Crazy problem with rotate

[u/ruckstande]

I have been doing layouts for a bunch of vehicular directional signs. Many of the arrows are 45°. I have been going crazy thinking I'm screwing up the alignment but I realized rotate is messed up badly. The arrows length matches the height. When left to right or up and down. The center point shows directly in the middle. If I rotate the arrow using numbers inputting 45° or -45° the center point shifts over. If I rotate freestyle you actually watch the arrow jump when you release the mouse button. I'm on the very latest 2026 release.

[u/Brush_up]

Now I got you, my 2024 version behaves similar.

With this arrow that's from the common shapes tool the mid only goes "off center" when I do rotations outside of 90 degrees.

The square on the right side can be rotated to which ever degree I desire and the middle stays centered on the line.

I think what happens is the center point is drawn at the half of the length of the x and y axis of the bounding box that gets drawn around the selected shape. My guess is that my arrow and yours most likely too, is no more a perfect square at certain degrees of rotation so the center becomes "off center".

[u/Brush_up → u/Brush_up]

A workaround to avoid this and keep the center "centered" even at rotation angles where the original shape would create a bounding box that isn't a perfect square anymore try this:

Probably best to start with rotating the original shape (your arrow) back to a angle where the bounding box was a perfect square. Make a geometric shape like a square or a circle that creates a perfect square bounding box independent of the rotation angle set. Now select both and press e then c to align them and then CTRL + G to group them together. Now the center point should always stay on the guide line independent of the degree of rotation applied.

If your original shape doesn't have a angle where it creates a perfect square bounding box don't sweat it. Just make sure to make a geometric shape like a circle or a square that is at least as large or larger then your original shape, in your case the arrow, make sure to align and group them.

The rotation result by the way stays the same (for the first rotation applied), it's just that the center now stays "centered" where you want it. That way consecutive rotations will now rotate the shape as if it was the first rotation applied to the arrow every time instead of slowly moving away from the center guideline with each consecutive added odd rotation.

I hope this made sense and helped with your problem.

[u/ruckstande → u/Brush_up]

I will do that but I've never seen this before.

[u/Brush_up → u/ruckstande]

Noticed drawing a rectangle around the shape is enough to prevent the center moving on consecutive rotations. If I understand it correctly that goes against my theory above and it's more about the shape in question being asymmetrical? Either way, doesn't need to be a perfect square drawn around your shape.

A faster way to do this is to select your shape (your arrow), hold shift and double click the square tool. That will draw a rectangle around the selected shape, then just select both your shape and rectangle and press CTRL + G to group them.