Switch to User View

Support Basics & Interface
1

How do I switch to the last user view from another view?

When I’m in the top view for instance, how do I get back to the previous user view? The user view being the view I last manipulated with the middle mouse button.

I would like to switch between the two while modelling but I can’t seem to find a great way to do this.

In the Blender manual it says that under the View menu there’s a User option but that option isn’t displaying for me and I can’t seem to find a shortcut key for it.

I’m sure it must be something simple but I’ve searched and have been unable to find the answer so help will be appreciated.

2

I’m going to bump this thread up the stack because I was just about to post an almost identical question, albeit a little bit more specific.

With regard to SolitudeSA’s question, he/she appears to be asking if there is a way to save a User (Perspective/Ortho) view in order to quickly switch between a directional orthogonal view (front/back, etc) and the User view. I DO NOT know how to do this (or if there is a way), but one possible work-around is to hide your layer with your Render Camera, and on a new layer, create a “Viewport” camera. With this new “Viewport” camera selected in the 3D View, make sure that the “Properties” window is showing (N-button to bring it up, usually on the right-hand side of the 3D viewport), and in the “Views” heading, make sure to check the box next to “Lock Camera to View”.

Now, by pressing Numpad-0, you can toggle your “Viewport” camera, and angle it however you would like. And from there, you may press Numpad-5 once or twice to toggle either a free perspective view or a free orthogonal view. So now, after working in, say, the “Top” view for a while, you may jump back to a pre-set viewing angle by pressing Numpad-0, and then Numpad-5. It can be a clunky work-around, and it is not nearly as nice as Blender automatically saving the most recent “User” view to its own Numpad shortcut…but it does work.

3

Now, an additional question in the hopes that I can avoid having to start a new thread.

When already in an Orthogonal view (Front, Left, Top, etc), when I use the middle-mouse button to rotate my viewport, Blender defaults first to a User PERSPECTIVE view, even when I am currently in an Orthogonal view. This is very annoying, because rather than a seamless, clean, quick rotation away from the current view, everything momentarily shifts into a Perspective mode (which can be very jarring when zoomed in closely!), and I have to waste a keypress to pick up and hit Numpad-5 to shift back into User Orthogonal.

It seems to minor, but I firmly believe it adds up to hundreds of wasted keypresses per session, and while only slight, the visual, mental, and physical interruption to my work flow adds up, by virtue of the frequency of having to make this adjustment, to a major workflow impediment and over the course of a month long project, as silly as it sounds, wasted hours, one second at a time, of me shifting the view, getting my bearings in perspective mode, pressing numpad-5 to switch to orthogonal, and regaining my bearings a second time. Studies show that one of the largest detriments to productivity is being momentarily distracted and that even while it may only take a few short moments to regain orientation, it can actually take several minutes before you regain the level of concentration that you had prior to the distraction.

TL;DR: When using middle-mouse to rotate the viewport out of Directional Orthogonal (Numpad-1,3,7,9), how can I make Blender DEFAULT to User Orthogonal, rather than User Perspective, without pressing Numpad-5?

4

In User Preferences under Interface turn off auto perspective.

5

PyroGXPilot…

Thank you smoothing over one of my biggest blender frustrations. If this site offered the giving of thanks, some thanks you would get.