Mouse navigation
The mouse model of FreeCAD is very flexible and intuitive and with a few hints you can use it after a only minute of practice .
General Mouse Model
This describes the mouse usage that is common to all workbenches.
- Select
- Press the left mouse button over an object you want to select.
- Zoom
- Use the + or - keys or the mouse wheel to zoom in and out.
- Pan
- Click the middle mouse button and move the object around.
- Rotate
- Click first with the middle mouse button, hold it and the click the left mouse button on any visible part of an object and drag it in the desired direction. This works like spinning a ball that rotates around its center. If you release the buttons befor you stop your motion, the object continues spinning, if this is enabled.
- Setting Center of Rotation
- A double click with the middle mouse button on any part of an object sets the new center of rotation and zooms in on this point.
Manipulators
FreeCAD offers manipulators that can be used to modify an object or its visual appearance. A simple example is the clipping plane wich can be activated with the View->Clipping Plane menu. After activation the clipping plane object appears and shows seven obvious manipulators: One on each end of its three coordinate axis and one on the center of the plane normal axis.
You can click with the left mouse button on the manipulators and pull them back and forth. The axis manipulators scale the plane object and work synchronously. The normal vector manipulator moves the plane along its normal vector. By clicking on the plane you shift the plane object.
TODO: How to rotate a clipping plane?
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