Builds 2248 and 2249 introduce a new view manipulation option for the 3D View: Rotating about the world Z axis.
Normally holding the left mouse button down and dragging the mouse will cause the scene to rotate in the same direction that the mouse is being dragged in, and the three “spin” buttons on the toolbar all operate on the screen’s co-ordinate system:
| Button | Name | Operation |
|---|---|---|
 | Spin-X | Spins scene around horizontal screen axis |
 | Spin-Y | Spins scene around vertical screen axis |
 | Spin-Z | Spins scene around the vector normal to the screen |
If you click the “Only allow rotation around world Z-axis” button (
) then the first two buttons
are disabled and the third will spin the scene about the world’s Z-axis (even though the toolbar button still shows the Z axis pointing
out of the screen!).
Holding the left mouse button down and dragging the mouse will now also spin the world about its Z axis.
This is particularly useful when mapping structures from above/below because it allows you to keep looking down/up at the same view angle while inspecting the surface from different directions.
Recentring the view and translating the view work as before; note, however, that translation up and down on the screen is still translation up and down in the plane parallel to the screen passing through the current rotation centre and not in the horizontal direction fore and aft. In other words, while rotation is about the world Z axis, translation is still relative to the plane of the screen and not the world’s XY plane. This is so that you can still easily adjust height (Z) in the scene.