Pivot
Every actor that has the property Advanced → bEdShouldSnap set to true has a pivot (see Actor/Advanced). In practice, this means every brush and any actor for which you've set that flag.
The pivot, when visible, is displayed as a small red cross.
Brush pivot
The pivot is the point about which a brush will rotate when the brush rotate tool or rotate function in the face drag mode is used.
Normally the pivot point is not visible and sits at the center of the brush's local co-ordinates.
The pivot determines whether a brush is selected when ALT+CTRL-dragging (see mouse control).
Setting the pivot
There are several ways to set the pivot point:
- Right-clicking a vertex of a selected brush will put the pivot point of that brush to that vertex.
- Brush Context Menu → Pivot → Place pivot snapped here. This will snap the pivot point to the grid where you click on a 2D viewport.
- Brush Context Menu → Pivot → Place pivot here. This will place the pivot point exactly where you click on a 2D viewport without considering the grid.
Please note that avoiding grid snapping is notorious for causing rendering problems and will often only set the pivot point correctly in one view, while messing it up in the others.
Right clicking a vertex will set it correctly. If you need the pivot point inside the brush and not exactly on a vertex, you can bring up the brush's properties and alter the Display→PrePivot numbers directly. The PrePivot determines the brush's offset from the pivot point.
Changing the pivot point of a brush will change the point around which the brush will be rotated.
Pivot tips
- If a brush swings off into the distance when rotating, then it's probably because the pivot has somehow been placed far away.
- When rotating a group of brushes together, check that the pivot hasn't ended up off the grid. You can also save time by placing it before rotating.
Mover pivot
It's also the point about which a mover will rotate if there is a difference in orientation between successive keys.
We don't know if each key can have a different pivot point. This would be worth finding out.
Static Mesh Pivot
Actor pivot
The handy trick of setting the Advanced.bEdShouldSnap flag to make actors snap to grid should get a mention here. This is explained on UnrealEd tips but should get an explanation here too.
moving the origin of a brush:
use vertex edit mode to move ALL the vertices at once. The origin won't move.
then switch back to camera mode & move the brush back to where it was.
Comments
jeeptrash: Between this page and the one linked to it there were 3 different answers to "move the origin/pivot"(is that the same thing?); right click on the vertex in v-edit mode, select all verts and move them without moving the origin, and use the RBB to intersect into an offest version of the same brush.
Do all of these accomplish the same thing?
Is there a more direct way to just move the origin of an actor/brush?
Can the origin of a static mesh be moved? (swinging statis mesh doors?)
