Easy Pivot
Easy Pivot
Move, rotate and snap the pivot with a single hotkey.
Easy Pivot brings a fast, hotkey-driven custom-pivot workflow to Blender. Tap or hold one key to enter a dedicated pivot-editing mode where you can snap the pivot to any component, drag it with an on-screen manipulator, tumble its orientation freely, and then transform your object around that exact point — all without leaving the viewport.
Requirements
- Blender 4.2 or newer (works on the 5.x series)
- Object Mode or Mesh Edit Mode
Installation
- Download
easy_pivot-1.0.0.zip. - In Blender open Edit → Preferences → Get Extensions → Install from Disk… (or Add-ons → Install from Disk on the drop-down arrow, top-right).
- Pick the zip. Easy Pivot appears in the add-on list, already enabled.
- Open the Pivot tab in the 3D Viewport sidebar (press N to toggle the sidebar) to see the panel.
Quick start
- Select an object (or enter Edit Mode on a mesh).
- Press D to enter Pivot Edit Mode.
- Move the mouse over your geometry — a glowing marker previews where the pivot will land.
- Click, or simply release D, to place it.
- Move or transform as usual — everything now happens around your custom pivot.
That's the whole loop. Everything below is detail.
The pivot, explained
Easy Pivot drives Blender's 3D Cursor as the pivot. When you confirm, the add-on sets Transform Pivot Point → 3D Cursor and Transform Orientation → Cursor, so subsequent Grab / Rotate / Scale operations pivot around the point and along the axes you defined. To go back to normal behaviour, use Reset Pivot (see below).
Pivot Edit Mode
Enter with the hotkey (D by default). While the mode is active you get a custom manipulator at the pivot and a header showing every shortcut.
Two ways to enter and confirm
| Style | How | Confirm |
|---|---|---|
| Tap | Press and release the hotkey quickly | Tap the hotkey again, or press Enter |
| Hold | Press and keep holding the hotkey | Release the hotkey — if a component is highlighted, the pivot snaps there automatically |
The hold style is the fastest: hold D, hover the vertex you want, let go — done. No click needed.
Placing the pivot by snapping
Move the mouse over the mesh and the pivot previews on the nearest component. Click LMB to place it (or release the held hotkey).
| Key | Snap target |
|---|---|
| 1 | Vertex |
| 2 | Edge |
| 3 | Face center |
| 4 | Surface (raw hit point) |
Press the same number again to return to Auto, which prefers vertices, then edges, then the surface based on how close your cursor is.
Snapping reads the cage / original mesh — the vertices you actually see — not the dense subdivided result, so it behaves correctly on Subsurf models. In Edit Mode it follows your live, unsaved edits.
The on-screen manipulator
A pivot manipulator is drawn at the cursor. Drag its handles directly — no keys required:
- Coloured arrows — move the pivot along that local axis.
- Coloured rings — rotate the pivot around that local axis. Hold Shift while dragging a ring for precise (slow) rotation.
- White center dot — move the pivot freely; it snaps to components as you pass over them.
The handle under your mouse lights up yellow. Blender's own transform gizmos are hidden while you're in the mode so only this manipulator shows; they come back when you leave.
Keyboard move / rotate
If you prefer keys over dragging:
- G — move the pivot (free move, with live surface snapping).
- R — rotate the pivot as a free trackball: drag to tumble it onto any orientation. Press X / Y / Z to constrain to a single axis (press again to return to trackball). Hold Shift for precision.
- A — toggle whether snapping also aligns the pivot's orientation to the surface normal.
Confirm / cancel
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| Enter / Space / hotkey | Confirm — pivot and orientation become active |
| Esc / RMB | Cancel — everything is restored to how it was |
Inside a move/rotate sub-action, Esc / RMB backs out of just that action instead of leaving the mode.
