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When Blender starts, the 3D Viewport has the default cube in the center of the view. The vantage point is slightly above and to the side of the cube. After you move, pan, or zoom the viewport, the view is different. I'd like to get that original vantage point in the viewport back.

** Note ** this has nothing to do with moving or changing the Camera in any way.

Here is what Blender looks like when you open it. This is what I would like to get back to after manipulating the viewport.Blender default viewport]1

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  • $\begingroup$ @Chris change the what now? Where are you getting a vector input for the viewport? $\endgroup$
    – TheLabCat
    Mar 30, 2021 at 2:19
  • $\begingroup$ You can hold Shift and press C to get the original distance. You'll have to rotate manually to get the angle right, though. Do you need it to be absolutely precise, or will "close enough" do? $\endgroup$ Mar 30, 2021 at 2:25
  • $\begingroup$ Shift + c, in addition to the behavior already mentioned by Christopher Bennett, also centers the 3D Cursor on the Worldspace origin, which may or may not be desired behavior for the OP, depending on circumstances. I would like to ask if there is a way to get the cursor centering behavior in a hotkey without the shift in camera position coming along with it. I find the prospect of those two functions being triggered by the same input very odd, and never useful. $\endgroup$
    – R-800
    Mar 30, 2021 at 15:36
  • $\begingroup$ Thanks for responding, I'm learning a lot about Blender and how to use shortcuts, which is always appreciated! $\endgroup$ Mar 31, 2021 at 4:29

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When you first open your file, and you see the viewing angle you would like to preserve, begin by creating a new camera with Shift + a to bring up the Add menu, and then choose Camera from the list. The new camera will appear at the location of the 3D Cursor, which is typically located at the World Space origin when the startup file first loads.

What you are going to do is move this new camera so that it occupies your current viewing angle. You will be able to return to it later.

Select the new camera in the 3D Viewport. In the Outliner, uncollapse the listing for this camera to expose its underlying object data node. Select that node and the camera now becomes active (this becomes apparent by the fact that the little yellow triangle at the top-front facing of the camera in the 3D Viewport becomes filled in with solid color, instead of remaining an empty, wireframe-ish arrow indicator). The reason for making the camera active is so that the following step will work.

Now press Ctrl + Alt + Numpad 0, which will force the currently active camera to take on your viewport's current viewing angle.

Now you can orbit your view as you wish without worrying about losing the old viewing angle. When you're ready to return to it, press Numpad 0 by itself, and you will return to the original view. However, you're really returning to the view of the camera you placed at the original viewing position. For this reason, you might want to go into the Item tab of the Properties Shelf and lock all the transform channels for your camera (padlock icons), so that it won't ever move from that position later, not even accidentally.

Finally, If you save your startup file afterwards (File > Defaults > Save Startup File), then this new camera setup will always be available at the beginning of every project.

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  • $\begingroup$ Thanks R-800! That's very helpful, and gives me lots of ideas for multiple cameras. I'm coming from Unity3D, and I have a similar system I use with that IDE. $\endgroup$ Mar 31, 2021 at 4:25
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You can click the + at the top of the window and create a new Layout Workspace.

enter image description here

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  • $\begingroup$ Thanks Allen, I'll use this too! (You guys came up with great suggestions!) $\endgroup$ Mar 31, 2021 at 4:30
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As a beginner myself I too feel the need to return to the starting position in the ViewPort after turning everything upside down and backwards.

After learning the numpad shortcuts (1=Front, 3=Right Side, 7=Top) and (2=Down, 4=Left, 6=Right, 8=Up, 9=Opposite) my goto shortcut combination is:

38844 (3=Go to the right side of the cube, Move up 2x, Move Left 2x).

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