center of rotation on bike problem

I’ve grouped the front forks, wheels, spokes, hub, handlebars and neck.
I centered the object to what I thought was the center of the neck through the neck tube
but when I rotate on the z axis it does not align.

I’m obviously missing something but not sure what.

anyone want to venture a suggestion on how to fix this?

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you’d want the Z axis to align with the angle of the head tube for that to work. At a glance i’d say somewhere around 10-15 degrees, right now Z is just aligned to world so it’s straight up

that’s because the neck doesn’t seem vertical.
Have you tried rotating on local Z axis? (R+Z+Z again)

Select edge from the frame tube enclosing steering column and make a new Custom Orientation on bottom N panel. Use newly created Orientation to rotate assembly. Better yet - add Armature or figure how to use some Constraints.

not sure how thats done

that apparently did not work

I’m not seeing custom as an option
I’m using this model in other apps so if the “better yet” option is Blender rigging I can’t use it for this specific project.


One way to do it would be to rotate the object until the shaft is aligned with the Z axis, then apply the rotation (Ctrl-A) and then rotate it back into place. This way its local Z axis will be aligned with the shaft, and rotating it locally (R, Z, Z) will turn it properly around the shaft.

One way to do it would be to rotate the object until the shaft is aligned with the Z axis, then apply the rotation (Ctrl-A) and then rotate it back into place. This way its local Z axis will be aligned with the shaft, and rotating it locally (R, Z, Z) will turn it properly around the shaft.

[video]http://tinypic.com/r/1znambk/8[/video]

Not working, I’m probably missing something right in front of me. Thank you for your patience as I keep trying.

I’m not seeing custom as an option

if the “better yet” option is Blender rigging I can’t use it

In fact Armature would be only option then. If your app does not support that you’re out of the luck and have to use means provided by that app.

CRAP! Well I’ll ask over at the form for the software I’m trying to make the prop in.
Thanks!

Make sure you’re pressing Z twice (R to go into rotate mode, Z to isolate the Z axis, and then Z again to change to the local Z axis). If that still doesn’t work, you may need to change your transform widget to local mode (at the bottom of the 3d pane, where it says “global”, you can change it to “local”). If the hotkeys aren’t your jam, you can also change the widget to a rotate widget by clicking on the little buttons next to the global/local dropdown- the rotate widget is made of circles instead of arrows, so you can just click on the circle that corresponds with the axis you want to rotate.