How to control rotation explicitly such that it only rotates parallel to a plane

Question

So i have a problem as shown:

I want the arrow to rotate about the origin, but still remain parallel to the cylinder. However, the interpolation messes up and the arrow clips into the cylinder instead.

How do i ensure that the arrow only rotates on the same plane as the cylinder?

Is there a way to make an object rotate about any arbitrary axis (instead of a point origin) specified?

maybe this will answer? https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/129834/how-do-i-rotate-an-object-along-its-own-axis-windmill — moonboots, Apr 05 '21 at 07:59

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 05 '21 at 08:06

There are many ways to do it.

One of them: enable the "Copy attributes" addon in the preferences menu.

Set the 3D cursor in the spot you want as pivot point.

Create an empty in the 3d cursor loc. Select the empty, shift select the cylinder, press Ctrl C "Copy Rot".

Set the arrow child of the empty. Animate the empty (in my example on its Z local axis).

How to control rotation explicitly such that it only rotates parallel to a plane

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