Viewport Navigation – Blender 2.80 Fundamentals

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This tutorial is part of the Blender Fundamentals series, produced by Dillon Gu.

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Viewport Navigation Features #

1. Orbit #

To rotate the view around a selected object or point, hold down the middle mouse button and drag. You can also press Alt + Left Mouse Button and drag to orbit around the object.

2. Pan #

To move the view horizontally or vertically, press Shift + middle mouse button, and drag. This is helpful when you want to explore different areas of your scene without changing the viewpoint angle.

3. Zoom #

To zoom in and out of your scene, scroll the mouse wheel or hold down Ctrl + middle mouse button and drag. Zooming allows you to inspect details or get a broader view of your scene.

4. Frame Selected #

To center your view on a selected object, press the Numpad . key or go to View > Frame Selected. This is useful when you need to quickly focus on a specific object in your scene.

5. View Modes #

Blender offers several different viewport shading modes, accessible from the top-right corner of the viewport or with the Z key:

• Wireframe: Displays the object’s wireframe mesh.
• Solid: Displays the object with solid shading, without textures.
• Material Preview: Displays the object with materials and basic lighting.
• Rendered: Displays the object with full shading, including textures, lighting, and shadows.

6. Viewport Camera Navigation #

You can navigate the 3D viewport using a virtual camera. To switch between the camera view and the regular viewport view, press the Numpad 0 key. To lock the camera to the viewport, press N to open the sidebar, navigate to the ‘View’ tab, and enable ‘Lock Camera to View’.

Tips #

1. Customize viewport navigation settings by going to Edit > Preferences > Navigation.
2. Use Numpad 1, Numpad 3, and Numpad 7 for front, right, and top orthogonal views, respectively.
3. To focus on the current selection and frame it in your viewport, press Numpad ..
4. Enable ‘Auto Perspective’ in the Preferences to automatically switch between perspective and orthographic views when using numpad keys.
5. You can save custom views by pressing Ctrl + Alt + Numpad 0 to 9.

In-Depth #

Custom Navigation Hotkeys #

You can create custom hotkeys for navigation by going to Edit > Preferences > Keymap. Under ‘3D View’, you can search for navigation functions and assign them to your desired keys.

Walk Navigation #

Blender also supports a first-person view navigation mode called ‘Walk Navigation’. To activate it, press Shift + F or go to View > Navigation > Walk Navigation. Use the W, A, S, and D keys to move forward, left, back, and right, respectively, and the mouse to look around.