NavBar tools
The navigation tools (NavBar) are associated with the Viewcube and can be accessed or displayed by:
- Pressing
Shift
+Alt
- Moving the cursor towards the ViewCube and NavBar area. In a multi-window layout, click in a window first to make it active.
The NavBar tools can appear in three different formats:
In vertical mode, the two navigation tools sections can be collapsed by clicking the horizontal line between the sections.
In radial mode, the two navigation tools sections can be displayed or hidden using the +/- icon.
View tools
Previous View ![](https://help.autodesk.com/cloudhelp/2024/ENU/Alias-Interface-and-General-Tasks/images/NavbarIcons/previousView.png)
Click to return to the previous view. Clicking again returns to the view you started with.
This tool does not step-back further than the previous view. Use variants to store views and be able to return to them. See Windows > Variant Lister and the variants icon below.
Perspective/Orthographic
![](https://help.autodesk.com/cloudhelp/2024/ENU/Alias-Interface-and-General-Tasks/images/NavbarIcons/ortho.png)
Toggle between an isometric/orthographic view mode and the selected perspective view modes: Perspective with Ortho Faces or Perspective (as set in the ViewCube More Settings menu).
A label above the ViewCube indicates when the view is orthographic.
Most users work in perspective mode for the 3D view when evaluating the real-world aesthetics of a design. Isometric/Orthographic is often used when you want to assess the flow of CVs free of any distortion.
Non-Proportional Scale view ![](https://help.autodesk.com/cloudhelp/2024/ENU/Alias-Interface-and-General-Tasks/images/NavbarIcons/scaleView.png)
A non-proportional view is scaled in one direction to compress the view, typically to evaluate surface or curve flow. It is a method of viewing that you might do if you looked at the side of a car from the front three-quarters to compress the view.
Click and drag on the Non-Proportional Scale icon to modify the view.
In a perspective view you can only distort the view horizontally.
In an orthographic view you can use the mouse buttons to control the distortion:
- Left - Free adjustment in the screen plane
- Middle - Horizontal adjustment only
- Right - Vertical adjustment only
When a distorted view has been set, the icon is displayed with a thin blue border to indicate that a distorted view has been set. Click-release to switch between the non-proportional (distorted) view and the default (non-distorted) view.
![](https://help.autodesk.com/cloudhelp/2024/ENU/Alias-Interface-and-General-Tasks/images/icon_non_prop_view.png)
Scale the view independently along the horizontal and vertical axes. After you click this tool, the interaction depends on the setting of Non-Proportional Scaling Box in General Preferences > Miscellaneous > Viewing.
If this option is checked on, click and drag to draw a box on the screen around the area you want to examine. When you release the mouse button, the window fills with the content of the box.
If this option is unchecked, drag the mouse to scale the view interactively. Drag left and right to scale the view horizontally, and up and down to scale the view vertically.
Variants ![](https://help.autodesk.com/cloudhelp/2024/ENU/Alias-Interface-and-General-Tasks/images/NavbarIcons/bookmark.png)
The Variants menu provides shortcuts for saving and switching to saved views, and for opening the Variant Lister.
These NavBar tools will typically be used for quick saving of views while modeling, whereas the Variant Lister can be used to prepare for presentations or to manage the saved views.