8

418 Chapter 6: Transforms: Moving, Rotating, and Scaling Objects
of a dummy helper object, and then rotating or
scaling the dummy.
Another technique is to offset the pivot point of
your object using the Hierarchy panel.
For information about linking, dummy objects,
and the Hierarchy panel, see
Hierarchies (page
2–398)
.
Using the A xi s Cons tra ints
The Restrict to ... buttons, also called the Axis
Constraint buttons, are located on the
Axis
Constraints toolbar (page 3–735)
,whichisoff
by default. You can turn it on by right-clicking
an empty spot on the main toolbar and choosing
Axis Constraints from the pop-up menu. These
buttons let you specify one or two axes about or
along which the transform takes place.
Note: It’s generally easier to use the Transform
gizmos than these buttons; see
Using T ransform
Gizmos (page 1–408)
.However,itishelpfulto
understand the concepts explained below.
Axis Constraint buttons
Only one of the four Axis Constraint buttons
isactiveatatime. Whenabuttonisturnedon,
transforms are constrained to the axis it specifies.
For example, if you turn on the Restrict To X
button, you can rotate an object only about the X
axis of the current tr ansform coordinate system.
The axis or axes to which you’re constrained
are highlighted in red on the axis tripod icon in
viewports, or in yellow on the Transform gizmo.
The first three buttons constrain the transform
to a single axis. The fourth button is a flyout, the
Restr ict To Plane flyout (p age 1–430) ,thatspecifies
double-axis combinations.
For example, if Restrict To YZ Plane is active,
you can move an object only along the YZ plane,
you can scale it only a long the Y and Z axes, and
you can rotate it about the Y and Z axes (or a
combination of the two) but not about the X axis.
Note: Normally, axis constraints apply when using
Snap. You can override this by turning off Use Axis
Constraints in
Snap Options (page 2–43) .
K ey boar d Shortcuts for A xi s Const ra ints
AsanalternativetousingthebuttonsontheAxis
Constraints toolbar, you can u se the func tion keys
F5 through F8 to select the four axis constraint
buttons. F5 ac tivates the X button, F6 the Y, F7 the
Z, and F8 act ivates the double-axis flyout. Press F8
repeatedlytocyclethroughthethreedouble-axis
options.
Reset Transform Utility
Utilities pa nel > Utilities rollout > Reset XForm button
Use the Reset T ransform utility to push object
rotation and scaling values onto the modifier
stack and align object pivot points and bound ing
boxes with the World coordinate system. Reset
Transform removes all Rotation and Scale values
from selected objects and places those transforms
in an XForm modifier.
To reset the transform of a group, use the
TransformbuttonintheResetgroupboxofthe
Hierarchy > Pivot command panel.
Procedure
To reset an object’s transform:
1.
Select an object.