Pivot point, cursor or mirror modifier error? 0

Whenever I try to scale(while using the modifier ), the scale doesn’t apply to all sides equally as you can see and gives out a weird shape. I don’t really know what’s causing this. Any suggestions?

1 Like

It because of two things;

  • You are using a mirror modifier. Which means that the origin of the mesh is not in the centre of the total generated object. This is important to know.
  • The pivot centre to scale one half mesh object has been selected to be the origin point of the half mesh. While it should be the 0,0,0 coordinate. The location of the 3D cursor.

Change the pivot centre point of the scale operation with this.

pivot 3D

1 Like

When I use the 3d cursor pivot point and scale( an edge loop) it just scales a lot on the z-axis(goes up when I scale-out, goes down when I scale in). Do I have to (l-shift + z) everytime I scale?
Also in the video. Mikey’s pivot point is set to median and everything scales normally.
(Can this be a problem related to not applying scale? or the fact that I’m not using an empty for the modifier? )

Yes because you use the 3D cursor as the centre. So it scales X, Y and Z. Blender logic.
Pressing shift z is a shortcut to say scale only on the X and Y axis.

For me many years ago, so I can not say anything about this.
But if the median (is the pivot, is the origin) at 0,0,0 then you don’t need the 3D cursor.
You can set not only the 3D cursor, but you can also set the orange dot ‘origin’ to a specific location.
The ‘origin’ acts as the centre of gravity. or the median point to operate on.

Yes, for sure!
Scaling on the object is totally different from scaling the mesh inside the object!
So apply scale first before modelling the mesh.

For me many years ago, so I can not say anything about this.
But the location of an empty act as the 3d cursor pivot point.
The empty is a helper object to give the mirror modifier a point in space to mirror the mesh.
This empty stand also in the middle coordinates 0,0,0.
If you move the empty it will influence the mesh/object.

  • Empty is to give the mirror a centre for mirroring.
  • Origin of the object act as gravity (median point). This is a different location in space because it uses the real mesh. Not the mirror end result.
  • 3D cursor is used as a tool/helper to manipulate mesh transitions.

If you don’t use a empty then 0,0,0 is the default. but then you can expect problems moving the object. Because it relation to 0,0,0 will change.

Yes, I can bypass the error when I use exclude the z-axis. However, my problem is that when I scale an (entire) edge loop without using the mirror modifier, it does not scale up or down(towards the cursor, or pivot point) as it does when I use the mirror modifier on the (half)edge loop.
Just trying to understand blender mechanics.

AS u can see, there’s a relationship line to the origin, when I try to scale in( while using the modifier) and the pivot point is the 3d cursor.

But when I use the median point as the pivot, it scales normally (like I want it) without any changes on the z-axis but here the problem is that there is a gap between the object and the mirror.


Is this normal blender behavior? because when I apply the mirror and it’s all one object and scale, it doesn’t go up or down and makes a circle in the center… my issue is why can’t I make the mirror behave the same way?

1 Like

Yeah, this is normal Blender behavior. The median-pivot is not aware of your modifier stack so will only attempt to operate on exiting “base” vertices. Pete’s advice is spot-on. Use the 3D-cursor-pivot and constrain where needed. So, while a mirror-aware median pivot doesn’t exist yet, there are workarounds.

3 Likes

Yes as it would because the medium point of what is selected is not at the edge and centre of the mirroring point. Hence the suggestion to place and use the 3d cursor.

However, even from your result with median point all you need to do is move it towards the mirror line, locking to the y axis till it merges.

That is because once applied the median point has an equal weight from verts either side of the centre/old mirror line.

Personally, I see no reason to be using a mirror on such an item. Far easier when geometric not to.

Work around, select the required verts, shift S, cursor to selected, then zero that to the x line, then use cursor pivot point scaling.

3 Likes

Yes, I figured out a few workarounds for what I wanted to do, was just confirming if this was normal blender behavior and I hadn’t made a mistake while following the lectures.

2 Likes

This topic was automatically closed 24 hours after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.

Privacy & Terms