Mesh/edit mode: how rotate TOGETHER with armature

Question

I am trying to adjust mesh orientation relative to axes. The mesh is quite complex and also has complex armature. Armature bones are very precisely positioned relative to the mesh (this is needed since after exporting to Ogre, I'm accessing the bones positions during animation form C++ code).

When I select mesh and go to Edit mode, I can press "R" or "G" to adjust mesh position. But armature remains at the old position. It seems I have to goto edit mode for armature and rotate/shift it too. But this most likely will break precise adjustment between mesh and armature - because I must apply the same transform to both. Manual readjusting is a huge amount of work

Could you advice how to rotate shift mesh and armature simultaneously in Edit mode?

Answer 1

You can modify the Armature in pose mode, then apply the armature modifier to the mesh and apply pose as rest pose

This will let you modify the bones and mesh at the same time and applying the pose bakes the changes into the natural position of the mesh and armature

You'll then have to reparent the armature but that's easy

default rest pose:

modified pose:

apply the armature:

apply the pose:

new rest pose!: