Hello everyone.

I’m using 3DS Max 2012 and am trying to get a cube to rotate around the rotation system of a sphere sitting near by so that the cube looks like it’s orbiting the sphere. The problem is that when I go to the coordinates menu and click on Pick, I select the sphere, but the rotation gizmo is still around the cube.

Here’s a screenshot to show you what I mean.

Am I doing something wrong? Did I miss something? Thanks.

Sorry if this stretches the post. See how the sphere is where the coordinates are suppose to be, but they are still around the cube?

How do I make this get around the sphere?

	Attachment

Please attach your images because it does mess up the page formatting - people don’t like having to scroll sideways to read your post.

Change the Transform Coordinates to “Use Transform Coordinate Centre” (flyout button next to the coordinates list).

However, a much better way is as follows:-
Create a Dummy, Align it (pivot-to-pivot) to the Sphere.
Select and Link the Dummy to the Sphere.
Select and Link the Cube to the Dummy.

Rotate the Dummy and the Cube will “orbit” the sphere. If you move the Sphere all 3 objects will move together, preserving their rotations and relative locations.

Max 4.2 through 2014, Composite 2014.
XP-64 (SP2).
nVidia 9800GTX+ (512MB) (Driver 314.22).
i5-3570K @ 4.4GHz, 8Gb Ram, DX9.0c.

Ah thank you. Much appreciated, and I’ve edited my post and attached the image.

I’ll give that a shot.

EDIT:

Perfection! Itworked. (the first way) I’m just getting into Max, so while not as great, the first way works fine for what I’m trying to do at the moment. I do see what you mean about the rotation issues if I move the sphere. . I’ll give that a go a bit later on.

Thanks again.