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I've got an empty object which is parent to a couple of meshes. I want to keep these meshes seperated in order to be able to adjust their materials individually, but I want to rotate them altogether. That's why I created the empty object and set it to be the parent to those meshes. I am able to rotate them together, but the pivot point is (0,0,0).

If I try to set the origin of the empty object via Ctrl + Shift + Alt + C it doesn't change anything. I can change the origin of all the meshes to the desired pivot point, but still can't rotate them via the empty object. Any suggestions on how to achieve that? Thanks in advance!

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  • $\begingroup$ Why not using Copy Rotation constraint ? As another way, you might want to change Pivot Point, Shift+S to snap cursor to your empty, select desired objects and rotate them around themselves or around 3D Cursor $\endgroup$
    – Mr Zak
    Jun 24, 2015 at 16:11
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    $\begingroup$ Rotating the empty around the 3D cursor which has been snapped tot he desired location should work perfectly. $\endgroup$
    – J Sargent
    Jun 24, 2015 at 16:58

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An empty object does not have an origin, but it does have a Location. You can use the G key to move it, or just type new values for the location into the Properties panel.

Unfortunately, this will cause the child objects to move with the parent. You can use the Shift+G menu to select the children and move them back to their previous world position with G.

For example: On the parent object G, Z, 3, Enter. G, Y, -, 2, Enter. Then select the children and G, Z, -, 3, Enter. G, Y, 2, Enter to move them back.

Alternatively, you could clear the parenting relationship with Alt+P; move the empty; and then re-parent.

Once you have the empty in its new location, rotating the empty will cause the children to rotate around that empty's location as the rotation center.

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I was using Empty >> Image and stumbled upon this problem but I solved it in a moment. When you add an empty, (here I added the logo just for visibility) go to Data and you should see the Offset. Set both the values of X and Y to -0.5 and it should be in the center.Rotated Empty around the new pivot You can then go ahead rotating as if it were a Plane. Hope this helps!

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  • $\begingroup$ To elaborate on this good solution: Open the empty Object Data Properties tab, use Offset X/Y values to move the image while the center remains fixed. Set the desired pixel under the center of the empty. Reposition the empty so that the image is moved back at its desired location. Sorry for providing a long list of action descriptions rather than a long list of meaningless key press directives :-) $\endgroup$
    – mins
    Feb 20, 2020 at 12:01

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