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

1. Hold down the and (Windows) or and (Mac) 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 (Windows) or and (Mac) 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 (Windows) or and (Mac) 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 (Windows) or and (Mac) 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 (Windows) or and (Mac) 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 Alias. Throughout these lessons, you 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 centers 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. Alias provides two additional tools to make it easier to move the camera around a model quickly: the “point of interest” and Viewing Panel.