Walkthrough navigation lets you move through a viewport by pressing a set of shortcut keys, including the arrow keys, much as you can navigate a 3D world in many video games.
When you enter the walkthrough navigation mode, the cursor changes to a hollow circle that shows a directional arrow while you are pressing one of the directional keys (forward, back, left, or right).
This feature is available for perspective and camera viewports. It is not available for orthographic views or for spotlight viewports.
When you use walkthrough navigation in a Camera viewport, you can animate the camera walkthrough using either Auto Key or Set Key. In either case, to get an animated camera you have to change the frame number manually (the easiest way is to use the Time Slider), and in the case of Set Key, you have to change the frame number and click Set Keys.
To begin using walkthrough navigation, do one of the following:
Click the Walk Through button to turn it on.
This button is found on the Pan/Truck And Walkthrough flyout.
To stop using walkthrough navigation, do one of the following:
The Walk Through button is the only graphical element of the interface to walkthrough navigation. The other features are provided by mouse actions or by keyboard shortcuts. The following table shows the keyboard actions:
| Command | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Accelerate Toggle | Q |
| Back | S, Down Arrow |
| Decelerate Toggle | Z |
| Decrease Rotation Sensitivity | |
| Decrease Step Size | [ |
| Down | C, Shift+Down Arrow |
| Forward | W, Up Arrow |
| Increase Rotation Sensitivity | |
| Increase Step Size | ] |
| Invert Vertical Rotation Toggle | |
| Left | A, Left Arrow |
| Level | Shift+Spacebar |
| Lock Horizontal Rotation | |
| Lock Vertical Rotation | Spacebar |
| Reset Step Size | Alt+[ |
| Right | D, Right Arrow |
| Up | E, Shift+Up Arrow |
If nothing appears in the Shortcut column, no default key is assigned to this command. You can set custom keystrokes using the Keyboard panel of the Customize User Interface dialog.
Forward, Backward, and Sideways Movement
For movement, you can use either the arrow keys, or letters at the left of the keyboard pad.
Undo and Edit Redo (Ctrl+Z and Ctrl+Y).
Holding down any of these keys causes the motion to be continuous.
Pressing Accelerate (Q) causes motion to be quicker. Pressing Decelerate (Z) causes movement to be slower. These controls are toggles: pressing the key a second time restores the default motion rate (and pressing the alternate key turns off the first). They are especially useful when you are navigating by holding down keys.
The acceleration and deceleration toggles are independent of the step size.
Pressing Increase Step Size (]) increases the motion increments when you move the camera or viewpoint. Pressing Decrease Step Size ([) reduces them. You can press either of these shortcuts repeatedly, to increase the effect. Changing the step size is apparent when you navigate either by single clicks, or by holding down keys. Step size changes are useful for adjusting movement to the scale of the scene. They are saved with the MAX file.
Pressing Increase Rotation Sensitivity (no default key) increases the motion increments when you use Tilt View. Pressing Decrease Rotation Sensitivity (no default key) decreases them. You can press either of these shortcuts repeatedly, to increase the effect. They are useful for adjusting movement to the scale of the scene. They are saved with the MAX file.
Pressing Invert Vertical Rotation (no default key) inverts the tilt direction when you drag the mouse. When this toggle is off, dragging up causes scene objects to descend in the view, and dragging down causes them to rise (this is like tilting a physical camera). When this toggle is on, objects in the view move in the same direction you are dragging the mouse.
