# Revolve tool

**URL:** <https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/revolve-tool/38>\
**Category:** Modeling Questions\
**Created:** [January 28, 2016, 7:32am UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/revolve-tool/38 "2016-01-28T07:32:36Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 13\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Shawnkirsch](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.shapr3d.com/shawnkirsch/32/19_2.png) [@Shawnkirsch](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/Shawnkirsch)\
**Post date:** [January 28, 2016, 7:32am UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/revolve-tool/38/1 "2016-01-28T07:32:36Z")

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How does this work? I keep getting stuck on part two, select an axis, how do I select an axis?

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**Author:** ![Istvan](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.shapr3d.com/istvan/32/23668_2.png) [@Istvan](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/Istvan)\
**Post date:** [January 28, 2016, 7:48am UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/revolve-tool/38/2 "2016-01-28T07:48:49Z")

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An axis is a linear edge (line). We have a bug that sometimes prevents selection of axes, I am going to fix this ASAP.

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**Author:** ![supertwist](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.shapr3d.com/supertwist/32/13_2.png) [@supertwist](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/supertwist)\
**Post date:** [January 28, 2016, 5:16pm UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/revolve-tool/38/3 "2016-01-28T17:16:19Z")

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Yeah it took me 2 tries before I realized I had to create that path (was trying to lathe an arc without closing it as a shape.)

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**Author:** ![Istvan](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.shapr3d.com/istvan/32/23668_2.png) [@Istvan](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/Istvan)\
**Post date:** [January 28, 2016, 5:19pm UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/revolve-tool/38/4 "2016-01-28T17:19:49Z")

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Yeah, the current explanation is quite poor. We will have interactive overlay tutorials for every single tool, unfortunately they are just not ready yet.

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**Author:** ![carbuilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/34f0e0/32.png) [@carbuilder](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/carbuilder)\
**Post date:** [February 13, 2016, 2:42pm UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/revolve-tool/38/5 "2016-02-13T14:42:32Z")

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So does the axis have to be an edge of the part you are rotating? It would be very useful to rotate about a line (axis) that isn’t part of the solid being rotated. Is that feature there now and I’m just not using it properly, or is it not there; would be a great addition if it isn’t.

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**Author:** ![jmrart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/4491bb/32.png) [@jmrart](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/jmrart)\
**Post date:** [February 13, 2016, 3:34pm UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/revolve-tool/38/6 "2016-02-13T15:34:51Z")

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Yes you can rotate around a line. Draw the solid. Then draw the line you want it to rotate around. Select Rotate tool and first select the wire or face to revolve. Then select the line as the linear edge for axis. You will get a 360 revolve by default but you can change it in the modify angle box. It works great! ![](https://cdck-file-uploads-us1.s3.dualstack.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/flex002/uploads/shapr3d/original/1X/e54f5a7405a59bc9dc9854e294dc7c18527ab5ae.PNG) ![](https://cdck-file-uploads-us1.s3.dualstack.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/flex002/uploads/shapr3d/original/1X/c674c74a9c1cdfc327b2a1c93b9be2bbd8adeae8.PNG)

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**Author:** ![carbuilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/34f0e0/32.png) [@carbuilder](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/carbuilder)\
**Post date:** [February 13, 2016, 4:40pm UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/revolve-tool/38/7 "2016-02-13T16:40:15Z")

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Sorry, a misunderstanding here. I don’t want to rotate to get a 360 degree solid, I want to rotate & copy to get a second solid which has been rotated around an axis that isn’t connected to the solid. The Move/Rotate tool lets you make a copy, but only seems to allow rotation along an edge of the part.

The 10 degree segment that you are showing. How do you create another one rotated about the same axis that created it, say 90 degrees from the original?

Thank you

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**Author:** ![Istvan](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.shapr3d.com/istvan/32/23668_2.png) [@Istvan](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/Istvan)\
**Post date:** [February 13, 2016, 6:05pm UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/revolve-tool/38/8 "2016-02-13T18:05:08Z")

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> [@carbuilder](#):
>
> Sorry, a misunderstanding here. I don’t want to rotate to get a 360 degree solid, I want to rotate & copy to get a second solid which has been rotated around an axis that isn’t connected to the solid. The Move/Rotate tool lets you make a copy, but only seems to allow rotation along an edge of the part.

The move/rotate tool currently rotates around the center of the mass of an object. The center of the rotation unfortunately is not yet adjustable, but in the upcoming releases you will be able to pick a point for the center of the rotation. Would that help?

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**Author:** ![jmrart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/4491bb/32.png) [@jmrart](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/jmrart)\
**Post date:** [February 13, 2016, 6:36pm UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/revolve-tool/38/9 "2016-02-13T18:36:20Z")

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This is how I did what I think you want. Because it rotates around the center of the mass of the object as @istvan stated. I made a reference line 2x the radius of the axis line used to make the 10 degree section and then use that as the axis line (this would be the diameter of the circle) to move/copy with the rotate arrow 90 degree for each of the next sections. The only thing is it also copies the center line but you can just delete it later. Hope this helps sorry if I confused things.

 ![](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/shapr3d/original/1X/4d63e52c8486ce41044e6ef7df88fc49469b7b87.PNG)

> [@carbuilder](#):
>
> Sorry, a misunderstanding here. I don’t want to rotate to get a 360 degree solid, I want to rotate & copy to get a second solid which has been rotated around an axis that isn’t connected to the solid. The Move/Rotate tool lets you make a copy, but only seems to allow rotation along an edge of the part.
> 
> The 10 degree segment that you are showing. How do you create another one rotated about the same axis that created it, say 90 degrees from the original?
> 
> Thank you

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**Author:** ![carbuilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/34f0e0/32.png) [@carbuilder](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/carbuilder)\
**Post date:** [February 13, 2016, 9:01pm UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/revolve-tool/38/10 "2016-02-13T21:01:39Z")

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Thank you both. Yes, being able to pick a remote line or point for rotation would be very useful. For now, the workaround of creating a line in the other direction to “balance” the rotation does what I was trying to do.

Thank you again for the quick and helpful responses.

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**Author:** ![Peter\_b](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/85f322/32.png) [@Peter\_b](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/Peter_b)\
**Post date:** [June 17, 2024, 3:52am UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/revolve-tool/38/11 "2024-06-17T03:52:34Z")

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Asking this here, how do you set the direction of the revolve? A revolve I do to continue a thread downwards should revolve left but it does revolve right.

 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/shapr3d/original/3X/e/0/e066ec7031a0017d9fe6163caaff3b8c92195a1a.jpeg)

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**Author:** ![PEC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/67e7ee/32.png) [@PEC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/PEC)\
**Post date:** [June 17, 2024, 10:20am UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/revolve-tool/38/12 "2024-06-17T10:20:14Z")

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Hi,  
Use negative angle to rotate in the reverse direction.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Peter\_b](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/85f322/32.png) [@Peter\_b](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/Peter_b)\
**Post date:** [June 17, 2024, 12:52pm UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/revolve-tool/38/13 "2024-06-17T12:52:22Z")

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Ahh thanks! so logical.