3D navigation essentials

To navigate in the 3D Viewport you may use the navigation tools to track, tumble, dolly, or look around. You can select the appropriate tool in the toolbar and click and drag the mouse in the Viewport. Alternatively, these actions can be applied any time using a modifier. The following is a table of helpful navigation actions:

Press Alt + Left click / Tumble tool + Click

Tumble/Rotate the camera around the point of interest.

Press Alt + scroll wheel / Pan tool + Click

Pan/Track the camera horizontally or parallel to the view plane.

Press Alt + Right click / Dolly tool + Click

Dolly/Zoom the camera towards or away from the point of interest.

Press Arrow keys

Move the camera left, right, forward or backward.

Look around tool (B) + Click

Rotate the camera around its eye. This can help creating bookmarks for 360 VR exports.

Press F

Frame the selection (or the whole scene if selection is empty).

Press A

Frame the whole scene.

Frame tool

Frame the selection (or the whole scene if selection is empty) in all 3D viewports.

Press N

Turn the camera's view direction towards north while keeping the view angle to the ground.

Press N + Shift

Turn the camera's view direction vertically down and rotate the scene so north is up.

Press X Y, or Z

Turn the camera's view to respectively align to the X, Y, or Z axis. This allows to quickly see front, back, top, bottom, and side views.

Press H

Reset camera to a default position.

Press Space

Maximize 3D Viewport. The active 3D Viewport is maximized and fills the entire CityEngine window. Press Space again to restore the previous window layout.

Right click Viewport then Toggle Fullscreen

Make 3D Viewport fullscreen. To come back to the normal mode, press Esc or click the same context menu entry.

You can click an object to select it or drag a selection rectangle and then press F to frame the selection. Afterwards you can rotate, pan, or zoom in and out to explore the object and CityEngine scene.

Tip:
  • The CityEngine preferences (Edit > Preferences > General > Navigation Devices > Mouse) allow you change the mouse navigation schemes according to the schemes of other 3D applications.

    If you have a 3Dconnexion SpaceMouse device (https://www.3dconnexion.com/), click Edit > Preferences > General > Navigation Devices > 3D Mouse to set the scheme.

  • Linux users might want to change the modifier key mapping for navigation to the Ctrl key since some window managers catch the Alt key.


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