Tracking, Dollying, and Tumbling the Camera’s View

There are many different ways to change the camera’s view in AliasStudio.

In general, you will only need to learn three camera moves to model effectively: tumble, dolly, and track.

Because these camera movements are so common, AliasStudio uses special hotkey/mouse combinations to access these movements quickly.

To use the camera move mode to move the camera in a perspective window

1. Hold down the and keys.

   Keep the keys held down during the following steps.

2. Make sure the mouse pointer is over the perspective view window.

   

3. Drag the to tumble the camera:
   • Drag left and right to rotate the camera.
   • Drag up and down to tilt the camera.

     

   Tumbling the camera changes the azimuth and elevation angles of the camera.

4. Release the , but keep the and keys held down.
5. Drag the to dolly the camera in and out.

   

   Dollying moves the camera forward and backward.

6. Again, release the , but keep the and keys held down.
7. Drag the to track the camera.

   

   Tracking moves the camera, but does not change the direction in which the camera is pointing.

8. When you are done moving the camera, release the mouse button and the and keys to exit camera move mode.

Now, try moving the camera in the orthographic windows.

To use the camera move keys to move the camera in an orthographic window

1. Hold the and keys to enter camera move mode.
2. Make sure the pointer is over an orthographic window such as Top, Side, or Back.

   

3. Drag the to dolly in and out.

   

4. Drag the to track up, down, left and right.

   

5. Now try dragging the to tumble the orthographic view.

   Nothing happens. You cannot change the view direction of orthographic windows. They always look in the same direction.

Moving the camera is a very important skill in AliasStudio. Throughout this book, you will need to move the camera to work with geometry.

Using the camera move mode soon becomes second nature. With practice, you will be able to move the camera where you need it without thinking about the keys or the mouse.

Practice tumbling, tracking, and dollying the camera around the model some more before you move on.

To use Look At to center on an object

1. Use the marking menus to choose the Pick > Nothing tool.

2. Remember that the marking menu has the pick tools.

3. Now use the marking menus to choose the Pick > Object tool.
4. Pick one of the geometric objects you created earlier.

   

5. Find the View palette. It is near the bottom of the Palette window.
6. Choose the Look at tool.

7. 

   The active view window (the window with the white outline) changes to center on the picked object.

   

8. Pick nothing.
9. Use the Look at tool again.

10. The active view changes to center on all the existing geometry.

    

    When you use Look at with nothing or everything picked, the view will center on all the geometry in the scene.

Look at is most useful to quickly find geometry that is outside the view of a window or too far to be seen clearly. AliasStudio provides two additional tools to make it easier to move the camera around a model quickly: the “point of interest” and Viewing Panel.

Changing the Point of Interest

Normally, camera move mode (+ is calibrated to best view objects at the origin (the center of world space, coordinate 0,0,0). This can become awkward when you want to move the camera around objects away from the origin.

The point of interest manipulator lets you center the camera movements on a point on the model.

To use the point of interest manipulator

First, make sure the point of interest manipulator is turned on.

1. Choose Preferences > General Preferences r.

   The General Preferences window appears.

   

2. Click Input on the left-hand side to open the Input section.
3. Turn on the Use point of interest option.
4. Click Go to close the window and use the new settings.
5. Hold down the and keys to enter camera move mode. Keep the keys held down for the rest of this procedure.

   

   The Viewing Panel appears in the upper left corner of the Perspective window.

   The images at the center of the panel (small icons of the top and bottom of a car) represent the model.

6. Position the mouse pointer on the wireframe of one of the primitive objects and double-click with the .

   

   When you release the mouse button, the point of interest manipulator appears on the model where you clicked.

   Drag with the to tumble. The view tumbles around the point of interest.

7. Click and release on another point on one of the primitive objects.

   The point of interest manipulator jumps to the new point.

8. Drag the circle at the center of the point of interest manipulator.

   The manipulator moves across the surface of the object.

9. Notice the light blue or yellow arrow extending from the center of the manipulator. This arrow indicates the normal at this point on the surface.

   The arrow is light blue when it is pointing toward you and yellow when pointing away.

10. Click the light blue or yellow arrow.

    The view changes to look at the point down the normal.

    

11. Now look for the red and green arrows extending from the center of the manipulator (tumble the view to show the arrows more clearly, if necessary).

    These arrows represent the tangents along the U and V directions of the object.

12. Click the red arrow.

    The view changes to look down the tangent in the U direction.

    

Use the following overview illustration as a reminder of the different controls on the point of interest manipulator.

