Navigating a Scene

In this lesson, you'll open a partially-completed scene of a battlefield and learn how to adjust the view and navigate the viewports.

Set up the lesson:

Click File menu > Open, and in the \scenes\startup\battlefield folder, open battlefield_start.max.
Note: If a dialog asks whether to use the scene’s units, accept the scene units, and click OK.

The Perspective viewport should be active, indicated by a yellow border. If no border is visible, right-click anywhere within the viewport to activate it.

Navigating with the ViewCube:

Depending on how 3ds Max is currently set up, the ViewCube controls might be visible in the upper-right corners of the viewports.

Perspective version of the ViewCube
If the ViewCube is not visible, click the Perspective viewport's General label—which looks like "[ + ]"—and choose ViewCube Show the ViewCube.
In the Perspective viewport, right-click the ViewCube and choose Set Current View As Home.
Click the Left face of the ViewCube to view the scene from the left.
As you can see, the ViewCube lets you view the scene from alternative viewpoints with a simple click of a mouse.
In the Perspective viewport, click the Home icon to the upper left of the ViewCube.

The Perspective viewport returns to its initial viewpoint.

Note: You can reset the Home viewpoint to the current view at any time by right-clicking the ViewCube and choosing Set Current View As Home.
Click (Zoom) in the viewport navigation controls at the lower-right corner of the 3ds Max window.
To show that this control is now active, the button is highlighted.
Click and hold the left mouse button and move the mouse; this action is called dragging. Drag downward in the Perspective viewport.
Your view zooms out so you can see the scene from a distance.

Note: You can also zoom in or out by rotating the mouse wheel forward or backward.
In the viewport navigation controls click (Orbit), which is below and to the right of the Zoom button. The button highlights when active.
This button's tooltip might show Orbit Sub-Object or Orbit Selected. For this lesson, any of the Orbit versions will do.

A yellow navigation circle appears in the viewport.
Position the cursor inside the yellow circle and click and drag.
The point of view orbits around the scene.

Tip: Avoid dragging outside the yellow navigation circle, unless you want to roll the entire viewport.
Use a combination of Orbit and Zoom to zoom in on the windmill.
Orbit your view by dragging to the left or right until you can see the cannon in the opposite direction.
Right-click the viewport to exit Orbit mode.
Click (Pan) in the viewport navigation controls and move the mouse in the viewport.
The viewport view now follows the movement of your mouse.

Note: You can also start a pan operation by holding down the middle mouse button or wheel as you drag.
Return the viewport to its original orientation by clicking the Home icon.

Navigating with SteeringWheels:

Press Shift+W to display the SteeringWheels controls.
The SteeringWheels controls offer an alternative way to navigate a scene.
Click and drag each of the Zoom, Pan, and Orbit controls in turn, and experiment with how they can be used to navigate the scene.
When you’re done, click the Rewind button and drag to the left.
The Rewind tool passes over a strip of thumbnails, each of which represents a previously selected navigation point. Release the mouse on any thumbnail. The viewport rewinds to that point.
Experiment with the Center, Walk, Look. and Up/Down controls in the center of the SteeringWheels icon. When you are done, click the arrow at the bottom right of the wheel and from the menu, choose Go Home. This repositions the viewport view to the Home viewpoint.
Click the small “X” in the top right of the wheel to hide the SteeringWheels control.
Tip: You can press Shift+W to display the SteeringWheels controls once more.

Next, you'll create a camera and a Camera viewport. The Camera viewport is similar to the Perspective viewport but with different functionality. You can animate it and add effects to it.

Creating a camera:

Right-click the Top viewport to activate it.
The viewport outline highlights.
On the Create panel, activate (Cameras), then click Target to activate.
In the Top viewport, click behind and slightly to the right of the cannon, then drag down to a point just left of the windmill (as shown in the following illustration). Don’t worry about the exact camera placement yet: You will adjust this later.

To see what the camera sees, you now need to display one of the viewports as a Camera viewport.
Right-click the Perspective viewport to activate it, then press C.
Note: Right-clicking a viewport activates it and keeps any objects in other viewports in a selected state (in this case, our camera object). Left-clicking a viewport deselects previously selected objects.
On the main toolbar, click to activate (Select And Move).
A tripod of red, blue, and green arrows appears in the Top viewport. This is the transform gizmo. As you move your cursor over the arrows, each axis label and arrow stem turn yellow. When one is yellow, you can click and drag to move the object in a single direction. If you move your cursor over the inner corners of the transform gizmo, the plane turns yellow. This lets you move in a single plane.
Right-click the Left viewport, click the camera’s Y axis manipulator, and drag it slightly upward so you can see more of the horizon in the Camera001 viewport.
If the cannon is not visible in the Camera001 viewport, then in the Top viewport drag the camera until the front of the cannon comes into view in the Camera001 viewport, as shown below.

Next, you'll create a rock and a tree, then add them to the scene.

Creating a Rock and a Tree