Rotate

Rotates one or more pickable items in a 3D scene.

 

How to use

 

1. Pick the item you want to rotate.

2. Click the Rotate icon or choose the Tools > Transform > Rotate menu command. You can also perform a rotation by using the R keyboard shortcut.

 

3. The views display the center of rotation.

 

4. By default, the center of rotation of an item is placed in relation to its local axes. Since the effect of a rotation of an item depends on the location of the center of rotation (origin), you may want to relocate it by using one of the following methods:
a) Click the
Center hotSpot of the item in any view and drag it to the new location;

b) Choose of the predefined
Origin options in the Modeling Tool panel;

c) Input the XYZ coordinates in the
Center field of the Modeling Tool panel to specify numerically the location of an arbitrary origin point.

 

5. By default, rotation is View dependent, i.e. it is performed according to the two-dimensional plane of the window view where you have selected the item to rotate. The plane of view axis is displayed in the bottom left corner of each view (for example, XY in the Top view). To define a different rotation axis you can choose one of the Predefined rotation axes (X, Y, and Z) listed in the Modeling Tool panel or the Custom rotation axis which lets you input XYZ coordinates in the Custom rotation axis fields for any arbitrary orientation.

 

6. To interactively rotate the item, you can use one of the following methods:
a) Click an area of the view that is clear of any item and drag with the mouse (remember that you must not pick the item as, in this case, a translation is always applied regardless of the transformation you selected);

b) Define the degree of rotation by moving the
Angle slider of the Modeling Tool panel.

 

Note: By default, rotation is applied with reference to the origin of the object's local axes, but the Reference Axes section of the Modeling Tool panel allows you to choose among other options.

 

Options

 

Angle

To define the rotation angle.
Views
. Click an area of the view that is clear of any item and drag.

Modeling Tool panel
. Move the slider or type the rotation angle in the Angle field.

 

Origin

To set the center of rotation (origin).
Modeling Tool panel
. Switch the chosen radio button on. You have the following options:

Barycenter
. The rotation center coincides with the barycenter.

Center of bounding box
. The rotation coincides with the center of the bounding box of the item (or items).

Axes origin
(default). The rotation center coincides with the axes origin.

Point
. The rotation center coincides with any arbitrary point that you can define in the Center section below.

 

Center

To define an arbitrary location (defined by the XYZ coordinates) of the origin.
Views
. Pick the Center hotSpot of the rotation axes and drag it to the new location.

Modeling Tool panel. Type the new values in the XYZ data fields and confirm them by pressing
Enter.

 

Predefined rotation axis

To set one of the predefined rotation axis.
Modeling Tool panel
. Switch the chosen radio button on. You have the following options:

X
. Rotation about the X-axis.

Y
. Rotation about the Y-axis.

Z
. Rotation about the Z-axis.

View dependent (default). Rotation is performed according to the two-dimensional plane of the view where you have selected the item to rotate.

Custom. Lets you input XYZ coordinates in the Custom rotation axis fields below.

 

Custom rotation axis

To define an arbitrary orientation of the rotation axis.

Views. Pick the Custom rotation axis hotSpot of the rotation axes and drag it to the new location.

Modeling Tool panel. Input the XYZ coordinates in the Custom rotation axis fields.

 

Reference axes

To define the reference coordinate system.

Modeling Tool panel. Switch the chosen radio button on. You have the following options:

Local (default). Each picked item is rotated with reference to its local axes;

Parent. Each picked item is rotated with reference to the coordinate system of its parent node.

World. Items are rotated with reference to the world (or global) coordinate system.

Object. Items are rotated according to the axes orientation of a reference object that you can define in the Object section below.

 

 Object

To define the reference object in case you have switched on the Object option in the Reference Axes section above.

Views / Modeling Tool panel. Switch on the Replace check button and pick the reference object in the scene. Then drag with the mouse in the scene.

 

Apply to

To selectively rotate objects/points or axes. This option is enabled only when you are in Object mode and when collapsed objects (objects without a Construction Tree) are selected.

Modeling Tool panel. Choose one of the two options:

The Objects/Points option allows you to rotate objects or points.

Choose Axes if you want to rotate ONLY the objects axes.