The Hinge and Rotation tool let you rotate parts more precisely. By default, parts will revolve around a shared connection point.
Accessing the tool
There are two modes:
- One-time: when you want to work only on the current selection
- Repeat: when nothing is selected yet or when you want to use the tool more than once
To use the tool one-time, select parts and press R on your keyboard or:
- Select parts
- Hover over the minifigure hand icon
- Click on the rotation icon to activate the tool. Hinge icons will appear when multiple hinge points exist.
To use the tool multiple times, or repeat press H on your keyboard. Or,
- Click on the Hinge icon in the toolbar
- The hinge icon will appear next to the mouse pointer
- If no parts were selected, you can do so now. If parts were selected, the tool is ready.
- If the selection can hinge around more than one center, two rotation icons will appear. Clicking on the one you want to use to start the tool.
- If nothing appears after you select parts, it’s because the selected parts are connected in a way that prevents turning them.
- After activating the Hinge tool, a selection will affect all the parts that are connected and will turn around the selected hinge.
How to use the Hinge tool
- When the selected parts can turn, up to three blue rotation arrows appear:
- The arrows show the possible ways you can turn the selection.
- The yellow cube marks the center of rotation. - You can grab and drag an arrow to rotate. The tool will close as soon as you release the mouse button
Or,
- You can click an arrow to have more options
- Once you've chosen an arrow, the rotation circle appears.
- Grab the red line and drag it around to turn the parts.
You can use the arrow keys (← → ↑ ↓) to turn selected parts by 45° as long as only one blue arrow appears. Or, you can enter a precise angle in degrees in the input field next to the center.If you grabbed and dragged a blue arrow in step 2 above, you’re directly here and can’t use the arrow keys or enter an angle in the input field.
When you release the mouse button, the rotation dial will disappear, and the tool will close for the current selection. - Click outside of the circle to close the tool for a current selection
- If you used the one-time mode, the mouse will be back in the selection mode. If you used the repeat mode, the mouse will still be in hinge mode and you can select parts to directly open the tool for them.
- When using the arrow keys (← → or ↑ ↓), parts will turn by 45°. Hold Shift and you can turn them by 5°. Hold Ctrl and you can turn them by 1°.
- The mouse pointer is more precise when it's further from the center of the dial:
- 90° when inside the central circle
- 5° when inside the dial
- 1° or less if on or outside the outer circle
- It’s easier to control the rotation if you face the dial full-on. Turning with the mouse respects Collision detection when it’s on. Turning using the arrow keys doesn’t respect collision detection.
- The angle in the input field is absolute which means the angle doesn’t depend on other parts in the build. For example, the angle of one arm doesn’t depend on the position of the other arm in a two-armed hinge.
- If there are too many possible hinge points and Studio doesn’t offer you the one you want, you’ll need to try selecting more parts.
- Any parts you’ve hidden aren't included in the complete selection. They're invisible and not considered.