The way I do it is I create a group above my control called "Ctrl_ORIENT". That orient control gets moved to the proper joint position and also takes the aim constraint we use to align the Local Rotation Axis of the anim control. That way all you have to do is rotate the control in component mode to make it perpendicular to the joint's X axis (hold down J to snap to increments). Your control's LRA should now be properly aligned and still be completely zeroed out because those values are being held by the ORIENT group.
Hope this helps!
-Ben
I'm coming across a lot of complicated steps online... Here's how I did it.
Maya 2016:
1. Create your to-be control curve.
2. Position curve on desired joint, oriented the way you like.
3. Freeze transform > option box > Uncheck "orientation", so Maya will freeze ONLY the curve's "translate" and "scale" values.
4. When applying the orient constraint > option box > Check "maintain offset".
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