Rotating, Moving and Zooming in the 3D viewer

Much of the interaction in 3D can be performed using the mouse and mouse wheel, or keyboard shortcuts. Use the mouse to rotate the view around as well as zoom in, or use the 3D View tools for rotation, moving and zooming described below.

The Rotate operation allows rotating the scene around the current pivot axis, or tilting the scene on an axis that parallels the view window plane, by moving the mouse with the left button down.

Keyboard shortcuts

  • To lock along one dimension or the other, press either of the 'V' or 'H' keys. The 'V' modifier (Vertical only) enables tilting but disables rotating around the pivot axis; the 'H' modifier (Horizontal only) disables tilting but enables rotation.
  • F11: Decreases the field of view by 5 degrees; if CTRL is held down, it decreases by 1 degree, if SHIFT is held down, it decreases by 10 degrees.
  • F12: Increases the field of view by 5 degrees; if CTRL is held down, it increases by 1 degree, if SHIFT is held down, it increases by 10 degrees.

Touch Screen Gestures

  • Pinch(two fingers pinching together or moving away): Zoom in and out
  • Two finger swipe (Press and drag with two fingers) : Pan the 3D view
  • One finger drag : Rotate the view

Using the Zoom tools

The zoom in and out buttons will zoom in or out on the center of the 3D view.

  • The arrow keys and numeric keypad can also be used to pan and zoom the 3D image without using the mouse.

 Walk Mode

This setting switches the navigation control to a 'walk mode'. Left-click and drag back to pan the view back; left-click and drag forward to move the view forward.

The default Walk Mode height may be set in the 3D View Configuration dialog.

Keyboard Shortcuts

  • Pressing the Ctrl+W key will activate Walk mode in the 3D view.
  • Left-click and drag to pan
  • The 'Pg Up' and 'Pg Dn' buttons or mouse wheel will adjust the Walk Mode height
  • The arrow keys may also be used to move.
  • Hold the mouse wheel and move up and down to change the Walk Mode pitch.

Fly Mode

Fly Mode is a navigation mode that adds first-person camera view, and free navigation in all directions without being tied to the terrain. Left-click and drag to look around. Use the up and down arrow keys to move forward and backwards.

Keyboard shortcuts

  • J : Enable and Disable Fly Mode
  • Up and Down arrows: move forward and back

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Note: Walk Mode and Fly Mode can both be used to Record a Fly-Through Path, which gets saved as a line feature. This line feature can then be used as the fly-through path when previewing or playing a fly-through.