Using the magnifying glass
There is a tool on the icon bar that can make zooming much easier. Instead of
using the 'Sizing/moving camera' methods, and trying to get a precision zoom
on an object, you can select the Magnifying glass tool to do it automatically
for you.
Using the Maginfying glass. ()
Example one:
Lets say you have a space ship, with lots of small windows on it. You are in
Perspective mode, and want to zoom in and position yourself close in front of
one of the windows along the hull. One way to do it is to rotate into position
and then move the camera in close to the window, but that can be quite tricky.
An easier way to do it, is to make sure you are rotated so that the window
is at the angle you want, and then select the magnifying glass tool to zoom
you in, on perfect size and location. To do this:
1: Select the entire window object, either through
the object manager or by clicking on its axes.
2: Rotate the view so that you have a good angle on the window (eg
make sure you are facing it the right way), and then right click
on the maginfying glass. In the popup menu, select 'Active object'.
3: This will zoom you in so that the window will fill the entire screen.
You can make any final adjustments to the view now.
Example two
Ok, you're in the side view, and you have a huge object. You are working
on one of the smaller details on it, but want to zoom right out quickly to see
the entire scene.
In this case, you can simply right click on the magnifying glass, and select
'Whole Scene' from the popup menu. This will zoom you right out so that
you can see all of the objects in the current scene, in your view window.
Example three
Finally, if you're working on a large object with a lot of detail, and you
are zoomed right out to view the entire thing, you might want to quickly zoom
in on a specific part of the object.
This is the most simple one, you just have to right click on the magnifying glass
and select 'Magnifying Glass' from the popup menu. Next, drag a box round the
whole of the object/detail that you want to see, and it will bring it up into
full view.
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