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Navigation and Controls

Learn how to navigate 3D models in Sketchfab using Orbit and First Person modes, rendering view toggles, lighting rotations, and shortcut controls for animations and annotations.

Written by Noah

You can navigate in Orbit Mode and First Person Mode.

  • Orbit Mode (default): rotate around a fixed camera point

  • First Person: walk through space and look around

Clicking Settings in the bottom-right corner of the Sketchfab viewer shows the available Navigation options for the model. They depend on the 3D Settings.

For more details on switching between them, see Interface and Options. For VR mode, see Virtual Reality.

Orbit Mode

  • Move camera: 1 finger drag or Left Mouse Button

  • Pan: 2-finger drag or Right Mouse Button or SHIFT+ Left Mouse Button

  • Zoom on object: Double-tap or Double-click on object

  • Zoom out: Double-tap or Double-click on background

  • Zoom: Pinch in/out or Mousewheel or CTRL + Left Mouse Button

Double-clicking the background will re-center the model and set the camera pivot point to the middle of its bounding box.

Double-clicking anywhere on the model sets the camera pivot point to that spot. It also works for individual Annotation views.

For Pro (and above) members, you can adjust and reset the pivot for a model by activating Camera Limits and moving the viewer cursor where you want the pivot to be. When your new pivot is set, click Save View in the top-left corner of the viewer.

First Person

  • Move: ↑,←,↓,→ (or W,A,S,D)

  • Look around: 1-finger drag or Left Mouse Button

  • Adjust speed: Mousewheel

Rendering Settings

  • Default: 1

  • Shadeless: 2

  • MatCap: 3

  • Wireframe: 5

The available options depend on how the model was saved by the author. For example, if a model is saved in Shadeless mode, Lit and MatCap will not be available. This improves viewer load times because it does not need to download unnecessary components (e.g. tangent information used for shading).

Lighting

  • Rotate all lighting: 3-finger drag (on mobile) or ALT + Left Mouse Button

  • Rotate environment only: ALT + SHIFT + Left Mouse Button

  • Rotate real-time lights only: ALT + CONTROL + Left Mouse Button

Lights attached to the camera will not rotate.

See Lighting.

Annotations

  • Previous: J or PageUp

  • Next: K or PageDown

See Annotations.

Animations

  • Previous frame: B or CTRL+B or SHIFT+B

  • Next frame: N or CTRL+N or SHIFT+N

  • Go to time/frame : ENTER

See Animation.

Other input hardware

Gamepads are not currently supported.

Leap Motion is not currently supported.

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