Fix that View Cube

[Anonymous]

OK, so the View Cube provides free rotation (reduntantly to Shift-MiddleMouseButton) and ortho and iso views. But sometimes it is necessary to define other views and to have them exact. I might need to create renderings of two parts viewed from exactly the same angle. Or a drawing view at a particular angle might show the feaures better and I want the verticals to stay vertical in the drawing. I have found no way to do this in F360.

So how about adding to the View Cube drop-down menu:

The three angle could be called Compass, Pitch, and Roll or something like that to sound more tech. Basically they are just exact manual inputs equivalent to drag rotations. They could have sliders but these are not really needed if the boxes always show the current angles. Just drag the part or assembly to roughly the right angle and then adjust the values in the boxes to set the exact angle needed. Set the "twist" angle to zero to keep verticals aligned vertically.

The focal length adjustment is really an additional option and maybe adds complexity to the display code. One other useful option would be a Named View box that is initially blank. Fill it in to get a named view without an extra step.

[HughesTooling]

There is an option in the browser to save views that might help with some of what you're after. You can use the named views as base views in 2d drawings and also to recall a view in the render workspace.

Mark

[Anonymous]

Thanks HughesTooling for comment.

The problem is not saving the view but getting the correct view in the first place. Say I want to create images of two different parts from the same compass and elevation angles and with no tilt (roll). I can only drag the mouse to get approximately what I want in each part. And no way to completely get rid of the tilt. By analogy, it is like being able to create geometry only by dragging and not having the ability to type in exact dimensions.

In Solidworks I can do this in a crude (but usually adequate) way by first picking an ortho view and then using the arrow keys to rotate horizontally and then vertically. Since this moves in fixed steps I can say that the view I want is, for example, "4 right and 2 up".

In good old Autocad I could use the vpoint command. And I just found this in Autocad online help:

This sets the compass and elevation angles; the roll/tilt angle is always zero I suppose. So Autodesk knows how to do this nicely!

[HughesTooling]

Not arguing against your idea, this us just a though as a workaround for now. You could sketch a line at an angle from the origin then use plane at angle to set up a plane to look straight at, then align the view with Look At, you'd still have to set the zoom by eye then save the view.

[Anonymous]

to HughesTools - Looks like that would work. I had tried something similar but your way is neater. A bother in either case and it does not provide an interactive way to adjust the view and then "trim" it to an exact value.

It is little things like this (and one big thing - the weakness of the drawing tools) that keep me going back to Soldiworks for my serious work.

[Anonymous]

If you haven't heard of 3DConnexion's Space Navigator and other 3D Mice you should look into it. You use it in your left hand along with your scroll mouse in the right hand and can easily setup preset views as well as navigate very quickly through your 3D models. They have built in support for Fusion 360 and other Autodesk products. I love it!

[Anonymous]

Thanks Riptide360 - That's an interesting suggestion. Does the Space Navigator let you orbit in precise increments or simply make a preset from the current view?