rotate the camera

Is there a way to fix the camera so that it doesn’t roll (spin on its z axis) when rotating around in the 3d window using the middle mouse button? So that rotating is more like in Wings and Milkshape and a lot of other 3d programs? I hate trying to spin the model around and ending up with it tilted vertically in some werid direction all the time. It seems to come pretty close if I click on “Turntable” for the rotation method, and try to click as close to the center of the window as possible with the middle mouse button, but it would be ideal if it would just always stay on a fixed roll axis no matter where I clicked with the mouse button (what kind of turntable turns upside down like that anyway? :wink: )

Use NUM4, NUM6, NUM2 and NUM8 in 3D view.

I assume you are talking of 3D view and not camera view (NUM0) because
MMB takes you automatically out of camera view and sends you in 3d view

Stefano

The numbers that S68 gave you, you can hold down to make it spin.

In 2.31 you can spin the scene (in front view - 1):

Around the X axis, Shift-Alt-Mousewheel
Around the Z axis, Ctrl-Alt-Mousewheel

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NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Not another last minute feature to document

/me faints

Stefano

Ctrl-Wheel and Shift-Wheel translate the view on both axis too.

Martin

S68:

I guess you already documented my 3l33t SHIFT-NUMPAD0 feature? (View3d -> Camera) :slight_smile:

SHift-NUM0?

what it is supposed to do?

Stefano

It sets up the last camera in a way that it exactly sees the same view as the current 3d view and switches to it. Seems like most features I commit get lost in nirvana :slight_smile:

Argh,

was it on chagelog?

  1. yes -> then I documented it
  2. no -> argh, I must add it!

Stefano

Thanks… those methods are ok. I just wish I could rotate by holding down the middle mouse button without the camera rolling around… i’ve never had a reason to roll the view while I’m modelling (most apps I’ve used don’t even include the feature), so it would be great if there was some way to turn it off but still be able to use the middle mouse button to rotate. Maybe a checkbox next to “Turntable” for “Fixed Roll Axis” or a seperate rotation type button like “First Person” or something. Would it be difficult to add?

Decide which object you want to be the center of rotation. Select it and ‘Center New’, then snap your cursor to the object. Hit C to make that the center of your scene and then it will orbit like wings, and more.

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I’m not sure what you mean by “Center New”… do you mean snap the object to the center? (I’m a total newb at blender :expressionless: ) But still, following most of those steps makes it orbit correctly only if you start the middle mouse click by clicking in the very center of the screen, and if you’re off by a little bit you end up with the camera rolling to the side as you’re working and you need to reorient it and try again.
To me, the roll is just annoying… maybe there are power Bledner users who like to turn their models upside down and all over the place while they’re modelling, but I prefer mine to always be facing right side up while I rotate around it. If people are using the numkeys to rotate more than the middle mouse button, it would seem like some of them agree.
Blender definitely looks like a powerful tool and I’m sure I’ll get more into it as I practice… it’s just little oddities in the interface like this that make it hard for me. Do you think adding a checkbox or a key you could hold down to constrain camera roll when rotating around would be easy? I think other interface-complainers would greatly appreciate it :wink:

On a related note… shouldn’t the “Turntable” option do what I’m saying anyway? Is the turntable supposed to be tilting over on the roll axis or is that supposed to be limited to the “Trackball” option?

I don’t know what trackball and turntable should and shouldn’t do, or even what blender should/n’t do. And Blender isn’t like other apps, it’s like Blender. I like it like that!

Turntable pivots the scene without taking the position of the cursor into account, Trackball pivots relative to the cursor. Something like that.

Center New is in the edit buttons and places the ‘object center’ (purple or yellow sphere) at the center of the selected object. C centers the selected (or active) objects’ center in the center of the window.

Hold down the numpad numbers to orbit or use Shift-Alt and roll the mousewheel, don’t press it.

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