3D Navigate

In This Topic

These menu commands are only available when the active pane is in 3D View. Access by right clicking anywhere on the drawing page.

To locate information about any part of this menu, Clickon click on the area of interest.

See also Display ribbon tab and Navigate in 3D Tutorial and Keyboard Shortcuts.

Step Amounts

Displays the Step Amounts dialog. Allows you to set how far the camera will Rotate or Pan in a 3D view.

Rotate

This will spin the point of view (camera position) by the angle specified in the Step Amounts dialog, shown above.

When you spin a 3D object around the centre of the screen, it is actually the viewpoint (or camera) that moves while the object stays still. This means that clicking Rotate Left will rotate the viewpoint to the left, so the object will appear to rotate the other direction, to the right. It might sound backwards, but it is very simple and natural once you try it.

To rotate with the mouse see Mouse Shortcuts. You might want to set the rendering style to Wireframe to rotate more smoothly.

See Generating A 3D Image and Rotate Items tutorials for more details.

Pan

This will move the point of view (camera position) by the distance specified in the Step Amounts dialog.

Like rotating, you can also Pan in any of the four directions and it is the viewpoint that moves and not the object itself. Panning is the same as the filming technique - the camera moves sideways or up and down without actually changing the direction it is pointing. This means once you pan, the object will still be facing the same way but will be further up, down or across the screen than it was before.

To pan using the mouse, simultaneously hold down the left and right mouse buttons and move the mouse in the direction you want to pan.

The object should roughly follow your mouse - pushing forward will move the object up the screen, etc. - See Mouse Shortcuts.

Zoom 3D

Using Zoom enlarges or reduces a 3D image so you can either view detail or fit the whole design on the screen. This will move the point of view (camera position) closer to or further from the objects in the drawing, focusing on the centre of the screen, by the distance specified in the Step Amounts dialog.

These commands are only available when the active pane is in 3D view. To zoom in on an object near the edge of the screen, you must first pan across so that object is in the centre of the screen then zoom in on that.

To zoom in/out using the mouse - See Mouse Shortcuts

To zoom in, scroll the mouse wheel away from you.
To zoom out, scroll the mouse wheel towards you.
To reset the zoom to the defaults, click the middle mouse button - use if the cabinets/image moves out of sight.

This is different to the Zoom In and Zoom Out commands, which only apply in Plan view.

Reset

Moves the camera position in 3D mode back to its original position and angle. This is useful if you lose the image by accidentally moving it out of the view window.

You can also use the Reset Viewcommand button.