Tumble, Pan and Zoom the view
There are three ways to tumble, pan and zoom the view:
- Holding the
Shift
+Alt
keys while using the mouse buttons - Click-drag on the ViewCube (tumble only, in the perspective view)
- Navigation bar icons
The mouse scroll wheel can also be used for zoom.
Shift and Alt clutch keys
Hold the Shift
+ Alt
keys down while click-dragging in the scene with one of the three mouse buttons to manipulate the view:
- Click-drag the LMB
to tumble the view.
- Click-drag the MMB
to pan the view (move in the view plane).
- Click-drag the RMB
to zoom the view.
In an orthographic window, only the Pan and Zoom functions are available.
When Shift
+ Alt
are engaged, a hint will appear at the top of the view window explaining each mouse button drag function:
Point of Interest
When zooming and tumbling, the action is centred around the Point-of-Interest(POI). To relocate the POI, hold Shift
+ Alt
and momentarily click-release on a geometry item in the scene.
See Point of Interest for more information on working with the POI.
Changing the Clutch Keys for viewing
The default viewing keys can be changed from Shift
+ Alt
using the Preferences > Clutch Keys Editor
Click-drag on the ViewCube
The ViewCube is typically shown on the top right corner of a persepctive view and can be used to manipulate the view.
Move the cursor over the ViewCube, and click-drag the mouse to tumble the view.
See ViewCube tools for more information on working with the ViewCube.
Adjust pan and zoom speed
Two tools for fitting the model to the view window also adjust the pan and zoom 'speed' - the relationship between how far the mouse moves to how far the view moves:
- ViewCube Navbar - Look At, also via the hotkey
F
- View Palette > Look-At tool, most often used via the hotkey
Alt
+L
First, select the objects that you want the zooming to be adjusted for (or Pick > Nothing to adjust to the whole model). Then use one of the Look At tools above.
The speed of zooming and panning relative to your mouse movements will adjusted. So for a small component, a larger mouse movement will result in a smaller movement in the screen view, giving more control. But if you zoom out to the full scene, you may find that the mouse movements seem too small and ineffective. Do a Pick > Nothing and then use one of the fit tools again to re-adjust the pan and zoom speed for the whole model.
Camera-based and Object-based tumble modes
The mouse-button behaviour when using Shift
+ Alt
for viewing is determined by the navigation mode: Camera-based or Object-based.
Camera-based tumble is the default. This keeps the Z axis of the camera vertical, like a movie camera. This is the default setting and is most similar to general CAD and modelling applications.
Object-Based Tumble mode
Object-based tumble works as if you have the model in your hand and you are manipulating it, to look under or around the object.
As an example if you are working on a headliner, in a workshop you might flip it over and put it on a table to work on it. You are unlikely to work on it from underneath looking up at it as if it was installed in the car.
Also, our eyes are aligned horizontally and we are much better at perceiving horizontal alignment versus vertical alignment, diagonal is really hard to judge, so if you are trying to make two things parallel or aligning CVs it is easier to place them in the modeling view horizontally vs vertically.
Object-Based Tumble mouse button assignments
In Object Based Tumble mode, press Shift
+ Alt
and drag the mouse button as follows:
Azimuth/Elevation: dragging the mouse across the whole window (either horizontally or vertically) rotates the view 180 degrees.
pan the view (move in the view plane).
vertical drag: zoom the view.
horizontal drag: twist the view.
Selecting tumble mode
The tumble modes can be selected in the following tools:
- Preferences > General Preferences - in the Navigation section, Navigate : Azimuth/Twist (Object-based tumble)
- ViewCube - More Settings Menu > Object-based tumble
- Hotkey Editor - go to the section: Special > Generally Useful Functions > Toggle Viewing Control Action