Often I align my 3dview to a selected polygon [Right Shift+Num7] in order to align objects, facilitate projection painting, et al…
Invariably, the alignment also comes with an undesired ‘roll’ of the 3dview.
My process to correct this is as follows:
TAB into ObjectMode
Rename the existing camera [CAM_Render]
Enable ‘Name’ display for CAM_Render [Don’t want to forget what camera is active]
Create a secondary camera [CAM_Modeling]
Change CAM_Modeling Focal Length to match ‘View lens’ [I like to model at 55mm… less distortion]
Enable ‘Name’ display for CAM_Modeling
Turn off ‘Passepartout’ for CAM_Modeling
Set CAM_Modeling as Active camera [Ctrl+0]
Select Mesh
TAB into EditMode [view alignment and selection thankfully preserved]
Zoom to selected [Ctrl+NumPeriod]
Zoom out a bit…
Pan a little bit…
Nicely frame my area of interest…
Align active camera to view [Ctrl+Alt+0]
TAB into ObjectMode
Select CAM_Modeling
Roll the camera view [R]
Possibly Dolly along ‘local Z’ [G+ZZ]
Select the Mesh
TAB into EditMode
Continue on as if I were normal
Okay… I can set up a start.blend to alleviate steps 1 through 7, and step 22 is not really a step but the resumption of the interrupted workflow, but that is an ungodly amount of putzin’ about just to roll the view.
Anyone know of an easier way to do this? A hidden ‘feature’ of which I am unaware? Input shortcut as of yet undefined? An addon that accomplishes this herculean task?
Thanks for the reply RickyBlender.
The methods linked deal with the roll of an Object
To clarify, I do not wish to transform the rotation of an Object.
I want to roll the viewport. Ie… I don’t want to work on an upside down view of the mesh.
I’ve been looking for that functionality quite a few times too… I doubt there is any.
It would be so helpful if we had a rotate gizmo for the view just like we got for objects, or if we could constraint the viewport transformation to one axis by pressing x/y/z when rotating
As it stands now with view rotations being immediate, it would require a separate methodology than the MiddleMouse method. One would never be able to select the gizmo. We’d need something like a -dare I say it?- Maya Viewcube.
This method could happily expand on the MiddleMouse method [Rather than creating a entirely new construct to deal with screen rotation] but would require the creation of a custom ‘Transform Orientation’ based on one’s selection beforehand.
Agreed. Hopefully someone, with a better grasp of the Blender Python API than I, will take up the task.
You have completely misunderstood the issue at hand.
Perhaps I have not explained it clearly.
Try This:
Open Blender.
Press NumPad0 to look through the camera.
Select the Camera bounds ( the rectangle in the middle of the screen )
Press R
Move your mouse.
You are now ‘Rolling’ the view.
There are numerous reasons why I would like to accomplish this with all views and not just camera view.
Well, i might be also not understanding all the finesses, however if you Lock Camera to view, select it and R rotate you can view at your (previously aligned and looked at through camera) face from any rotation angle without awkward 3d space rotations…
Which is what you just described, actually. So, do the same, just not involving camera?
Thanks for taking the time to reply, eppo, but totally unrelated to what I am trying to achieve.
I don’t want to Roll the camera view. That is easily accomplished.
I want to roll any view I choose without having to jump through so many hoops.
I am cognizant of the fact that it cannot be done and does require an inordinate workaround as outlined [step by step hotkeys an’ all] in my first post.
My only hope is if some sympathetic dev takes the time to read my post and decide that it is, in fact, an absurd amount of work to do this simple thing and decide to rectify the situation.
But thanks for taking the time.
Any takers ? Ctrl+Alt+MiddleMouse is wide open for this -hint hint-
