Transforming with the Bounding-Box Manipulator

As an alternative to using the transformation tools, you can use the bounding box manipulator to scale, rotate, and translate objects. The bounding-box manipulator has a set of handles that let you interactively manipulate objects in the 3D views.

NoteBounding box manipulators do not work well in the Object view unless you deactivate View

Camera Compensation.

To activate the bounding-box manipulator

Select the object.
Press B or choose Manipulate Tool from the eye icon menu on a viewport.

Press the Tab key to alternate between the two types of manipulator handles, each of which let you perform different types of operations (see the illustration below).

Manipulator mode 1: Scaling, rotating, and translating

A	Drag corner manipulator to scale the object.
B	Drag a bounding box plane to translate the object along that plane.
C	Drag bounding-box edge to rotate the object on a given axis.

Manipulator mode 2: Rotating only

A	Drag the arrow manipulator to rotate the object freely along its three axes.

Mode 1: Scaling

Position the mouse pointer over one of the manipulator's corners:

To scale uniformly about the object's center, click a corner and drag.
To scale non-uniformly relative to the opposite corner, Shift+click and drag.
To scale uniformly relative to the opposite corner, Ctrl+click and drag.

Mode 1: Rotating

Position the mouse pointer over one of the manipulator's edges:

To rotate about an axis parallel to the picked edge passing through the object's center, click an edge and drag.
Press the Shift key to rotate relative to the opposite edge.
Press the Ctrl key to rotate the edge freely.

Mode 1: Translating

Position the mouse pointer over one of the manipulator's sides:

To translate in any direction along the plane, click the plane and drag.
To translate along the picked plane's normals, Shift+click and drag.
To translate freely in any direction, Ctrl+click and drag.

Mode 2: Rotating

Drag the arrow manipulator to rotate the object freely along its three axes.