Mouselook

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Mouselook, allows you to see Second Life from a 1st-person perspective — "through your avatar's eyes". The keyboard is still used to move your avatar, but your mouse, as the name suggests, is used to look around. Some objects in Second Life (such as guns) have special functions while in Mouselook.

Basic usage

To enter Mouselook, go to View menu > Mouselook or simply press M when the chat bar is closed or doesn't have focus (otherwise, you'll type an "M" in the chat bar). Instantly, the camera zooms into your avatar's perspective.

To leave Mouselook, press Esc.

KBtip2.png Tip: If your mouse has a scroll wheel, you can often enter Mouselook by rolling the scroll wheel up repeatedly to zoom into your avatar and exit Mouselook by rolling the mouse scroll wheel down.

Moving while in Mouselook

Moving the mouse will not only change your view, but also turn your avatar so that it can face the direction you're looking at.

The left and right arrow key ( and ) and the A and D keys will cause your avatar to walk left and right (or "strafe"), instead of turning. In addition, while flying in Mouselook, (or W) will move you in the direction you are facing, while (or S) will move you in the opposite direction. While flying, the PgUp and PgDn keys (or E and C) will move your avatar vertically relative to the direction you are looking. So, if you are looking straight down while flying in Mouselook, PgUp will move you forward (not up) and PgDn will move you backward.

Show/hide your avatar in Mouselook

You can toggle whether or not you see your avatar in Mouselook. Showing is useful if you want to feel a closer connection with your avatar, but if you're filming video and don't want your parts (depending on your avatar's size and attachments) to interfere, you can also hide your avatar.

  1. Go to Edit > Preferences.
  2. Click Input & Camera tab.
  3. Next to Avatar Display Options, either check or uncheck Show Avatar in Mouselook.
  4. Click OK button.

Go into Mouselook and see if you notice the difference, as shown in this video:

<videoflash type="vimeo">4167800|640|480</videoflash>

Mouselook options

Go to Edit > Preferences. Click Input & Camera tab and look next to Mouselook Options:

  • Mouse Sensitivity - Adjusts how touchy your mouse is to motion in Mouselook. Moving the slider towards the right increases sensitivity, meaning a slight jerk of your mouse in Mouselook will make shift your view further then if the slider was on the left.
  • Invert Mouse - Enabling this means Mouselook motions will be opposite to your mouse's actual movement. For example, if you move your mouse up, your avatar will look down. This can be preferred behavior when in some types of Mouselook-piloted vehicles, like aircraft.

In the unsupported Advanced menu, there's a Mouse Smoothing option. Enabling this evens out the Mouselook acceleration curve so sudden motions appear more gradual.

All of these options are shown in this video:

<videoflash type="vimeo">4168132|640|480</videoflash>

Accessing user interface elements in Mouselook

Despite the fact that Mouselook removes most of the user interface from your screen, most notably the menu bar and the Toolbar, many parts are still accessible through keyboard shortcuts. Holding down Alt allows you to freely move the mouse pointer without changing your view. This way you can use any visible user interface element, for example the Communicate or Inventory window. It also enables you to right-click at the position of the crosshairs (the mouse pointer replacement that indicates your focus of view in Mouselook) to open the pie menu.