DOCS/Modifiers

Pivot Offset

Transform

Move the point a layer rotates and scales around.

By default a layer turns around its own centre. Pivot Offset moves that point anywhere — a corner, an edge, or somewhere outside the layer entirely.

It is a small modifier that fixes a large category of problem. A door that hinges, a clock hand, a pendulum, a card that flips from its edge: all of them are the same rotation with the pivot somewhere other than the middle.

Try itPivot Offset

Pivot X50%

Pivot Y50%

Rotation speed60°/s

This stage redraws the effect for the page; the editor runs it through the full layer pipeline, so expect the shape of the behaviour to match and the exact pixels not to.

When to reach for it#

Hinges, doors, lids, and anything that swings from an edge.
Clock hands and dials, which rotate from one end.
Scaling that should grow from a corner rather than the middle.
Orbits — put the pivot far outside the layer and rotation becomes revolution.

How it works#

The pivot is in percent of the layer box. 50/50 is the centre and the default. 0/0 is the top-left corner. Values outside 0–100 land outside the layer, and there is no limit — 50/500 puts the pivot four layer-heights below, which turns a small rotation into a wide arc.

It affects rotation and scale only. Position is unchanged, because moving a pivot should not move the artwork.

Parameters#

Pivot Xx#

Horizontal position of the pivot, as a percentage of layer width. 0 is the left edge, 100 the right.

Pivot Yy#

Vertical position, as a percentage of layer height. 0 is the top edge, 100 the bottom. Negative values put the pivot above the layer, which is how you hang something from a point.

Recipes#

A door that opens

Draw the door as a rectangle.
Add Pivot Offset and set Pivot X to 0 — the left edge.
Leave Pivot Y at 50.
Keyframe Rotation from 0 to about 70°.

Without the pivot the door would spin around its middle and clip through the wall. This is the whole modifier in one step.

A pendulum

Draw the weight near the bottom of the canvas.
Add Pivot Offset with Pivot Y around -260 — well above the layer.
Add an Oscillate driver on Rotation, Frequency around 0.5, Amount around 24.

A real pendulum swings faster on a shorter string. Move the pivot closer and raise the frequency together if you want it to read as physical.

Things that catch people out#

It does not move the artwork

Setting the pivot changes nothing until something rotates or scales. If you expected the layer to jump, you wanted Position.

Percent is of the layer, not the canvas

Resize the layer and the pivot moves with it, because 0% of a wider box is a different place. That is usually what you want — the hinge stays on the edge — but it means a pivot set far outside the layer moves a long way when the layer is resized.