Tumble, track, dolly, roll, or zoom the camera

Learn the different ways to look around the scene by moving the camera.

To look around in a scene, you can move the camera that is current in a view panel. This applies to any type of camera.
Tip: You can reset the camera view with Alt + Z and Alt + Y. Press Home to restore the camera to the default view.

See Camera Tools menu for a full list of camera navigation tools available.

Note: If you are on a Mac with less than three mouse buttons, you can set up alternatives to these default controls in the Interface preferences.
To... Do this

Tumble the camera

Windows: Alt + left-drag

Mac: Option + left-drag

or

Choose View > Camera Tools > Tumble Tool

Track the camera

Alt + middle-drag

Mac: Option + middle-drag

or

Choose View > Camera Tools > Track Tool

Dolly the camera

Alt + right-drag or left+middle-drag

Mac: Option right-drag

or

Choose View > Camera Tools > Dolly Tool

or

Alt + Ctrl + drag a box around the part of the scene you want to dolly in on.

  • If you drag the box out from left to right, you dolly in.
  • If you drag the box out from right to left, you dolly out.

Roll (tilt) the camera

  1. In a view panel, select View > Camera Tools > Roll Tool.
  2. Drag to roll the camera.

Zoom the camera lens

  1. In a view panel, select View > Camera Tools > Zoom Tool.
  2. Drag to zoom the camera lens.

You can set options for any of the tools via the View > Camera Tools menu:

Related topics

Parent topic: Navigate with the camera in Maya