Camera Control

The Panel Camera controls can only be found on the System Panel as it is the only 3D environment and therefore needs extended navigation options instead of just the 'Pan' camera control which the Dashboard Panel is bound to as it is a 2D environment.

The camera (viewpoint) can be panned or rotated around different axes using the three icons shown.

These work in conjunction with the Ctrl, Shift and Alt keys and with the three coloured arrow heads that show the camera orientation.

Camera controls

Pan allows the camera to pan left / right / up / down. Rotate allows the camera to rotate assuming the table top is the ground. Orbit allows the camera to rotate without considering the table top.

To move and control the camera:

• Hold down the Ctrl key and click-drag the mouse to move the camera eye.
• Hold down both the Ctrl and Shift keys and click-drag the mouse to move the camera target.
• Hold down Alt and click anywhere on the panel to move the camera over that point or object.

Video instructions Camera Control 1 Camera Control 2

Zoom

There is also a zoom facility, operated by pressing the Ctrl key and moving the cursor over the viewpoint icon. Clicking the mouse button in this and dragging downwards causes the view to zoom out. Dragging upwards causes the view to zoom in. The same functionality can be achieved by holding Ctrl and using the mouse wheel.

Axis alignment

The coloured arrows in the top left corner of the panel show the orientation of the camera. You can click any of these arrows to reset the view to look in that axis.

For example, clicking on the blue arrow gives a top-down view – looking down the ‘Z’ axis. Clicking on one of the other coloured arrows rotates the object about that axis.

You can use the 'Align Axis' button to mirror the axis of the selected object, this follows the alignment of the component axis, even when being manipulated and rotated.

Hint:

The coordinates of the cursor are shown in the status bar at the bottom of the screen. Using this information can help you to position objects.

First of all, move the cursor to the desired position, to find its coordinates. Then enter these into the 'Position' properties of the object in the Properties Panel.