Datasheet

GettinG the View You want
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Orbit on the Fly
You can Orbit on the fly, without leaving the current command, by holding down the Alt key on the
keyboard and dragging the wheel button of your mouse in a viewport. Don’t turn the wheel, but drag
it as if the wheel were a middle mouse button. This is a huge time-saver because you’ll find that you
don’t have to spend time clicking the Orbit button when you want to rotate your viewing angle.
uS i n G t h e Vi e w cu b e
Changing the viewpoint to view your scenes is especially important in a 3D environment
because you are more likely to encounter a situation where foreground objects obscure back-
ground objects. The ViewCube, the tool in the upper-right corner of the drawing area, is used to
quickly access common views, return to a saved view, or navigate freely in the drawing area.
The ViewCube consists of a center cube with each face labeled, identifying the standard
orthographic view that it represents. Clicking any of these labeled faces changes the view-
point in the drawing area to display the objects from that point of view. For example, click-
ing the ViewCube face labeled TOP changes the drawing area to display the scene from the
top, with the X-axis pointing to the right and the Y-axis pointing to the top of your screen (see
Figure 1.51).
The orthographic views are not the only viewpoints that you can access from the ViewCube.
Clicking on any corner changes the drawing area to display the objects from an isometric van-
tage point that is a combination of the three labeled faces. Clicking on the corner at the intersec-
tion of the TOP, FRONT and LEFT faces (see Figure 1.52) produces a southwest isometric view.
Clicking any of the edges (see Figure 1.53) changes the drawing area to display the objects
rotated 45 degrees from one of the adjacent orthographic views. You’ll usually perform a Zoom
after using the ViewCube.
Figure 1.51
The functions of
the ViewCube
Click to switch to the Home view
Click a face to switch to an orthographic view
Click a corner to
switch to an
isometric view
Click a letter to switch
to an elevation view
from that direction
Click and drag to set a
non-standard view
Click an edge to
switch to a view
rotated 45° from
the adjacent
orthographic view
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