Fly/Walk Navigation

There are cases where it’s preferable to navigate with first person controls, especially for large environments such as architectural models. In these cases orbiting around the view center is limiting. While zoom, pan and dolly can be used, it’s inconvenient.

With walk/fly navigation you can navigate around the scene where view rotation is performed from the cameras location.

View Navigation.

In the Preferences editor select the navigation method you want to use as default when invoking the View Navigation operator. Alternatively you can call the individual methods from the View ‣ Navigation menu.

Common use cases for walk/fly include:

Navigation

This can be a quick way to navigate a large scene.

Camera Placement

When activated from a camera view, this will move the camera too.

Recording Animation

Running from a camera with auto-keyframe and playing animation will record the motion as you make it allowing you to record the walk-through.

Walk Navigation

Reference

Mode

All modes

Shortcut

Shift-AccentGrave

Menu

View ‣ Navigation ‣ Walk Navigation

On activation the mouse pointer will move at the center of the view, and a cross marker will appear…

This navigation method behaves similar to the first person navigation system available in most 3D world games. It works with a combination of keyboard arrow keys and mouse movement.

Usage

Move the mouse in the direction you want to look and use the following hotkeys to walk around the scene.

When you are happy with the new view, press LMB to confirm. In case you want to go back from where you started, press Esc or RMB, as usual.

If the defaults values (speed, mouse sensitivity, etc…) need adjustments for your project, in the Preferences.

W/Up	Move forward.
S/Down	Move backward.
A/Left	Strafe left.
D/Right	Strafe right.
E	Move up – only available if Gravity off.
Q	Move down – only available if Gravity off.
Spacebar	Teleport location at the cross-hair (offset by the Camera Height value set in the Preferences).
WheelUp/NumpadPlus	Increase the movement speed for this open session.
WheelDown/NumpadMinus	Decrease the movement speed for this open session.
Shift	Speed up the movement temporarily.
Alt	Slow down the movement temporarily.
V	Jump – only available if Gravity is on.
Tab	Toggle Gravity.

Fly Navigation

Reference

Mode

All modes

Shortcut

Shift-AccentGrave

Menu

View ‣ Navigation ‣ Fly Navigation

On activation the cursor is centered inside a rectangle that defines a safe region. When the cursor is outside this region the view will rotate/pan.

Usage

Move the mouse outside the safe region in the direction you want to look.

Click LMB or press Spacebar to keep the current view and exit fly navigation. In case you want to go back from where you started, press Esc or RMB.

W/Up	Accelerate forward.
S/Down	Accelerate backwards.
A/Left	Accelerate left.
D/Right	Accelerate right.
E	Move up – only available if Gravity off.
Q	Move down – only available if Gravity off.
MMB	Drag to pan the view. In this case the view can move laterally on its local axis at the moment you drag the mouse.
WheelUp/NumpadPlus	Increase the acceleration in the direction of motion, if there is no motion, start accelerating forward.
WheelDown/NumpadMinus	Decrease the acceleration in the direction of motion, if there is no motion, start accelerating backward.
Alt	Precision (slow the momentum).
Ctrl	Disable rotation – while held, the view rotation doesn’t influence the flight direction. This allows you to fly past an object, keeping it centered in the view, even as you fly away from it.