EDIT: Ooops, I think I misunderstood what you were asking when I wrote this one, please see the next message instead for view rotation info.
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Hi Mark,

> Is there a way to get it to rotate around any of
> the axes when I want it to?

Yes it's possible to rotate around any particular axis that you want by using the Rotate Axis command, which is located next to the regular 2D rotate command here:



When you use Rotate axis, it will prompt you to pick 2 points to define the rotation axis. The line between those 2 points you pick will be the rotation axis. So if you want to rotate around the xaxis for instance, pick 2 points that are lined up in the x axis direction. It can be helpful to turn on Straight snap to make it easier to pick aligned points like that.

But you can also snap the axis points on to existing geometry if you want something to rotate around a line in your model like a hinge. Here's an example where rotate axis is being used like that to pivot a polygon up around one of its edges:

http://moi3d.com/1.0/docs/moi_command_reference8.htm#rotateaxis


It can be kind of easier to do rotations around world axis directions by using the 2D rotation method and going to the particular view (like Top, Front, or Right views) to get the rotation you want.

- Michael

Hi Mark, and now that I read your message again, it kind of sounds like you may be talking about rotating the view around, rather than transforming your objects to a new location with the Transform commands like I was thinking.

By default the view rotation is set to pivot around the z axis, always keeping the direction pointing upwards.

But there are other options that you can set for the view rotation behavior, under Options > View > Rotate / Pan / Zoom options:






Try setting "Rotation Style: Free rotation" and see if that behaves more how you want. That does not restrict the "up" direction like the default mode does.

- Michael

Thanks, Michael, free rotation is exactly what I wanted. I'm sorry to bother you with trivial questions, but there are so many options for so many things that it's easy to miss something. I really did try to find this solution first rather that just automatically asking the question here on the forum.

BTW, different subject. Do you think that there will be another beta release of v2 before it is released for sale?

Thanks again,
Mark

Hi Mark,

> Do you think that there will be another beta release
> of v2 before it is released for sale?

Yes, definitely one more. But I am hoping that the next one will be the last one for v2.

- Michael