On the geometry of soft breaking terms and N=1 superpotentials

We describe, in the context of M-theory on elliptically fibered Calabi-yau fourfolds, the change of variables that allow us to pass from the U(1) invariant elliptic fibration to the one describing the uncompactified four dimensional limit, where the U(1) symmetry is broken. These changes of variables are the analog to the ones used to derive from the Atiyah-Hitchin space the complex structure of the Seiberg-Witten solution for N=2 supersymmetric Yang-Mills. The connection between these changes of variables and the recently introduced rotation of branes is discussed.