Choosing a rotate mode

Local

Rotates the object about the object space axes.

World

Rotates the object about the world space XYZ axes. In this mode the rings never change.

Gimbal

Changes only the X, Y, or Z rotation value. In local and world modes, the XYZ constraint rings may change more than one of the rotation XYZ channels.

Snap Rotate

The Snap Rotate setting enables the Relative option and lets you specify the amount an object is rotated in increments (determined by the Step Size value).

Relative

While Maya rotates the object, relative spacing is maintained. Turn this option off if you don’t want to preserve relative spacing while rotating.

Step Size

Enter a value to determine the amount an object is rotated in increments when the Snap Rotate option is selected.

Component Use Object Pivot

Lets you rotate object components about the object’s pivot point.

Center as virtual trackball

If this option is turned on, dragging the area inside the rotation manipulators (the center) rotates the object or component. If this option is turned off, you can only rotate the object or component by dragging directly on the rotation manipulators, also allowing you to select objects or components by clicking in the area bounded by the rotation manipulators.

This is useful when you want to add to a component selection. With Center as virtual trackball off, you can immediately add to the component selection even if the component is within the area bounded by the rotation manipulators. Otherwise, you would have to change manipulators to the Select Tool, shift-select to make your selection, and choose the Rotate Tool again.

Preserve Child Position

When this option is selected, moving a parent object does not move its children.

Preserve UVs

When this option is selected, moving components in the scene view causes the corresponding UVs to move accordingly in the UV space. The net result is that the texture does not become warped.

Changing the rotation order and axis orientation

In the Transform Attributes section of an object’s Attribute Editor, you can change the rotation order of the axes by selecting an order from the Rotate Order pop-up menu. You can also enter values in the Rotate Axis X, Y, or Z boxes to rotate the axes in a specific direction, and to rotate the object around a different axis.

Keep in mind that these attributes have a combined effect with the Rotate Mode settings in the rotate Tool Settings.

Reflection Settings

See Reflection Settings

Soft Selection settings

See Soft Selection