Move the view

Moving the view never changes the model. You are only moving the camera.

With the mouse

Drag

Orbit: turn the view around the model (left mouse button)

Middle drag

Pan: slide the view sideways (press the wheel and drag)

Right drag

Pan as well

Scroll

Zoom in and out

AltRight drag

Zoom smoothly: drag up to come closer

Bring things into view

F

Frame: fit the selected parts in the view, or the whole model when nothing is selected

Frame stops where everything it frames is in the picture, with a small margin. A long thin part seen from the side fills the width, and a small part in a big assembly fills the view.

If you get lost, click an empty spot to clear the selection and press F. The whole model comes back into view.

The arrow to a selection out of sight

When something is selected and none of it is in the picture, a faint arrow sits at the edge of the view, on the side the selection is on. Click the arrow and the view frames the selection. To switch the arrow off, open Settings, Viewport and turn off Arrow to a selection out of view.

Standard views

The small pill in the top left corner of the viewport shows the current view as an icon: a camera for the free camera, or a cube with the face looked at for Top, Front and Side. Click it to choose another.

Ctrl1

Cam: the free camera with perspective

Ctrl2

Top

Ctrl3

Front

Ctrl4

Side

Top, Front and Side are flat views without perspective, like a technical drawing. As soon as you orbit out of one, the app returns to the free camera from where you are.

The view cube

The small cube in the top right corner turns with the model. Click one of its faces, or the dot at the end of an axis, to look straight along that axis: Top, Bottom, Front, Back, Side or Left. When the view is Top, Front or Side, the camera pill shows it.

The floor grid

The grid marks the floor of the scene. Press G to hide or show it.

Settings that change how the view moves

Under Settings, Camera:

Projection

Perspective, where far things look smaller, or Orthographic, where they do not.

Focal length

The lens, in millimetres as on a full-frame camera: a bigger number zooms in (35 mm wide, 50 mm normal, 85 mm close).

Clip planes

How near and how far the camera can see. Leave it on Auto unless parts of a very small or very large model are cut off.

Orbit around

What the view turns around. Selection: the selected parts, or the centre of the view when nothing is selected. Scene: always the centre of the view. Cursor: the point under the pointer when the drag starts.

Zoom toward the cursor

The wheel zooms toward the pointer instead of the centre.

Pan speed

How far a pan drag moves the view. Orbit speed and Zoom speed are beside it.

Invert orbit direction

The view turns the other way for a drag: drag right and the model turns left.

Stop at the horizon

The camera cannot go below the grid, so you do not end up looking at the model from underneath by accident.