Reorient the Current View

The ViewCube provides twenty-six defined areas you can click to change the current view of a model. The twenty-six defined areas are categorized into three groups: corner, edge, and face. Of the twenty-six defined areas, six of the areas represent standard orthogonal views of a model: top, bottom, front, back, left, and right. Orthogonal views are set by clicking one of the faces on the ViewCube.

Note: When the cursor is over one of the clickable areas of the ViewCube, the cursor changes to an arrow with a small cube to indicate the cursor is over the ViewCube. In addition to the cursor changing, a tooltip is also displayed. The tooltip describes the action that can be performed based on the location of the cursor over the ViewCube.

You use the other twenty defined areas to access angled views of a model. Clicking one of the corners on the ViewCube reorients the current view of the model to a three-quarter view, based on a viewpoint defined by three sides of the model. Clicking one of the edges reorients the view of the model to a half view based on two sides of the model.

You can also click and drag the ViewCube to reorient the view of a model to a custom viewpoint other than one of the twenty-six predefined viewpoints that are available. As you drag, the mouse pointer changes to indicate that you are reorienting the current view of the model. If you drag the ViewCube close to one of the preset orientations and it is set to snap to the closest view, the ViewCube rotates to the closest preset orientation.

The outline of the ViewCube helps you identify the view orientation. When a view is oriented to one of the twenty-six pre-defined ViewCube orientations, the ViewCube is outlined in a solid continuous line. When a view is not constrained to one of the twenty-six pre-defined orientations, its outline is displayed as dashed.

Pre-defined orientation left, free-form orientation right.

Roll a Face View

When you view a model from one of the face views, two roll arrow buttons are displayed near the ViewCube. Use the roll arrows to rotate the current view 90 degrees clockwise or counterclockwise around the center of the view.

Switch to an Adjacent Face

When the ViewCube is active while viewing a model from one of the face views, four orthogonal triangles are displayed near the ViewCube. You use these triangles to switch to one of the adjacent face views.

Front View

You can define the Front view of a model to specify the direction of the face views on the ViewCube. Along with the Front view, the Up direction of a model is also used to specify the direction of the face views on the ViewCube.

To reorient the current view to a preset orientation

• Click one of the faces, edges or corners on the ViewCube.

To view an adjacent face

Note: Make sure a face view is current.
• Click one of the triangles displayed near the edges of the ViewCube.
  

To interactively reorient the view

• Click the ViewCube, hold down the left mouse button on your pointing device and drag to orbit the model.

  Drag in the direction that you want to orbit the model.

To use animated transitions when reorienting a view to a preset orientation

1. Right-click the ViewCube, and click Options.
2. In the Options dialog, under When Clicking on the ViewCube, click Use Animated Transition when Switching Views.

   When checked, transitions from one view to another appear animated when clicking a pre-defined area on the ViewCube.

3. Click OK.

To automatically fit the model after a view orientation

1. Right-click the ViewCube, and click Options.
2. In the Options dialog, under When Clicking on the ViewCube, click Fit-to-View On View Change.

   When checked, clicking on a pre-defined area of the ViewCube reorients the model and fits the model to the window.

3. Click OK.

To roll a face view

Note: Make sure a face view is displayed.
• Click one of the roll arrows displayed above and to the right of the ViewCube.

  The left roll arrow rotates the view 90 degrees counterclockwise, while the right roll arrow rotates the view 90 degrees clockwise.

To define the Front view

• Right-click on the ViewCube and click Set Front to, and select (Current View).
Note: The Front view can only be set to the current view or to an existing elevation view in the project.

To restore the Front view

• Right-click on the ViewCube and click Reset Front.