Viewing Objects and Scenes
on this page: the basics | a
quick trip to the cinema
Changing your view is an integral part of working with objects in a
scene. Here are the basics:
Note: Changing your viewpoint of an object in the scene is
different from moving the object. Don't move
an object by selecting it and dragging its manipulators when you really
mean to dolly, pan, or rotate in the Examiner Viewer, or navigate and
tilt using the Walk Viewer.
Cosmo Worlds uses a cinematography model to explain the way you look at
objects in your scene. For example, when you rotate an object to change
your view, you are moving the camera around the object (not moving the
object itself). Here are some basic terms used to describe viewing:
-
Camera--When looking at objects or navigating through your
scene, imagine that an unseen camera is defining your view.
-
Dolly In or Out--Slide the camera closer or
further away from objects. Because the camera is sliding toward an
object, you can dolly past the object to the other side of it.
To dolly, use the dolly thumbwheel in the lower right corner of the
main window. In the Examiner Viewer, you can also place the mouse
cursor over any part of the scene and Ctrl-Alt-drag middle
up and down.
-
Zoom In or Out--Here, the camera does not travel to or past
objects in the scene. The camera "lens" magnifies the object.
In most cases, you will want to use dolly instead of zoom. To use
zoom, hold the mouse cursor over the scene and press the right mouse
button. From the menu that appears, choose Preferences. The Preferences
Panel appears. Use the zoom slider here to zoom in or out.
-
Pan--Pan means to slide the camera back and forth or up and
down.
To pan, use Ctrl-Alt-drag (drag in the direction you wish
to move the scene).
-
Tilt--(available only in the Walk viewer) When you tilt the
camera, you rotate it up or down, moving your view in the same way that
you look up or down by tilting your head.
To tilt, switch to the Walk Viewer (View > Walk Viewer
or Ctrl-k) and use the Tilt thumbwheel in the lower left
corner of the main window.
-
Rotate--(available only in the Examiner viewer) Use the Rot
X and Rot Y thumbwheels at the lower left corner of the
main window to rotate the camera around the center of the scene.
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