Datasheet
12 Chapter 1: Working in 3D
Finally, by holding Alt/Option and using the middle mouse button (or scroll wheel but-
ton), the view can spin perpendicular to the viewport. is can be useful if the current view
is upside-down and needs to be ipped over quickly. is is also useful when aligning a
view that is slightly skewed and requires a minor rotation to see a level view of the scene.
e three movement tools work well when the view is focused on either your entire
scene or a specic selection. e A key is used to center on all visible items in the scene.
You can use the rotation tool to spin around your entire scene, and press Shi+A to focus
on a selection. By selecting the area you are interested in or working on, you can center
your perspective and rotate around the area in question. Subsequent chapters cover selec-
tions in more depth, but you can get started selecting by simply clicking and dragging
across some surfaces (polygons, edges, or points) in your scene. Aer you select some-
thing, pressing Shi+A will center your view on that selection.
Practice: Navigating in Space
Open the le Navigation_Practice.lxo from the included DVD. Spend a few minutes
moving around the scene. The more you navigate the space, the more comfortable it will
become. Start by moving around the objects generally, and then choose various sections of
the objects and manipulate the perspective until you get a good view of them. See if you
can get a side view showing all three objects aligned in the view. Remember to utilize all
of your newly learned navigation tools. Rotate, pan, and zoom your view. Use the A key
and Shift+A centering tools to center your view on an area of interest.
e practice le starts out with the viewport containing all three objects from an
angle, as seen in Figure1.9. Try to duplicate the view shown in Figure1.10. A few minutes
practicing with a simple scene such as this will reduce frustration when you have a more
complex scene and are still familiarizing yourself with the controls.
Moving Objects in 3D Space
Now that we have discussed moving around, you can begin to look at moving the objects
that you create. ere are three methods for basic object manipulation: move, scale, and
rotate. Each of these tools (known as transform tools) can be activated by clicking the cor-
responding button on the le side, toward the top of the user interface, or by using their
hot keys. Each transform tool has some quirks or additional features that will speed your
workow if you take advantage of them.
Aer a transform tool is activated, a property tab appears in the bottom-le corner.
e elds in this tab enable you to enter numeric values for each of the transform func-
tions as well as control of some additional options for each tool. ese values can be
entered by clicking in the elds and entering a value, by clicking on the arrows to increase
or decrease the values by small increments, or by clicking and dragging the arrows.
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