by Roy·Workflow
Images © Roy. Used for product review; image policy.
Friendly Pivot earns its place in the superhive library by porting much of Maya's Pivot Transform behaviour into Blender, down to an aim mode for Pivot Orientation.
Friendly Pivot brings most of the functionality of Autodesk Maya's Pivot Transform tool to Blender, with improvements tailored for Blender's workflow. Its aim is to let you change the Pivot Orientation, Origin, and 3D Cursor position with far fewer keystrokes, without selecting individual mesh components or navigating menus. It has a convenient UI and its own icon in the Blender toolbar.
Two methods are available. Press D, hover over the highlighted component, and click LMB, MMB, or RMB to change the pivot, or use the Pivot gizmo to move the Origin freely in 3D space and set a custom pivot orientation. Both methods support an incremental snapping system. The addon comes in Simple and Pro versions: Simple covers Pivot Orientation, Origin, and 3D Cursor for mesh objects, while Pro adds the BBox gizmo, orientation preview gizmo, multiselection, armature and curve support, and setting the 3D Cursor in the UV Editor.
Pro requires Blender 4.2 or higher and Simple requires Blender 5.2 or higher. The addon is in beta. A demo video is available.
Blender Friendly Pivot is best for blender users who want to set Pivot Orientation, Origin, and 3D Cursor position with fewer keystrokes.
Blender Friendly Pivot is completely free to download and use.
Friendly Pivot ships in two versions with different Blender requirements. The Pro version needs Blender 4.2 or higher, while the Simple version needs Blender 5.2 or higher. Check which version you're using against these minimums before installing. The addon was converted to an extension as of Blender 4.2, so on recent Blender releases you can add it through the extension system. If you're on an older build, confirm your Blender version meets the requirement for the edition you want to run.
Friendly Pivot installs from a downloaded zip file through Blender's preferences. It's recommended to remove any previously installed version first. Open Edit → User Preferences, then use either the Get Extensions tab or the Add-ons tab. Open the settings dropdown (the down-arrow icon in the upper right), choose Install from Disk, locate and select the friendly_pivot zip file, activate the addon, save your user settings, and close preferences. Both the Get Extensions and Add-ons tabs follow the same steps.
Friendly Pivot comes in Simple and Pro editions. The Simple version provides the essential tools for setting Pivot Orientation, Origin, and the 3D Cursor for Blender mesh objects. The Pro version includes everything in Simple and adds the BBox gizmo, an orientation preview gizmo, multiselection, support for armature and curve objects, and the ability to set the 3D Cursor directly in the UV Editor. The two editions also differ in requirements, with Pro supporting Blender 4.2 or higher and Simple requiring Blender 5.2 or higher.
Friendly Pivot uses D as its default invoke key, and that key is changeable. Select an object, press D or activate the Friendly Pivot tool from the Blender toolbar, then hover over the highlighted component. Press LMB to set a new Pivot Transform Orientation, RMB to set a new Origin position, or MMB to set the 3D Cursor orientation and position. The main shortcut works in two ways: a constant press, or press and release to invoke the addon.
Friendly Pivot is listed as free here in our catalog. Licensing terms can change, so for the current details and to download the addon, check the developer's page. The addon is currently in beta, described as working well but potentially carrying errors, and it includes a Support button in the dropdown menu for reporting bugs while Friendly Pivot is active in the main Blender viewport.
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