Dimension from Pivot

[canonvela]

I migrated from Truespace to Max recently and am surprised that this feature is missing. 

If a pivot point is moved from the centre of an object to, say, one edge, the scale and rotate functions move with it. However, the dimensioning doesn't so you have to use scaling to increase a dimension away from the pivot rather than from the centre of the object.

It is simpler to illustrate it with a diagram:

 

I have only indicated it acting on one axis but it would naturally work the same for all axes. 

At the moment I have to create a 100mm cube to start so that I can use the scale factor as if it was a dimension in millimetres but it is an inelegant way to work. Scaling should only really be a last resort as it has implications for mapping. The 'reset xform' was presumably introduced to address this problem but only treats the symptom and not the cause.

If someone knows a way to do this in Max as it exists now, I would love to hear.

[Swordslayer]

That would have to be supported by the object itself (see for example Sphere which has a Base To Pivot checkbox). The objects can be extended in a form of scripted primitive to achieve that for a specific case, but it's not a catch-all solution.

[canonvela]

The base to pivot on the sphere was included because sometimes you would want a sphere to expand from the centre and sometimes from the base (or side if you turn it through 90 degrees). I can only assume that the possibility that having the origin somewhere other than the centre of a cube (or whatever primitive) could be useful, hasn't occured to anyone.  

The limitation on the 'base to sphere' button is that you only have two choices. My proposal would be that the origin would coincide with the pivot, if desired, and so could be positioned anywhere. 

It is one of those things that once you have used it, it is hard to live without.