Moving Pivot to selected / 3D cursor

Support Basics & Interface
1

I’ve looked at Blender a few times over the years. I started in Lightwave, went to MODO, learned Max then Maya.

I have a question about moving the pivot to selected geometry to transform from, rotate around or snap to.

In Maya you hold the D key (I think) and can snap the Pivot to some part of an element. In MODO you can select the center and axis point of a transform, rotate or snap.

From what I can tell in Blender you snap the 3D cursor to an element in Edit Mode then Set Origin to 3D Cursor.

Is that right? Are an object’s origin and Pivot the same thing?

Thanks.

2

Pivot point options https://www.blender.org/manual/en/editors/3dview/transform/transform_control/pivot_point/index.html

Are an object’s origin and Pivot the same thing?
No, but you can have the origin as the pivot point. The object origin is the actual location of the object

3

Thanks.

So, is that the way you set the center of any transform or rotation - you set and use the object origin?

4

You set whatever you want to be the pivot point. That may be the origin or some other point depending on the pivot point settings as indicated in the previous link

5

Thanks Richard.

Yes, I’ve read some of the documentation on the 3D cursor and Pivot points. I guess I was hoping for some suggested workflows and could have worded my question better.

And I guess I will find the workflow that works best for me the more I use Blender.

Something that I need to get used to and explore more is that the 3D Cursor and Pivot don’t seem to move (Transform) with the selected element.