Working on a Rotated Object

Support Modeling
1

Hi -

I have an object (mechanical part) that I’m working on. The basic object is rotated 30 degrees on the y-axis. I’d like to be able to work on a non-rotated version of the object while editing in order to keep measurements, angles, etc. simple. But I’d like to be able to “toggle” the rotation to see the object in its final rotated position.

I could do this by manually doing the rotation each time, but that doesn’t seem very elegant.

I also can do this by creating a linked duplicate. One object is not-rotated and the other has a rotation. That does most of what I want, but there is really still one more object than I need. And I wonder if there is yet a better way.

What I would really like is a “transform” modifer that allows the rotation to be set. When I work on the object, I could hide/disable the modifier. When I’m done or want to check the process, just toggle it on.

I’ve looked at both the array modifier and the simple deform, but haven’t figured out a way to get this to work.

Is there an existing modifier to do this? An add-on?

Thanks,

-grommit

2
  1. Add an Empty to your scene
  2. Add an array modifier to the non-rotated version.
  3. Disable Relative Offset on the array modifier
  4. Select the Empty in the Object offset field
  5. Set the Count to 2 if it isn’t set to that value already
  6. Move the empty in the position. You can rotate, move or scale the empty, the array duplicate will follow it with the empty at the duplicate object’s origin.
3

You could use a Copy Rotation constraint targeting an Empty object. Turn the influence on and off as needed.

4

@MadMinstrel - I hadn’t thought of using another object offset in the array. I can toggle the effect by either disabling Object Offset or switching the visibility. I figured out pretty quickly (by doing it wrong) that any object transformations have to be cleared or the effects are not what I would expect.

@CD38 - Another good suggestion that I hadn’t considered. I can toggle the effect by disabling the constraint, disabling the axis that matches the rotation (Y), or changing the influence.

Thanks for both suggestions. I think the second is most closely what I was looking for, since there is just one visible instance of the object. However, either way works, and best of all, I’ve learned something.

Thanks!!