Posing in Blender, single axis only?

[Litmusdragon]

Is there a way that when I am editing a pose in Blender, that I can transform along a single axis only?

Let's say that I want to make a character bend at the waist. Staring with the default "none pose".

I rotate around to a side view, select the bone just above the waist, and either hit "translate" or right click and drag.

This works, but always applies two (possibly 3) axis of movement instead of one. The bone is pulled closer to the side I am viewing at (which I do NOT want), in addition to being angled downwards (as I intended).

I can then rotate above the model and straighten out the unintended curvature to the left, but a) This seems like a lot of work. If I could just adjust the intended axis instead, it would greatly simplifying things. b) Even if I do straighten out the curvature, there are lingering issues like a tendency for everything in the model to be tilted slightly that direction. Also, the genital sometimes become misaligned during this process and I can't figure out how to fix them.

[blindsaypatten]

I often find it is easier to select the bone in the skeleton and then on the properties editor on the right select the bone icon, then edit the rotation angles. You can also select the bone and then select the rotation widget, which allows you to do single axis rotations with mouse drags.

[jujube]

I often find it is easier to select the bone in the skeleton and then on the properties editor on the right select the bone icon, then edit the rotation angles. You can also select the bone and then select the rotation widget, which allows you to do single axis rotations with mouse drags.

RotationWidget.png

In conjunction with that, also try changing between global and local rotation mode in order to get the results you want. (The "global" dropdown in the screenshot.)

[Litmusdragon]

THANK YOU!

I can easily generate poses now.

I'm starting to feel half competent in Blender ...

[o4saken]

Or just select the bone - press R (for rotate) and then x or y or z - and it will rotate only on that axis. And most valuable is pressing R, then SHIFT and x or y or z. Using z as an example would cancel out z axis and only rotate on x and y. I find this extremely helpful because sometimes when x and y arent exactly on the x and y coordinate it is very difficult to judge by moving one and then the other i.e x and then y.

One more thing that is super valuable is pressing R then say y, and y again. so y (x2). this works 90% of time where your x or y or z arent on exact coordinates by adjusting the rotation coordinate to selected bone. basically changing global coordination to local