Moving The Root Transform Separately From A Model?

[Revkie]

I'm trying to make an animation where somebody's spinning a revolver, and I need to slightly adjust the pivot point of the model so it spins around his finger easier.
Wondering if it's possible to kind of detach the root transform temporarily from moving the model, and then reattaching it.
I'll elaborate to the best of my ability if asked.

[Zappy]

Originally posted by Revkie:

Moving The Root Transform Separately From A Model?

In the Animation Set Editor, click on the square box to the left of the model's root bone (pelvis, "weapon_bone", "static_prop", et cetera; not "rootTransform") to lock it to the world. You can now move the model's "rootTransform" without affecting the rest of the model.
When you're done, click on the padlock icon to the left of the locked bone to unlock it, making it follow "rootTransform" again.

Originally posted by Revkie:

I'm trying to make an animation where somebody's spinning a revolver, and I need to slightly adjust the pivot point of the model so it spins around his finger easier. -

In this case, it's also possible to spawn a new "axis helper" model ("editor\axis_helper.mdl" - or any other model), move it to where you want the revolver to pivot around, and drag one of the axis helper's bones to the revolver's "rootTransform" or root bone in the Animation Set Editor.
This will lock the revolver to the axis helper, so now you can rotate the axis helper model to spin the revolver, while also still having the revolver's "rootTransform" somewhere else.

You can click on the eye icon to the left of the axis helper in the Animation Set Editor to hide it.

[Zjera]

As the great Zappy said, Axis Helper. Little thing is my best friend in SFM. Unhidden, an average animation probably has a dozen or more of them. From pivot points to creating your own View Target, it's the most useful model I've ever come across.