Smooth orbiting and pan when zoomed in

Just wondering if there is a way to be able to rotate around and pan around smoothly when you are “zoomed in” on a file. The further out I go the smoother it is.

What kind of controls are you using to pan and zoom?

The keyboard and control should depend on constant factors or increments. So farther out, you will see less movement with the same amount of control, which may seem smoother. Mouse input should be more adaptive.

I think whether you use parallel or perspective projection could be a factor as well. I seldom use perspective, but the few times I have I noticed that if you are zoomed in really close, it’s not as smooth as the same zoom factor in parallel projection.

This may not be a solution for you, because the type of projection that is appropriate is going to be determined by the nature of your work. For us, it’s all mechanical, so we prefer parallel.

I prefer parallel myself and that is what I use most of the time. I am just using the right mouse click to orbit around the scene. It is not even as smooth as other programs that I use. Got a decent machine.

When zooming in really close, you should make sure to realign your center of rotation. Panning and zooming around may result in the focus being way behind the object, resulting in a choppy behavior. This will be less noticeable when zoomed out.

I did not think you could realign the center. It always seems to just use the center of the current view, more or less. I am just using the right mouse button.

By default it uses the screen center, but the z-depth is the key here. If you ZoomSelected a part that corresponds to your current zoomed-in viewport, you should get better behavior. Other than that, you could try using the Gumball’s rotate around Gumball feature. So whatever you are currently working on determines the rotation.

I use these keyboard aliases to help rotate and focus on objects while modeling…
ZS
ZSA
ZE
ZEA

I would always use Zoom Target, rather than Zoom Window or scrolling to keep the camera target under control in Perspctive views especially, but even in oblique parallel ones - basically, I use it all thew time.

-Pascal

This might be what you’re after too…

If I want to focus on a item in the model I just click and select it and then type ZS (Zoom Selected) and have at it. Quick and simple.

Nice! Those tricks work.

For what it’s worth, I suggest giving a 3D mouse a try. Nothing but smoothness, I’ll never go back.

intuitionusa, the best method I have found is using a 3Dconnexion Space Navigator. I can use both the Space Navigator and my mouse at the same time. Each has its benefits in zooming and panning. But the software that comes with the Space Navigator has some cool options. The one I like is Object Mode with Rotation Center on Auto. So as you pan and zoom just you give it a fraction of a second and the center of the screen snaps to become the center of rotation. Zooming in real close it still snaps to center and the rotation is very smooth. Now if you need even more control select and object and the center of rotation is the center of the object.