Using the Viewing Panel

You have probably already seen the Viewing Panel appear when you enter camera move mode in the Perspective window. This window lets you quickly switch the Perspective window to a default or user-defined view of the model.

As you work on the model, you will probably find yourself changing the camera view back and forth between two or more areas of interest. The Viewing Panel lets you “bookmark” views of the model and return to those views by clicking the name of the bookmark.

To use the Viewing Panel to move between different views

1. Click the maximize box in the upper right corner of the Perspective view window.

   

   The Perspective view window enlarges to full screen.

2. Open the General Preferences window and click Go.
3. Hold down the and keys to enter camera move mode. Keep the keys held down for the rest of this procedure.

   

   The Viewing Panel appears in the upper left corner of the Perspective window.

   The images at the center of the panel (small icons of the top and bottom of a car) represent the model.

4. Click an arrow to view the model from one of eight different directions.

   The horizontal and vertical arrows represent front, side, and back views. The diagonal arrows represent three-quarter views.

   

5. Click the left car icon to see a top view, or the right car icon to see a bottom view.

   

6. Click the white arrow near the bottom of the Viewing Panel to return to the view previous to your last camera move.

   

7. Click the Viewing Panel section heading at the top of the panel to collapse the entire panel into a small heading.

   

   Use this technique to get the Viewing Panel out of the way when you want as much viewing area as possible.

Using the Point of Interest manipulator

1. Hold down the and keys, then press the to open the Viewing Panel. Keep the keys held down for the rest of this procedure.
   NoteIf the Viewing Panel does not appear, ensure that you are not clicking the left mouse button before holding down and .

   

2. Double-click an object. This shows the manipulator and adds Pnt of Interest to the Viewing Panel.
3. Click the arrow next to Pnt of Interest to see the options.

   

4. Turn off the manipulator by clicking the Visible check box to hide the point of interest manipulator.

   Turn the Visible check box on to show the manipulator again.

5. Turn on the Locked check box to keep the point of interest manipulator locked at its current position.

   The manipulator will not move when you click at another point or drag its center handle. Use this option if you find you are moving the manipulator unintentionally.

   Turn the Locked check box off to free the manipulator.

6. Turn off the Perspective check box.

   

   The perspective view changes to an isographic projection.

   

   Many people find an isographic view easier for technical modeling, since parallel lines in the model remain parallel in the view window.

   For the remainder of the tutorials, the screen shots will show isographic views. However, feel free to turn the Perspective checkbox back on if you prefer a perspective view.

To set and show bookmarks

1. Move the mouse pointer over the Perspective view and hold down the and keys, keeping them held down, to enter camera move mode.

   

2. With and still held down, find the Bookmarks section at the bottom of the Viewing Panel.

   If it is not visible, click the tag in the bottom right corner of the Viewing Panel. It will turn white and the bookmarks section will appear.

3. Click the new button in the bookmarks section.

   

   A new bookmark appears at the bottom of the section.

4. Move the camera to a new view on the model.
5. Click the new button again.

   A second bookmark appears in the bookmark list.

6. Click the label for the first bookmark, then the second.

   The view switches back and forth between the two bookmarked views.

   NoteTo be able to distinguish between bookmarks later, you should rename them now.
7. Click the edit button in the BookMarks section.

   The BookMarks Lister window appears.

   

8. Release the and keys.
9. Hold down the key and double-click the first bookmark icon in the Bookmark Lister.

   A dialog box appears.

   

10. Type a new name for the bookmark, then click OK.

    For production work, you should use meaningful names, such as “back panel” or “door handle”.

    NoteBy default, bookmarks are named BM, BM#2, BM#3, and so on. Move the cursor over a bookmark icon to see its current name.
11. double-click and rename the other bookmark.
12. Note the buttons in the BookMark Lister window:
    • The delete button removes the current bookmark (green outline) from the list.
    • The new button adds a bookmark of the current view. This is the same as clicking new in the Viewing Panel.
    • The prev and next buttons change the view to the bookmark that precedes or follows the highlighted bookmark (green outline).
    • The cycle button displays the bookmarked views in a slideshow fashion.
    • The publish button saves the current or all bookmark(s) as image files on your disk.
    • Clicking on a bookmark icon changes the view to that bookmark. This is the same as clicking a bookmark in the Viewing Panel.
13. Close the BookMark Lister.
14. Hold the and keys in the Perspective window to show the Viewing Panel.

    Notice your new names in the BookMarks section.

Use the following overview illustration as a reminder of the different controls on the Viewing Panel.