Rotate the View

Rotate the view using the mouse or the view cube.

Tip: To save and recall a custom view, click in the view controls.

Rotate with the Mouse

Rotate the view using turntable rotation or trackball rotation by using the mouse.

By default, the center of rotation is determined by your cursor position when you rotate the model. When your cursor is not on the model, the center of rotation defaults to the center of the model or to a point on the model that is closest to your cursor. Set the center of rotation by pressing C and clicking a point on the model.


To rotate using Do this Note
Turntable rotation Shift + drag with the right mouse button. Turntable rotation restricts the rotation to the x-y plane, which is useful if your model's vertical direction is aligned with the z-axis.
Trackball rotation Drag with the middle mouse button. Trackball rotation allows the model to tumble freely in any direction.
Tip: You can change the mouse controls to match that of a different application in the Preferences.

Rotate with the View Cube

By default, the View Cube appears on the axis triad at the bottom-left corner of the modeling window.


  • Clicking a major face (Top, Bottom, Right, Left, Rear, or Front) rotates the model to the nearest possible orientation of that face. If that orientation is not the standard, clicking the face again re-aligns the model back to the standard orientation. If the orientation is already standard, repeated clicks on a major face reverses the view.
    Note: The view is fit any time a face is selected.
  • Rotation arrows appear when hovering the mouse over the cube. Clicking the arrows incrementally rotates the view.
  • Align the cube to the orientation of a selected system or boundary condition by right-clicking on the cube and selecting Align to System/BC. Re-align the cube to the global coordinate system by selecting Reset to Global.
  • To orient the top face to common CAD defaults, right-click the cube, and then select Set Top to +Z or Set Top to +Y.
    Note: Ground shadows will always be oriented on the Bottom face.
  • The display and behavior of the View Cube can be adjusted in the Preferences under File > Preferences > Inspire > Visualization.

Customize the Front View

Customize the orientation of the standard Front view using the Preferences.

  1. Select File > Preferences.
  2. Under Inspire > Modeling Space, select Front View and choose an orientation.
Note: The two letters, for example "XY", denote the horizontal and vertical axis of the plane that defines the Front view. The normal to the Front view may be aligned along any of the three main axes (X, Y, Z), and rotated around that axis in four possible orientations, so there are twelve possible orientations: