Orthographic Views and Cameras
The viewport can show your groom either in perspective, which mimics how a real camera sees the world, or in one of six orthographic views, which look straight down an axis with no perspective distortion. Orthographic views are ideal for precise alignment and symmetrical grooming, while perspective is best for judging the final look.
The standard views
Ornatrix App provides the usual set of axis-aligned views:
- Perspective
- Top and Bottom
- Front and Back
- Left and Right
By default the Top, Bottom, Front, Back, Left, and Right views are orthographic and the Perspective view is not, but any view can be switched between the two - see below. You can orbit, pan, and zoom an orthographic view just as you would a perspective view; the framing stays consistent as you navigate. See Viewport Navigation and Display.
Switching views
There are three ways to change the current view:
- Click the view-name label in the top-left corner of the viewport and choose a view from the menu.
- Open the viewport settings menu and pick a view from the camera submenu.
- Use the keyboard shortcuts (numpad based):
- Perspective: Ctrl+Numpad 5
- Top: Ctrl+Numpad 7 / Bottom: Ctrl+Shift+Numpad 7
- Front: Ctrl+Numpad 1 / Back: Ctrl+Shift+Numpad 1
- Left: Ctrl+Numpad 3 / Right: Ctrl+Shift+Numpad 3
Switching between perspective and orthographic
Any view can be switched between the two projections: turn the Perspective view orthographic to check alignment without perspective distortion, or turn Front into a perspective view to judge depth. Tick Orthographic in the viewport settings menu, or press Ctrl+Shift+P.
Switching preserves your framing. The view keeps looking at the same point from the same direction, and whatever filled the viewport still fills it afterwards, so only the distortion changes. Switching back returns the view exactly where it was.
Each view remembers its own projection, so switching views restores the projection you left it in, and the choice is saved with the groom.
Working with cameras
In addition to the standard views, you can look through any camera that exists in the scene. Selecting a camera from the view menu makes the viewport show exactly what that camera sees, which is useful for matching a render or a layout. Cameras you create yourself start as perspective cameras, and can be switched to an orthographic projection like any other view.
The Thumbnail view
Alongside the standard views there is a special Thumbnail view, used to set up the picture saved as your groom's thumbnail preview - the small image shown for the groom in the Recent Files menu and the Grooms Browser. Choose it from the Default Views list in the view-name menu or the camera submenu; like the standard views it is created the first time you switch to it and is then remembered with the groom.
The Thumbnail view is an ordinary perspective view that you can orbit, pan, and zoom to frame the groom however you like. Because thumbnails are square, while you are in this view the parts of the viewport outside a centered square are darkened, so the bright area shows exactly what the thumbnail will contain.
Once you have set up the Thumbnail view, saving the groom captures its thumbnail from this view regardless of which view you are currently working in. If you never set it up, the thumbnail is taken from the current view as before. See Saving and Loading Grooms.
Framing your work
Press F to focus the current selection, fitting the selected geometry neatly inside the view. This works in both perspective and orthographic views.