Community
cancel
Showing results for 
Show  only  | Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Keep Model Upright when Rotating

Keep Model Upright when Rotating

Some models are best viewed upright, and currently, inventor has the option to view the model upright only by clicking on the view orientations on the viewcube. It would be great if there was another option that allows freely rotating while keeping the view upright, such as in Alias or Revit.

11 Comments

Hi, this can be done within Inventor.  Orient your model any way you like, upright, sideways etc...  Then start the "free orbit" command.  You will get the visual compass around your model.  Then there are 2 ways you can rotate your model about an axis:

 

1. Left click while your cursor is on top of one of the quadrant lines of the compass,  then you can manually rotate the model with respect to that axis.

 

2. If you press and hold the shift key, then left click on one of the quadrant lines and drag the model at the speed you want it to rotate, then let go of the left mouse click, it will continue to rotate about that axis at the speed at which you moved it.

 

Bonus:  You can start the rotation from any position within or out of the compass graphic as well.

 

 

I am on Inv2014 Pro, I hope this works with your version.

 

 

Thank you,
Stephen R.

ilyas_drawbridge
Advocate

Thank you stephen for the comment. Unfortunately that is not exactly what I had in mind. The orbit command that pops out the crosshairs indeed rotates the model about the vertical, horizontal or in plane axis, however, those are not the same as keeping model upright when rotating.

Here is what I have in mind: Imagine a vertical axis on the view cube, as the user freely orbits, that axis will not be able to tilt sideways, therefore, maintaining an upright position. However, that axis can still tilt out of plane such that we are able to look at the top face or bottom face while still in the free orbit command. If you find my description confusing, try using alias or revit. If I remember correctly, these two software defaults to keeping the model upright while freely rotating.

I see that view cube option in Autodesk Alias Design 2014 sp1, "Keep Scene upright", but it seems not to make a difference if on or off.

 

 

Sorry I could not be more of a help.

ilyas_drawbridge
Advocate

There actually is a difference, pay particular attention to the z-axis. If you have Keep Scene Upright checked, the z-axis will not tilt sideways, though it will still allow you to tilt itself out of plane. The advantage of this is that you will not have an object that is tilted sideways as you freely rotate. That is the idea of keeping the model upright.

yebyps
Enthusiast

yeah, this was driving me crazy too, as I used Solidworks before in which one clicked on an edge to rotate a part about that axis.   However I stumbled across how you can do this in Inventor easily.  In the navigation bar on the right, there is that little isometric of two perpendicular circles with arrows on them. Just below that there is a small dropdown arrow. Click on it and there is the option to tick 'constrained Orbit'. That changes the icon to an isometric of a vertical arrow surrounded by an arrowed broken circle.

 

With that clicked, the side lines on the headsup orbit circle will rotate the model around a vertical axis.  This is actually better than the Solidworks workaround because it rotates about the centre of the model rather than about a vertical edge on the model which may be on its outer regions.  The navigator stays in the 'constrained' option so you can keep this at the desired method of working. Of course holding down F4 rather than mousing over to the right is also valid for this function. 

DRoam
Mentor

@yebyps's solution is correct. If you change the orbit mode to "Constrained Orbit", your model will be kept upright as you orbit by using F4 or clicking the Orbit command.

 

You can enable Constrained Orbit as yebyps explained using the Navigation Bar below the View Cube, or in Tools --> Application Options --> Display tab --> 3D Navigation section --> Default Orbit Type = "Constrained".

 

Rotating using the View Cube has its own separate control for keeping the model upright, which you can get to by right-clicking on the View Cube and going to Options --> When Clicking View Cube section --> Keep Model Upright.

 

inv.ideareview
Autodesk
Status changed to: Archived

Thanks for sharing your Idea. We use this forum to guide product development and help users in the best way we can based on voting. We occasionally merge Ideas or archive old ones to keep the forum working properly- it ensures there is room for people to review new Ideas and that the most relevant and meaningful ones can gain votes.

 

We’re archiving this Idea because it's been on the board for well over a year and hasn't received many votes from the community. If you want to raise it again and try to gain more support, you're welcome to do so. We’ve found that pictures and mock-ups can help get concepts across and win more votes from other users. If you have questions or see a connection between this Idea and others, let us know.

 

- Inventor product team (Inv.idea review)

ilyas_drawbridge
Advocate

Actually, yebyps's solution, as well as DRoam explanation are on point and was exactly what I was looking for, i.e: Constrained Orbit. Perhaps this thread should have a status of SOLVED, if that makes any sense for threads in the Idea Station.

inv.ideareview
Autodesk
Status changed to: Implemented
 
DRoam
Mentor

Related idea for those who use a 3D mouse: Constrained Orbit mode for 3D mouse / SpaceMouse (keep model upright) 

MFoster2021
Explorer

As this does constrain the orbit to "a" vertical axis, it doesn't maintain the Y-axis as the vertical axis. In my experience, If I rotate from the front view to the top, while I'm rotating, the Y-axis is used as the constraining axis. But when I'm rotating from the top view, Inventor will designate the Z-axis as the new constraining axis and will no longer keep my model in the upright position I try to model it as. Is there a way to designate the Y-axis as the only constraining orbital axis?

Can't find what you're looking for? Ask the community or share your knowledge.

Submit Idea  

Autodesk Design & Make Report