Pan & zoom without adjusting camera position?

[skylabridges]

When viewing a scene in perspective, is it possible to pan & zoom around that scene ( by which I mean to zoom into certain areas), without it adjusting the camera position/viewing angle?

[Dave R]

I don't understand what you are asking. Pan by definition is moving the camera. Zoom moves the camera in or out while maintaining the same angle of view. You can change the angle of view without moving the camera but I'm not sure how that is going to help.

[sfto1]

If you like the camera position, create a scene. Then you can pan and zoom as much as you want. Then, reset camera position by clicking on scene tab. This way your camera position is "not adjusted"

[skylabridges]

Thanks for your answers, and sorry for not being clear! I'll try and explain again.

I have a scene saved in SKP, and the view is in perspective. I know I can click my scene and come back to this saved camera angle whenever I need to. My scene depicts a very large building. I want to zoom into an area of this, but I want the camera to stay at the same angle as I have it set at before zooming in.

What I think I want to do, is set the camera up, but then almost treat the image as a parallel projection or 2D image, letting me zoom in and out without changing the way anything looks.

Does that make any more sense?!

Thanks!

[Dave R]

Is this something you are planning to use in LayOut? If so, you could use the same scene for two different viewports. That's what I've done here. For the one on the left, I added a clipping mask.

[skylabridges]

Thanks Dave, yes that is exactly what I mean. The trouble I'm having is that I have this large image that I want to be a vector drawing, and layout is struggling to deal with the size of it (I'm aware I'm probably not using layout for it's intended use, but, I'm an artist!). I have done it before where I have rendered sections in Layout and then pieced them together afterwards, but because of the perspective, I'm struggling to do that for this piece.

When I've made a clipping mask in Layout, before rendering, is it possible to detach this section so that it isn't masking, but it's its own entity?

Thanks for your help!

[Dave R]

You could make it so much easier to help you if you uploaded the LayOut file you are working with.

You can release a clipping mask by right clicking on it and selecting Release clipping mask from the Context menu

[pbacot]

If LO is going too slowly, try resetting the display resolution (under File: Document Setup / Paper) to Low.

[dmorong]

If you are wanting to zoom and pivot from a fixed position, as you would a camera on a tripod, you should look at the Advanced Camera Tools that come with Sketchup Pro. ( In the tools menu) Once you create a camera, you can look through it and pan and zoom from that point. You can use the arrow keys or the look around tool to pan, and either change the fov with a right click/edit camera, or using Option and the arrow keys. The center mouse wheel and the field of view command from the camera menu will both move the camera and mess up your shot, so don't use them, and make sure to lock your cameras when not adjusting them to avoid accidentally moving them. If you don't lock them or remember to exit them when done, (right click/done) they will follow you around in a very annoying fashion.