Is there a way when you switch to prospective view from say the front view that it just unlocks the viewport instead of going to the past prospective view? or just a way to unlock a viewport from its current front/side/ect view? Coming from solidworks I often switch to a view to orientate myself then move the viewport as I need to. Wondering if there is a way to do something similar in houdini?

I'm not sure, but it is possible to ‘home’ the perspective view to one of a front/right/top/bottom perspective.