How to rotate the view around center of the (3D Viewport) screen?

Question

I would like to know if and how it would be possible to rotate around the center of the screen.

My current settings are:

• Orbit around selection.
• Zoom to mouse position.

This works well until your using arrays, then these 2 options becomes obsolete.

I tried also the N key and then lock to cursor or object; but if this is enabled the 2 options Orbit around selection and Zoom to mouse position will disabled.

It is kinda hard to work efficiently if your not able to zoom to other objects and rotate around them if the screen is locked...

Regards

Answer 1

The screen is 2D. So if you rotate around the center of the screen, you're rotating around the axis of your view. Aka, "roll." Just making sure that's clear in case the question wasn't quite what you meant to ask.

If you want to roll your view-- rotate it about the center of the screen-- you can use ctrl-shift-mwheelUp or Down. In case our initial interface choices differed, these key bindings are referred to in preferences as 3D View -> View Roll.

That's locked to intervals, which can be specified in preferences. If you need more granular control of your roll, without changing those intervals, you can do it with a camera:

1. Create a camera in your scene if one does not already exist.
2. Snap the camera to your current view (ctrl alt numpad0 for me.)
3. Lock the camera to your view in sidebar/view/view lock/lock.
4. Select your camera and rotate it in its local Z axis.

There are quite a few options to control view, including locking to 3D cursor (sidebar) or framing all objects (home key for me) so even if roll's not necessarily what you're after, there should be some options that work for you.

Answer 2

The 'default' navigation is just that; rotate view "around the centre of the screen" - although the selected object happens to be in that position already.

This can be demonstrated by simply panning the view (hold Shift then use the middle mouse button to drag) and then rotating - you'll then be rotating around a different point.

There are shortcuts to rotate around a different object's origin - eg, select a different object (click it so it's selected) and then press . on the numeric keypad and you should be transported to the new object and be able to rotate around that.

If you want to freely move around using the 'WASD' keys (similar to moving in Minecraft or many other games) is to go into 'Walk' or 'Fly' navigation (select View/Navigation in the menu). This allows you to move around the scene at will.

The 'Lock to object' is different as it will allow you to pan to a different location yet still rotate around that single object (or the 3d cursor) - so it lets you rotate around a point that isn't in the "centre" of the 3D scene view.