Part pivot points
Part objects can have a pivot point that is the default point around which the part can be scaled, rotated, skewed, or flipped. When designing parts, you should put these on natural points of rotation, like the neck on a head or the wrist on a hand. In the section on Rotating, scaling, and skewing objects , you saw that in any view where you can edit parts, paths, or groups, there is a transform origin that is used by scaling, rotating, and skewing operations, and that you can move that origin before doing any of those operations. Moving the transform origin for an editing operation is temporary. A part pivot point is like a transform origin, and is used to determine the default location for a transform origin when manipulating parts. But a part pivot point is saved into the part itself, so it does not automatically revert to center when you are done using it.
A part pivot point can only be edited in the main view of the Part editor. You can tell you are in the main view when the navigation bar ends in “Part” and the Part type popup is shown:
Additionally, the pivot point is only visible and editable when no object is selected. If there is a selection, you will see a transform origin as part of the selection frame instead. The pivot point can only be edited with the selection tool and the reshaping tool, so it is only visible when one of those tools is selected.
This shows a default pivot point on a part. It has not been manually set by the part designer. It is in the center of the part, and it is shown as a gray crosshair. If the part is edited, a default pivot point will automatically move to the new center of the part.
This shows a part with a pivot point that has been set by the designer. It is not on the center, and it is shown in light blue instead of gray. Editing the contents of the part doesn’t move a set pivot point.
Setting a pivot point
There are multiple ways to set a pivot point on a part. Most of them depend on being in a mode where you can see it, so being in the main view of the part editor with no objects selected, with the current tool being the selection tool or the reshaping tool.
Dragging
You can edit a pivot point by dragging it to the new location.
Contextual menu
You can set a pivot point by right-clicking anywhere in the part editor view and choosing Set Pivot Point from the contextual menu, which will set it to the point you clicked on. You can use this method even if objects are selected, but it will deselect them so you can see the new pivot point.
Special keyboard shortcut
You can set a pivot point when nothing is selected in the main view of the part editor by holding down the Command and Option keys and clicking. If you didn’t click in exactly the right place, you can also drag it from there before releasing the mouse button. If you have to set the pivot points on a lot of parts in a file, this is the quickest way.
Restoring a default pivot point
There are two ways to revert a part with a custom pivot point back to using the default, center location.
Contextual menu
You can restore a default pivot point by right-clicking in the part editor view and choosing Revert Pivot Point from the contextual menu. You can use this method even if objects are selected, but it will deselect them so you can see the reverted default pivot point.
Special keyboard shortcut
You can revert to the default pivot point by holding the Command key and clicking on the custom pivot point. This can be thought of as deleting the custom point, so it uses the same modifier as deleting a point or a segment on a path.
How pivot points work while working with parts
In views of Comic Strip Factory where you work with whole parts, like the main views of comic and parts documents and the group editing view, pivot points come into play when one or more parts is selected. Instead of the transform origin defaulting to the center of a selection, it defaults to a part’s pivot point, if it has one. If multiple parts are selected, The program takes into account the natural relationship of parts to determine which part’s pivot point is used. For example, if both a hand and an arm are selected, the transform origin used will the the arm’s pivot point, most likely at the shoulder.