When using the middle mouse button to rotate the viewport camera around the scene, I noticed some weird camera behavior. When viewing from the z-axis towards the x-y plane, middle clicking then moving the mouse left/right causes the camera to roll instead of pivot/rotate. Shouldn’t the middle mouse button always cause the viewport camera to orbit around a center point, not roll in place? This does not happen when viewing from the x or y axis. Is this by design? Or is it a bug or something wrong with my settings?
TrackBall/Turntable
By default, when you rotate the view as described above, you are using the turntable method. For some users this is intuitive and for others it is not. If you feel you are having difficulties with this style of 3D window rotation you can switch to the “trackball” style. With the trackball style you are rotating the scene as though you are rolling your hand across a “trackball”
The Turntable style is fashioned more like a record player where you have two axes of rotation available, and the world seems to have a better definition of what is “Up” and “Down” in it. The downside to using the Turntable style is that you lose some flexibility when working with your objects. However, you gain the sense of “Up” and “Down” which can help if you are feeling disoriented. Of course you can always switch between the styles depending on what you are working on.
http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Doc:2.6/Manual/3D_interaction/Navigating/3D_View
Thanks for the info. Tried the trackball orbit style and dang is it hard to control. No wonder the turn table is designed the way it is. I realized the turn table camera isn’t actually rolling when viewing from the z-axis, rather it’s pivoting very quickly and with a very small radius around the z-axis. Anyway, useful information to have. Probably going to stick with the turn table orbit style, but the trackball might have its uses.