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

– optional –

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.