I have read this documentation page [sidefx.com], but I find the methods on that page insufficient. If I am in a big scene and see somewhere in the distance I want to go, I don't think panning there is effective. Also, using ‘Set Pivot And Center’, which is ‘space + z’, is awful because it tilts the camera.

In Blender you can just teleport the view to where you click, and in Unreal you usually use the WASD keys to fly around. Am I missing something in Houdini?

Edit: Changed the title from ‘Ways to move the view around the scene?’ to ‘Efficient ways to move the view around large scenes?’

You can jump to an object using SPACE G (go to object).
You can return to world origin by pressing SPACE H (home).

In your scene, select an object in the distance and press SPACE G.

Caveat: Don't do this while locked to a camera or your camera will move to that location.

There is also SPACE + SHIFT + X to move the camera just off of the surface of the geometry under the mouse. You'll probably have to dolly out a bit afterward with the RMB.

@Enivob, the problem with zooming to an object is if the it's a huge terrain mesh it will just zoom out every time.

@Ondrej, that would be perfect if it didn't zoom in.

So what is the problem with that? If you don't want to zoom out of your terrain just click the green flag that disables it from selection. Then click other object, presumably on the terrain, and zoom into them…

You can always drop down a NULL as a locator and zoom into that.

Enivob
So what is the problem with that? If you don't want to zoom out of your terrain just click the green flag that disables it from selection. Then click other object, presumably on the terrain, and zoom into them…

You can always drop down a NULL as a locator and zoom into that.

If an entire forest is part of the terrain mesh and I want to travel through it, then what? Using a null as a stepping-stone just isn't efficient.

Surely there's an easy way to fly or teleport around the scene?

You can change the display of your objects in parm :render tabs –> Display as
To speed the process , open a data tree panel to apply to multiples items

Your trees can be displayed as bbox, your huge terrain can have multiples rez display , so on…

dedeks3000
You can change the display of your objects in parm :render tabs –> Display as
To speed the process , open a data tree panel to apply to multiples items

Your trees can be displayed as bbox, your huge terrain can have multiples rez display , so on…

I don't want to change the display of the objects, I want to travel around them.

Try this: hover over some geometry, press Space + Z, to center the view on the geo under the mouse.

Ah I missed you tried that in the original post, sorry! I don't see a tilt problem when I use it though. Good luck!

goldleaf
Try this: hover over some geometry, press Space + Z, to center the view on the geo under the mouse.

I mentioned that in the original post. It tilts the camera.

There is also Space + Shift + Z, which will set the orbit point on geometry under the cursor, but without moving the view.

I haven't used one but I feel like a Spacemouse would be a pretty cool way to get around larger scenes. Just a thought.

Sound like some great navigation improvements and would be most welcome. Please submit an feature enhancement/Rfe in the Support menu!

Also auto set-pivot when you tumble would be great as-well.

Seems like overkill to get a 3D mouse, but for all Houdini can do it seems to really lack good view control.

So is it worth getting the SpaceMouse Pro, or is the SpaceNavigator sufficient?

> So is it worth getting the SpaceMouse Pro, or is the SpaceNavigator sufficient?

Navigation is pretty much the same on all models, except for additional quick-keys like “turn right” or “lock horizon” (aka “rotation”) and, of course, programmable keys.

However, I fear that your specific problem (which I *think* is a more a problem of your personal needs, not a global issue, as I find navigating large scenes quite doable, as long as viewport performance is there, for which box-display is a good help) won't get solved with a 3d-mouse. Because with the mouse you don't “zoom”, but move the virtual camera through the scene, which, due to some automatic calibration, sooner or later will lead to lack of control. The way it works isn't really laid out for large value-changes (aka “long distance camera moves”) but for fine control within a specific area.

My guess is that you may be better of by designing some macros to create your own “WASD” navigation. I think Varomix has a video on how he did that.

Marc

malbrecht
Because with the mouse you don't “zoom”, but move the virtual camera through the scene, which, due to some automatic calibration, sooner or later will lead to lack of control.

Not sure I follow, why would control be lost? Camera mode [youtu.be] seems like it would work fine.

malbrecht
My guess is that you may be better of by designing some macros to create your own “WASD” navigation. I think Varomix has a video on how he did that.

Could you link the video?

> why would control be lost? Camera mode seems like it would work fine.

Sorry, I thought you were talking about Houdini, not Maya (the video you linked talks about Maya's 3dmouse modes which aren't present the same in Houdini). Houidini currently only offers one “motion mode”, which allows you to move the “virtual target” with 3 of the 6 axis and move towards or away from that on the other 3 axis. That motion has limits, meaning you don't have a “fully endless camera dolly mode” in Houdini.

> Could you link the video?

I apologize, I don't have the link. I just saw it once (was some kind of proof of concept, I think), and didn't save the link since I don't have any use for it. But I am sure you would get help here on the forums if you wanted to create your own navigation macros.

Marc

malbrecht
Sorry, I thought you were talking about Houdini, not Maya (the video you linked talks about Maya's 3dmouse modes which aren't present the same in Houdini). Houidini currently only offers one “motion mode”, which allows you to move the “virtual target” with 3 of the 6 axis and move towards or away from that on the other 3 axis. That motion has limits, meaning you don't have a “fully endless camera dolly mode” in Houdini.

That sounds useless then. (Edit: for travelling around large scenes, which is what this thread is about.)

It seems utterly trivial for SideFX to add Blender's ‘Center View to Mouse’ to Houdini, or a QWEASD fly mode.

The thing about coding QWEASD myself is that firstly, $4,495 SideFX please, and secondly it would require speed controls.

'Center View to Mouse' would be easier, but I don't even know whether it is possible to code that yourself.

> That sounds useless then.

I strongly disagree. What you seem to be proposing has not much use to me, while Houdini's current 3dm implementations works for me. Blender's does not - not at all (in fact, Blender's 3d mouse implementation is so bad, TO ME, I don't use it at all).

What I am trying to say is: Maybe you should be a tad more open to different perspectives. Yours may not be the only valid one. I am not claiming mine to be, therefor the “for me”s.

With that - sorry for having wasted your time - I am out of this thread.

Marc

Just to be clear, Blender's ‘Center View to Mouse’ has nothing to do with a 3D mouse, it just teleports the view to where the cursor is. I'm using it as an example just because it's such a basic form of travel.