Camera

Summary

In the Scene view, there many ways to change the current view. Here is a summary:

• F: Frame an object

• Q then Left mouse: Pan

• Q then Right mouse: Look around

• Hold ALT + Left mouse: Orbit

• Hold ALT + Right mouse: Zoom in & out

• Mouse wheel: Zoom in & out

• Hold right Mouse + QWE/ASD: fly

Setup

• Open the Intro scene

• Delete any objects

• Create a Plane and color it

• Create three cubes and color them

Frame an object

• Select the Translate/Rotate or Scale tool

• Click on a cube in the scene view to select it

• Press the F key to frame this object

Zoom in and out

• You can use the mouse wheel

• Hold ALT key + hold the right mouse button

  • Wait for the cursor to turn into a magnifying glass

  • Move left and right

Pan

The camera will move up/down left/right

• Press Q to activate the View tool, the cursor becomes a hand

• Hold the left mouse button

• Move in any direction

Look around

The camera rotates on itself, as if you were turning your head.

• Press Q to activate the View tool

• Hold the right mouse button, the cursor becomes an eye

• Move in any direction

Orbit

The camera rotates around like a satellite around the Earth.

• Hold the ALT key + hold the left mouse button and move

Fly

This feature only makes sense if you are using an ENG keyboard mapping.

• Hold the right mouse button

• Press A/D to move left and right

• Press Q/E to move up and down

• Press W/S to move forward and backward

Perspective and orthographic views

• On the top-right corner, right-click the gizmo

• Disable Perspective to enter Isometric view (No distortion based on distance)

• Click on the cone-shaped gizmos to activate different views:

  • Top / side / front / back views:

• Right-click the gizmo and reactivate perspective

Camera preview

In Unity, the Camera GameObject is similar to a physical camera on a movie set. Adjusting the camera’s position, rotation, and field of view allows you to frame your scene just as a cinematographer would.

• In the Hierarchy, select the camera

• In the Inspector, note that the camera is an object like the others objects. It has:

  • A Transform node.

  • Some internal property.

• In the toolbar at the bottom of Scene view, select the camera icon:

  

  • This opens a panel that previews what the camera sees:

  

• In the Inspector, change the values of the field of view to 90°:

  

• Reset value to 60

• Select the Move tool

• Select the camera and change its position in the scene:

  

Align camera with scene view

• Select the cube in the middle and press F to frame it

• Zoom out to reduce its size

  

• Being very happy of this view, we would want the camera to capture the same

  • In the Hierarchy, right click on the camera and select Allign with view

  

• Press the Play button to see the result

  

• Exit Play mode by pressing Stop button

Snap object

When you create objects in your scene, you’ll notice it’s not always easy to align them perfectly with the ground. To solve this problem, you have different options:

• Make calculations and enter the exact x, y, z position

• Being lucky

• Slowly move the object while fully zoomed in, to position it as accurately as possible

• Raise all objects above the ground and rely on gravity to make them fall and rest properly on the ground

• Snap them

Snap to vertex

• Select the cube in the center and move it upward

• Adapt your view to see the gap between the cube and the ground

  

We now describe how to snap the cube:

• Part 1: select a vertex of the cube

  • Check that the move tool is active

  • Hold on the V key

  • Move your cursor to one of the bottom vertices of the cube

  • Click without releasing on the bottom vertex you selected

    • Gizmos disappear

    • A thin yellow square appears

    

• Part 2: snap to vertex

  • Move your cursor to a vertex of another cube

  • See the results

    

In case nothing goes as you wanted, perform an UNDO with CTRL+Z.