What is the difference between a peg pivot and a drawing pivot?

A pivot point acts as a rotation point for an element. Different types of pivots can work better for certain types of elements. This article will help you better understand the types of animation related pivots.

About Peg pivots

Drawing layers can also use this type of pivot, but it is most commonly used on peg layers. The following are properties of peg pivots:

• Most commonly used pivot technique in rigging.
• Is contained within a Peg node.
• Is sometimes referred to as a ‘Permanent Pivot’.
• Applies the pivot position throughout the connected drawing layer, so drawing substitutions will share the same pivot position throughout.
• Provides a more consistent animation process with rigs.

Working with Peg pivots

• Peg pivots are set with the Rotate or Translate tools (Advanced Animation toolbar).
• Drawings do not contain pivot information, but rather follow the pivot position from the peg/s above.
• Drawing substitution artwork needs to be adjusted to match the peg pivot in order to rotate consistently through poses.
• The pivot location can be temporarily moved during animation using the Transform tool’s pivot.
• Multiple pegs can be selected and the same pivot position can be set all at once using the Rotate and Translate tools.
• Pivot coordinates can be copied and pasted from one peg to another using the Tool Properties windows, or by adding custom buttons in the Node View toolbar. See How do I customize a toolbar? for more.

Where to use Peg pivots

• On anything that uses a peg for transformation or animation.
• In rigs with a peg hierarchy.

About Drawing pivots

Drawing pivots can only be set on drawing layers. The following are properties of drawing pivots:

• Contained within a Drawing layer.
• Can also be referred to as an ‘Embedded Pivot’.
• Each drawing cell/substitution can have a different pivot position.

Working with Drawing pivots 

• Drawing pivots are set with the Drawing Pivot tool (Tools toolbar).
• The same pivot can be set on multiple drawing frames by selecting the frames and then using the Drawing Pivot tool to set the pivot on one of them.
• Pivots can be copied and pasted from one drawing frame to another by using the copy/paste command while using the Drawing Pivot tool.

Where to use Drawing pivots

• Only to update drawing frame pivot positions on drawing layers without pegs or peg animations.
• Not recommended if using pegs to animate as it can create conflicting animation.