At times, for no consistant reason, the hot point in a vertex object will not go where the cursor directs it to go, If I drag left to right, it goes up and down...or at a 45 deg. angle. With simple objects I sometimes just delete and build another version. Is there a good reason for this? Is there a solution?

Hello Kelly, It sounds like you may be working with grouped objects when this happens. A group of objects can be rotated in the Assembly room. But when you open the group alone in a new assembly room window, it will show up "perfectly aligned" along the XYZ axis. However, the hot point will move in the direction of the Unversal Space (the main scene), not the World Space (the new Assembly Room window) - even if the hot point arrows align with the XYZ axis in the grouped objects assembly room window. Mark

Thanks for the come-back Mark, but grouped objects are not at the root of the problem. In this model, I've linked successive vertex objects in a heirarchy in the Sequencer, but not grouped them.

In the left pic., the hotpoint is centered. After I created the forearm, I moved the hotpoint up to the elbow pivot point. Later, when I wanted to fine tune, I tried moving it again, and started "the Chase". At this point I can only center it. [CTRL_ALT_H]

In the right pic., I try to move the hotpoint. [Down, in this case...for clarity] It moves 'way to the left, tho' last night the problem was worse, in that it moved farther for less mouse movement. The small red arrow/blue dot shows where my cursor is. ['Print Screen' does not print cursor]

I'm not sure what you mean by "new Assembly Room"? I've only had one since I started this model. All objects are built in the Vertex Modeler. Is it possible to have more than one Assembly Room in a single document? [I suspect this may just be a terminology problem]

What I did do, was to install a cylinder in the Vertex Modeler, then align the way it would be upon completion in the Assembly Room. That way I can toggle back and forth to the Assembly Room to check the progress. Could that have confused the forearm? But why didn't it happen sooner, or on other pieces?

I tried unchecking the "Lock Hotpoint" box. At the bottom of the Properties Tray I selected "Lock Center Only" I can't see that either did any good. It didn't change my hotpoint problem.

Since this model will require 'bones', will that over-ride my problem since the object rotates with the bone, not its own hotpoint? That would be nice, but I'd like to see this one solved on its own. Thanks again.

Actually, linking them in the sequencer is creating a group; it's just a group with a structure; So, this is still a result of group behaviour. The good news is, if you're going to using bones, this is not an issue. If you were setting up motion using contraints instead of bones, there are some other methods we could discuss using hotpoints. The "second" Assembly Room window I am speaking of replaces the current AR window when you open a group and has it's own "close" button in the top right corner which returns you back to the scene AR window. Look to be a cool character. Mark

He means that you double clicked the object/group and jumped into the model. It's not actually a new assembly room window, it's just a different view of it.

Well Mark, it turned out that you were right: it was a problem having to do with grouped objects. I discovered it in another model [also part of The Sentinel project]. I had several satellites linked to a larger planet. When one of the moon hotpoints wouldn't center inside the planet, I dragged it out of the hierarchy in the sequencer. That settled the problem. I put the hotpoint where I wanted it, made the moon circle, then dragged it back as child to the planet. Problem solved. Thanks.

I'm sending along a pic. of The Sentinel. Every night when I finish up working on him, I feel satisfied. Every morning when I look at it again, I feel like I have to start over. At the very least, the face is only a placeholder, and the hands need lots of work. It's been quite a learning curve.