on, rotating an object about a common center point affects the object's translation values instead of its rotate pivot values.
Modify Translation works in conjunction with the
Rotate Center: Selection setting. An object's translation values are updated whenever it's repositioned while rotating a group of objects about a common center point.
-
Transform Constraint
-
Lets you slide components along the edges or the surface of the active mesh.
You can turn on a transform constraint in the
Modeling Toolkit or the tool settings for any of the transform tools.
Tip: Middle-click the
button to toggle between the last selected transform constraint and
Off.
-
Off
- (Default) Disables transform constraints. Lets you use the
Rotate Tool to rotate your components without a constraint.
-
Edge
- Lets you slide the selected components along the edges of the current object. See
Slide polygon edges.
-
Surface
- Lets you slide the selected components on the selected object's surface. See
Move polygon components along a surface.
Note: You can also use
Make Live to constrain tools to a surface. For example, you can use
Make Live to constrain the
Quad Draw tool to the surface of the mesh you want to retopologize. Transform constraints are disabled when
Make Live is active. For more information on retopology, see
Retopologize a mesh with Quad Draw.
-
Along Normals
-
(Default) When on, the
Rotate Tool snaps points onto the surface along the normal direction instead of using the closest point to the surface. Turn on
Along Normals for predictable sliding behavior and to prevent points from popping off the surface of your mesh.
Note: Along Normals only applies to the
Transform Constraint options.
-
Closest Point
-
When on, the
Rotate Tool snaps points onto the surface using the closest point on the surface.
Note: Closest Point only applies to the
Transform Constraint options.
-
Step Snap
- Lets you maintain relative spacing while rotating an object. Turn this option
Off if you don’t want to preserve relative spacing while rotating. Select
Relative and enter a value to determine the amount an object is rotated in increments.
Tip: Middle-click the
button to toggle between
Relative and
Off.
-
Preserve Children
-
When this option is selected, moving a parent object does not move its children.
-
Preserve UVs
-
When this option is selected, moving components in the scene view causes the corresponding UVs to move accordingly in the UV space. The net result is that the texture does not become warped.
-
Free Rotate
-
If this option is turned on, dragging the area inside the
Rotate manipulator handles rotates the object or component freely. If this option is turned off, you can only rotate the object or component by dragging the manipulator handles. Disabling this option also allows you to select objects or components by clicking through the center area of the
Rotate manipulator, which can be useful when making component selections.