Rotate, Pan, Zoom, Fit, Center

Adjust your view of the model in the modeling window.

Rotate the View

Rotate the view to inspect different areas of the model.

  • Rotate the view with keyboard shortcuts and mouse controls.
    To Do this
    Freely tumble Drag the model while middle mouse clicking.
    Perform turntable rotation Hold Shift, right-click, and drag the model.
    Note: 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.
  • Rotate the model with the View Cube.
    By default, the View Cube appears on the axis triad at the bottom-left corner of the modeling window.


    Figure 1.
    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 anytime a face is selected.

    Clicking the arrows incrementally rotates the view. Left- and right-clicking increments by + and - 15 degrees while middle-clicking increments by 90 degrees.

  • Use preset views to rotate your model to a standard view, an isometric view, to the closest principal axis, or so that the sketch plane is normal to the grid. To access the standard and isometric views, move the mouse cursor over the View Rotator.


    Figure 2.
    Option Description
    Top (Bottom)
    • Left-click for the top view.
    • Right-click for the bottom view.
    Front (Back)
    • Left-click for the front view.
    • Right-click for the back view.
    Iso
    • Left-click for the isometric view where the z-axis is straight up, the x-axis extends diagonally up and right, and the y-axis extends diagonally up and left.
    • To cycle through all isometric views, right-click.
    Note: Several isometric views are available. Isometric views represent three-dimensional objects in two dimensions using an axonometric projection where the three coordinate axes appear equally foreshortened and the angle between them is 120 degrees.
    Rotate the model to the closest principal axes.
    Rotate the model so that the sketch plane is normal to the grid.
    Note: Only available in sketch mode.

Set the Center of Rotation

Center the view around a selected point.

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.

  1. To manually set the center of rotation, press C then click a point on the model.
  2. To reset the center of rotation, hold Ctrl and middle mouse click in empty space, or fit the view.

Pan the View

Move the view horizontally and vertically in the modeling window.

Pan the view in the following ways:
  • Drag the model while right-clicking.
  • Drag the model while right and left clicking simultaneously.

Zoom the View

Zoom in to view specific areas of the model, and zoom out to see a more overall view of the model.

Zoom the view in the following ways:
  • Scroll the mouse wheel.

    The center of zoom is determined by your cursor position.

  • Press Ctrl + Shift + Right Mouse Drag to perform a smooth zoom about the screen center.

Fit the View

Adjust the view to fit the model or selected objects in the modeling window.

Fit the view in the following ways:
  • Click on the View Controls toolbar.
  • Press F on the keyboard .
The view is adjusted to fit tightly around any selected objects. If no objects are selected, the view is adjusted to fit around the model. Repeatedly clicking or pressing F toggles the fit between a selection and the entire model.