Viewport - the main working space of the animator. You can use it to view scene objects and control them.
To control Viewport’s camera you need to hold Alt.
- Open any of the Sample scenes, for example Standard model
- Alt + LMB - rotate the camera
- Alt + hold scroll button - move the camera
- Alt + RMB / scroll button - zoom the camera
You can see the Viewcube in the top right corner. It shows from which side you are viewing the scene.
- Click on the circles around the Viewcube to view the scene from different sides.
Red- X-axis (side view)
Green- Y-axis (top view)
Blue- Z-axis (front view)
Tip: You can quickly snap the camera to the axes by holding down the Ctrl + Alt keys and doing a mouse swipe!
In perspective mode, objects have perspective distortion.
For example, objects that are closer to the camera will be larger than those that are farther away. The lines of the cube converge to the horizon.
In isometric mode, there is no perspective distortion, and the image looks like a blueprint. The cube lines are parallel. Isometric mode is very useful at some stages of animation or when creating a rig.
- Click in the center of the cube view to toggle perspective/isometric mode.
- In isometric mode, click on one of the circles around the cube. You will see a grid behind the model in the viewport.
Sometimes it is necessary to fix the viewport camera in a certain position
- Click on the lock icon next to the view cube to disable camera rotation.
- Pressing again allows you to rotate the camera.
Characters for animation can consist of many different types of objects. If you display them all in the viewport, you may get too much of everything, and it will be difficult to find the objects you want. That is why there are different view modes! In each mode you can see and select only certain types of objects.
For example, view mode is convenient for viewing animation because it does not display controllers.
The following three modes display three different types of controllers for pose editing:
- auto posing
- point controllers
- and box controllers.
- Switch the view modes to see different types of objects
- Press S to quickly switch to View mode
- Press S again to return to the previous mode
You can see an object from different sides simultaneously by using several viewports. You can also quickly switch between two different viewports.
- Press Space to see multiple viewports.
- Change viewports’ size by dragging their edges.
- Click in one of the viewports and press Space to make it the main one.
All objects in the scene are also displayed as a list in the Outliner.
You can see the names and types of the different objects, as well as their hierarchy in the scene.
