3ds max orbit around point of interest is a nightmare

Spiralboy

Hi!
Orbit around point of interes is inconsistent and irritating to work with Is there any way to solve this?
https://youtu.be/AUI2B9Shqx8

Mark Dygert

The mode you're using does a cast under your mouse to whatever surface it finds underneath, if you use that mode you need to make sure that there is something under your mouse or it's going to orbit around whatever point it finds, which is usually some weird spot around your mesh.

Personally I use "Orbit SubObject" and refocus the view port (z) quite often. It's right above Alt which I'm already constantly pressing to orbit. Hit Z, Hit Alt. You could probably set up alt as a hotkey to refocus the viewport and then allow you to orbit, but I'm too lazy to bother, especially since z,alt is so easy and quick.

musashidan

Yes, it takes a bit of getting used to as it's in screen space, but once you do......  I honestly don't know what I would do if this feature was gone. I find myself frustrated in other programs that don't have it. Before it I used a Miauu script that orbits around your cursor when you hit a hotkey.

Just get in the habit of always being over the mesh and it will become second nature.

monster

Unfortunately, Max favors Z up turntable style orbiting. Since you're in bottom view it's going to be weird with mouse navigation. There are two workaround though.

1. Instance your model and rotate the instance so that you can work comfortably in the front view. I do this a lot with robot parts on appendages of characters. It's hard to do straight lines when their arm is at an angle.

2. Or, turn off Keep Scene Upright in the Viewcube options. And then use the Viewcube to orbit the bottom view.

Spiralboy

I need to test this more, but it seems to have nothing to do with view orientation since i got this at random in any orientation.
I need this mode to work, it is few years old and is present in other software as well, I've got used to it already.

It seems that I need to focus (z) on my object first to prevent this issue with point of interest.
This may have something to do with raycasting source to be in weird spot over time due to viewport mouse navigation.

Thanks for the tips

Spiralboy

I've found out that proximity of another mesh is issue most of the time for me
I'm pretty sure that my viewport camera is not intersecting with another mesh.
https://youtu.be/Fd7T8oW_O6A
...
edit
no, it's not proximity (i've created camera from view to be sure), and focusing does not help, orientation is not even close to be extremely vertical... this tool is just crap imo
https://youtu.be/8prqFPWmwNU
...
edit
I think that detaching that part from everything else (bottom bigger part) helps. It behaves like there was invisible collider that connects those 2 parts. Soooo frustrating ;<
Anyways... end of whining, back to work ;P

musashidan

For me, at least, it works great. It would be better if it didn't require casting onto a mesh surface, but, as I already mentioned above, once you get used to it it's indispensable.

monster

@Spiralboy
I see the problem now. I think sometimes the camera catches itself as the point of interest. In this video it happens on my second try to orbit, notice the green icon is missing too. Same as your video. I'll report this issue on the beta forum and hopefully they fix it. As so now, not sure there is anything you can do, other than use Orbit SubObject and tap Z constantly. (Which is what I do out of habit.)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/dtj09rahmpv6olz/PointOfInterestBug.mp4?dl=0

Spiralboy

monster said:

@Spiralboy
I see the problem now. I think sometimes the camera catches itself as the point of interest. In this video it happens on my second try to orbit, notice the green icon is missing too. Same as your video. I'll report this issue on the beta forum and hopefully they fix it. As so now, not sure there is anything you can do, other than use Orbit SubObject and tap Z constantly. (Which is what I do out of habit.)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/dtj09rahmpv6olz/PointOfInterestBug.mp4?dl=0

Yes, this is exactly that behavior. To me it looks like some proxy convex mesh for collision detection, because i can fix it by separating mesh to more or less convex shapes.