Groups and pivots
 

I used to do this using the "Imagine 3D" ray-tracing package on the Amiga last century (lol!), but have just got into Maya ...

In Imagine3D I used to be able to create an axis (a pivot) and treat it as an object. Then I could create a new object (say a polygon cylinder) away from the axis, and then I could group it with the axis object. Then I could rotate the axis object and the cylinder would be pivoted around it. Because the cylinder retains its own central pivot point I can still scale the cylinder independently from the other axis object.

Currently in Maya I just move the pivot point of the cylinder (using the "Insert" key), but when I want to scale the cylinder independently it obviously scales it away from the pivot point, as opposed to the centre of the object. Which is not what I'm after.

Thanks :)

Also, is there any way to toggle through multiple objects to select one of them, like a "Select Next" or "Select Previous" option? Currently when I have several similar objects on top of each other it's very hard to select just one of them in particular.

Cheers

Hello Timo79,

There are a couple of ways to do this.

The best way is to group the object to itself. (select the object, then press ctrl g) Now the object will have a new axis placed at the center of the grid. You can move this Axis where ever you like in the scene, and use it as the objects pivot. Now if you want to use the Objects original axis, you can simple press the down arrow key on the keyboard to toggle to it, and press the Up arrow key to toggle back to the new Axis. There are other ways to do this, but this is the easiest.

To file through all the objects in the scene. Simply select one object (in object mode) and use the Left and Right arrow keys to file through the scenes Hierarchy. Use the Up and Down arrow keys to Brake in and out of groups. You can also use the Outliner to easily, browse, and select objects in your scene.