Sidebar panel (Pivot tab)
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| Edit Pivot | Enters Pivot Edit Mode (same as the hotkey; the label shows your current key). |
| Pivot to Active Object | Snaps the pivot to the active object's origin and orientation. |
| Origin to Pivot | Moves the object's origin to the pivot and aligns its local axes to the pivot orientation, without moving the mesh. Children keep their world position. Multi-user meshes are skipped for safety. |
| Reset Pivot | Returns the 3D Cursor to the world origin, sets Pivot Point back to Median Point and Orientation back to Global. |
| Reset Origin | Puts the object origin back at the center of its geometry (Median or Bounding-Box, chosen in the redo panel). Use it to undo an Origin to Pivot. |
The panel also shows the current Pivot and Orientation state so you can see at a glance what's active.
Changing the hotkey
Some tools also use D (Annotate is on it by default). To change it:
Edit → Preferences → Add-ons → Easy Pivot → Hotkey.
Pick any key from the list (D, Insert, F, V, B, and more) and optionally add Ctrl / Alt / Shift modifiers. The change applies immediately — no restart.
Tip: Insert is a great alternative — almost nothing in Blender uses it, and it was historically the classic pivot-editing key. Alt + D keeps the muscle memory while dodging the Annotate conflict.
Preferences reference
| Setting | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Hotkey (+ Ctrl/Alt/Shift) | The key that opens Pivot Edit Mode. |
| Snap Radius (px) | Screen distance within which Auto snap prefers vertices/edges. Raise it for dense meshes. |
| Gizmo Size | Fallback world size for the pivot preview axes. |
| Hold Threshold (s) | How long a hold must last before releasing counts as a confirm. |
| Also set Transform Orientation to 'Cursor' | On confirm, switch the orientation to Cursor as well as the pivot. |
| Snap to modifier result | Off (default): snap to cage vertices. On: snap to the evaluated (subdivided) mesh. |
| Read live edit-mode geometry | In Edit Mode, snap to the live cage including unsaved edits. |
Typical workflows
Rotate a door around its hinge Press D, hover the hinge edge, press 2 for Edge snap, release D. Now R rotates the door around the hinge.
Scale a character's arm from the shoulder joint D, hover the shoulder vertex, release. S scales from the shoulder.
Bake a clean origin for export Set the pivot where you want the origin (e.g. base of a prop), confirm, then Origin to Pivot. The origin and local axes are now baked in; the mesh hasn't moved. Changed your mind? Reset Origin.
Troubleshooting
- Pressing D does nothing — make sure the mouse is over the 3D Viewport and you're in Object or Mesh Edit mode. Check the hotkey hasn't been reassigned in preferences.
- Snapping feels like it slides on the surface — you're likely snapping to a subdivided mesh; make sure Snap to modifier result is off, and try Vertex snap (1). Raise Snap Radius on very dense meshes.
- D conflicts with another add-on — change the hotkey in preferences (Insert or Alt+D recommended).
- Origin to Pivot skipped an object — it shares mesh data with another object. Make it single-user first (Object → Relations → Make Single User → Object & Data).
License & credits
Easy Pivot — © Dang Tran Hoang Contact: dangtran0310@gmail.com
What's New
1.0.2 July 24th, 2026
[1.0.2]
Added
- Face center in Auto snap. Auto mode now snaps to a face center when the cursor is over a face but not near a vertex or edge. Priority order is vertex → edge → face center, so you no longer have to switch to Face mode (3) manually.
Changed
- Edge-aligned pivot orientation. When snapping to an edge, one axis now runs parallel to that edge (with Z on the surface normal) instead of taking an arbitrary twist, so the manipulator sits flush and readable on the geometry.
- Stable vertex orientation. When snapping to a vertex, the pivot now uses the vertex's own normal and a fixed reference frame for the remaining axes.
- Face-aligned pivot orientation. When snapping to a face center, Z follows the face normal and one axis runs parallel to a face edge for a clearer, more predictable orientation.
Fixed
- Pivot orientation spun unpredictably when snapping to a vertex; the frame is now deterministic and no longer reacts to small mouse movements.
- Pivot orientation ignored edge direction when snapping to inclined edges.
Works great, thanks!