Hi Mark,

what i find very useful is to use "Fit to Selection" in the Aggregate:Camera palette, when working on polygons in a mesh. It zooms in centered and stays also centered when rotating around. Hope this is helpful for you too, in the 3D viewport.

Regards
Stefan

Using the fit to selection option is a cool option, I didn't know that one, I will in future. It fixes many of the headaches I've had when modelling in shade.

You can also set a shortcut for scrolling. You need to a map shortcut keys for camera->eye & target (scroll camera) and camera->eye (rotate).

This will enable you to toggle between them without touching the viewport icons. It's still annoying, but it is better than using the mouse when you're modelling.

Figure window->scroll mode doesn't seem to work. This would be a more ideal solution as I imagine it would only activate when you hold the key down, which is more natural.

I think shade will always find it tough to find an audience until it at least has the option to function like maya etc, which is a shame, as otherwise it is mostly excellent.

Ben Clifford wrote:

Using the fit to selection option is a cool option, I didn't know that one, I will in future. It fixes many of the headaches I've had when modelling in shade.

You can also set a shortcut for scrolling. You need to a map shortcut keys for camera->eye & target (scroll camera) and camera->eye (rotate).

This will enable you to toggle between them without touching the viewport icons. It's still annoying, but it is better than using the mouse when you're modelling.

Figure window->scroll mode doesn't seem to work. This would be a more ideal solution as I imagine it would only activate when you hold the key down, which is more natural.

I think shade will always find it tough to find an audience until it at least has the option to function like maya etc, which is a shame, as otherwise it is mostly excellent.

I have to agree I find the navigation very lacking.
I am far from an expert and have only used a couple of 3D Programmes, and find Shade is the only programme that doesn't seem to have the same navigation as Maya or the other software's even give the option to set it up.
I have looked in the Shortcut's menu to try and map a key for panning and I cannot even find the word "Pan" in the menus, I am not saying it's not there but I haven't found it.

When you are setting a shortcut in shade, camera->eye & target is the equivalent to pan. It's not a bad way of describing the way the camera moves, but it isn't helpful for general navigation imo. Pan, rotate and zoom are pretty much a standard from what I've seen.