Using proportional editing to translate against origin, not regular XYZ directions

I am pretty new to blender and 3d modeling, but I am going through a bunch of tutorials and am learning. One question I have, I want to make depressions and extrusions on the face of a sphere using the proportional editing. I want to lock the direction of the transformation along an axis running from the origin so the transformations happen only going inward and outward with respect to the center of the object. But the only way I know how to do proportional editing is along the regular XYZ directions. How can this be accomplished?

Use Transform Orientations (n-panel, bottom). Define new by selecting some edge or face and click +.
Select newly created and use instead of standard xyz.

Thank you, that seems to be working.

The 3D cursor and Shift + S key are good for things like this.

In 3D view menu (Object or Mesh) > Snap > Cursor to Selected (Shift S)

In object mode it will snap 3D cursor to origin point of object. In edit mode it will snap cursor to center of selected vertices. (Btw notice the other Shift S options which are very useful).

So with your 3D cursor in the center of your sphere change the pivot point to 3D Cursor via the 3D viewport header (next to viewport shading control) and your selected vertices will scale towards that.

Here’s the keyboard shortcuts for Pivot Point settings not mentioned in their tooltips (I’ll report this one of these days).

3D Cursor = . (period / full stop)
Active Element = Alt .
Individual origins = Ctrl .
Bounding box center = , (comma)
Median point = Ctrl ,

(Tip) In Object or Pose mode the Pivot control will also show another control attached to it (Manipulate Center Points). Alt + comma is the shortcut for that. If you ever find that you can’t rotate or scale an object or bone for some mysterious reason… this will be the culprit.

Welcome to BA Forums.

-Larry

Thanks for this Larry I knew just two of them now i know them all :slight_smile: