Navigation in different programs

[Andrew Shpagin]

I have started to do customistion of interface. Soon you will be able to map hotkeys almost on any action.

Also I want to add a drop list in options with different navigation types. Please advice what types of navigation do you have in different programs. Please write as full description as possible.

[yukon_28]

Wow, i glad to hear it so much. Well, i want to advise 3ds max style viewport navigation etc. Also i'd like to see right click menus as in max, but is probably imposible now. I think you know max well so there is no need to describe it, but if you want me to describe it - just say.

One more thing, i'd like to see option for uvlayout style navigation and pivot point moving tools. In uvlayout navigation in viewport happens by mouse buttons only -

right mouse button click and drag up\down = zoom in\out

left mouse button click and drag = rotate

middle mouse button click and drag = pan

point on polygon and click "home" = place pivot to center of that polygon and zooms at it.

point on empty space and click "home" = place pivot to center of object and zooms to fit object in viewport.

[BigDaz]

Sounds like a good plan, it would be great to come from your 3D application and be able to navigate 3D Coat in exactly the same way.

Softimage|XSI has several different options. The main controls are

S key +

- Left-click and drag to pan.

- Middle-click and drag to zoom.

- Right-click drag to orbit.

F key focuses the camera on the centre of the current selection and orbits around it.

[philnolan3d]

I must say the best camera navigation I've ever used in in Unreal Ed (and presumably the Unreal Engine). That method is LMB moves forward/back and rotates left/right. RMB rotates freely around the cameras middle, and RMB+LMB moves the camera up, down, left, and right. It sounds confusing but after a couple minutes it really becomes fast an intuitive. The scroll wheel also zooms in/out. Might not be very helpful here though, unless you hold down a key like Alt while doing it.

[Roger_K]

this sounds very positive, will we be able to edit these schemes?

[eric smith]

Lightwave (in the perspective view):

Alt-drag = orbit

Alt-ctrl-drag = zoom

Alt-shift-drag = pan

On this topic, one of the key issues with navigation in 3d Coat is that when orbiting, you can get kind of "gimbal-locked", and rotating from the last point painted on is just a little awkard, even though it's a clever idea.

What's really needed is the ability to orbit in all 3 axis. For example, when rotating in Lighwave, if you drag near the center of the viewport, it orbits around pitch and heading, but if you drag near the edge of the screen, it orbits around bank. This gives the ability to orient your viewport exactly the way you want it.

Eric

[polyxo]

Thank you for that list Andrew. Customizing navigtion will be awesome!

This is for Rhino 3D:

LMB = click = item Selection, drag = 2 different marque-selection-types. As this is not applicable in 3DC I am fine with what 3DC does on LMB currently.

MMB = (scrolling) Zoom (I personally do not use that functionality and have disabled it) 3DC has better uses for it.

MMB = (press) customizable popup-menu

RMB =Pan in Orthogonal Viewports, Orbit camera in Perspective Viewports

(This last one is probably a bit tricky, but for me it would also work to pan with Shift+RMB in orthogonal views. RMB = Orbit is more important)

Ctrl+RMB = Zoom Camera

Shift+RMB=Pan in Perspective viewports

RMB without mouse-dragging is also "Enter"

It would be great, if we had all combinations of modifier-keys available:

Ctrl+Key

Ctrl+Shift+Key

Shift+Key

Alt+Key

Ctrl+Alt+Key

Shift+Alt+Key

Ctrl+Alt+Shift+Key

Holger

[Pavel (pzdm) Zoch]

Hello Andrew - great idea! :-)

C4D tools

ALT combination are same as 3D-Coat, but I prefere a Num pad

1+LMB camera moving

2+LMB camera zoom - relative Z position

2+RMB camera zoom - focus

3+LMB camera rotation around selected object

4+ LMB object move

5+LMB object scale

6+LMB object rotation

Cheers Pavel

[Drocket]

Hi Andrew,

I second Eric's reply about using LightWaves mode to move around, I especially like the zoom in lighwave because it keeps the area you initially click over in the center of the viewport.

Would it be possible to implement key bindings based on other 3D application or maybe allow users to customize keys and mouse clicks so they can enter what they prefer? Or maybe a combination of both, say have key bindings for the other major applications but also allow the user to configure them to make their own key bindings (e.g. Allow me to use lightwave key bindings but change them slightly), Modo has a similar system called Input Remapping where you can base your input on another applications key bindings.

Thanks,

Andrew.

[Magian]

Perhaps you could also make the navigation have assignable hotkeys?

If not, my vote goes for:

Alt+LMB Orbit

Alt+MMB Zoom

Alt+RMB Pan