Use the view panel
 
 
 

The view panel appears when you enter camera move mode by holding + (also + on the Mac) in the Perspective window. This window lets you quickly switch the Perspective window to common default or user-defined views of the model.

Use the View Panel

You can use the new ViewCube tool and NavBar, or the View Panel to control your view, or you can choose to use neither.

To select View Panel as the view control

  1. Choose Preferences > General Preferences .
  2. Click Viewing and set the View control option to VIEW PANEL.

To display the View Panel

Tools

Of special interest are the following tools:

Look at

Clicking the Look at icon centers the view and zooms in on the selected objects (or all objects if nothing is picked). See also Center the view on specific objects.

Plane view

Checking Plane view lets you tumble about the currently active construction plane (that is, the construction plane is used as the ground plane).

Bookmarks

As you work on the model, you typically change the camera view back and forth between two or more areas of interest. The view panel lets you “bookmark” views of the model and return to those views by clicking the name of the bookmark.

Additionally, shading attributes (from the Diagnostic Shading panel or WindowDisplay > Hardware Shade ), and annotations (created using tools in the Paint tab) are stored in bookmarks.

When switching from one bookmark (or view) to the next, the camera is animated to take you smoothly from one view to another without getting disoriented.

The time (in seconds) taken to transition from one view to the next is controlled by the View transition time option in Preferences > General Preferences (Viewing section).

The default is 0.5 seconds. When this value is set to 0.0, the smooth animation is turned off.

See Bookmark an annotated model or more details on annotating bookmarks.

Add bookmark for the current view

  1. Tumble, track, and dolly the camera to the view you want to save.
  2. Press + (also + on the Mac).
  3. Click New in the Bookmarks section of the viewing panel to add a bookmark for the current view.
    NoteAlternatively, you can create a bookmark by clicking the New button in the Bookmark Lister.

    In the Bookmark Lister, the new bookmark is added to the current shelf. The Viewing Panel does not have shelf separation, so all new bookmarks are added sequentially to a single list.

    NoteTo add a new shelf to the Bookmark Lister, click the in an empty part of the Bookmark Lister, and choose New shelf from the drop down menu.

Edit a bookmarked view

  1. Press + (also + on the Mac).
  2. Click Edit in the Bookmarks section of the view panel.

    This opens the Bookmark Lister.

    NoteThe Bookmark Lister can also be opened by choosing Windows > Bookmark Lister .

  3. Release + (also + on the Mac) and do any of the following in the Bookmark Lister:
    • To change the name of a bookmark, hold down (Windows) or (Mac) and double-click the bookmark icon. Type a new name in the dialog box, then click OK.
    • To remove a bookmark from the list, click the bookmark icon, then click the Delete button (trash can) or drag it to the trash can icon by holding the ..

View your bookmarks

Save one or more bookmarks as image files

  1. To save only some bookmarks on the current shelf, select them in the Bookmark Lister. (See To select one or more bookmarks.)

    A border appears around the selected bookmark(s) (green for the current one, white for the others).

  2. Double-click the Publish Bookmark button to open the option box.
  3. In the option box, set Bookmark Publish to Selected, Current Shelf or All, and select an Image File Type (default is jpeg).
  4. Click Go.

    A file browser window is displayed.

  5. Choose a folder and type in an object name for your image or group of images.

  6. Press (Windows) or (Mac).

    The saved images are called <object name>_<bookmark name>.<file type>.

    NoteIf bookmark names are not unique, “_<#>” is added to the image names to make them unique, for example: issue_BM_1.jpg, issue_BM_2.jpg, and so on.

What if...?

See Also