World's simplest question (sorry) ...

[chrisclocher]

How can I rotate the gizmo so that it aligns with an object and not with the "world coordinate system" or what ever it is called. I have not done it in a while and I forget.

[Jennifer]

Hi,

 

On the top toolbar is a drop-down item that says "View". That controls the Reference Coordinate System. Change this to "Local".

 

Have fun!

[rivoli]

this is a way to do that: you may want to create a customized grid, an object grid actually. go to auxliary tools>grid then create your new grid and either rotate it or align it to an object. go to view>grids to activate your new grid, it should work as a new world axis system.

anyway, objects can be aligned to other ones quite easily. just do this: tools>align (Alt+A). then you can align it to a local axis.

hope it makes sense.

[molson]

I prefer uising Gimbal mode for Rotating. It gives you a more acurate view of what's going on with your axis.

 

Mark

[chrisclocher]

I created a grid, but I cant seem to make the grid rotate to match the object. Whenever I use the align command, the object rotates, but it does not even rotate to match the new grid, only some random rotation. I dont think I even need a grid, after I am done with this box I will not need thes coord's anymore. Is there not a simple way of just rotating the coord to an object? I liked Jennifer's idea but I could not find a "Local" option under VIEWS.

[xgarcia]

for extremely fast aligning object to object - try using "normal align" (it's right under align in the toolbar drop-down). First arrow is the surface you want to move - the second arrow is the surface you want to place "normal" to. Works like a charm.

[jucaro]

I think Jennifer may have already nailed the question...

 

Click on the Heirarchy Tab. Under the Adjust Pivot rollout, click 'Affect Pivot Only'

Then under the 'Alignment' group, click Align to Object.

 

And also, you might wanna scan your help file and or the manual.