Camera
The Second Life Viewer has Camera Controls which allow you to control your point of view inworld. you can move your camera to see what's happening far away, or you can magnify tiny details! When you first log into Second Life, the Camera Controls appear on your screen along with Movement Controls. If you close the Camera Controls, you can make them reappear from View > Camera Controls.
Onscreen Camera Controls
- Zoom - The middle strip zooms in when you click +, and zooms out when you click -.
- Orbit - Click the arrows on the left compass to orbit your view around the center of the screen.
- Pan - Click the arrows on the right compass to pan up, down, left, and right.
Use a combination of camera controls, as shown in the following video, to view Second Life in all its depth. Zoom in on avatars and/or objects to see their fine details, orbit around them to examine them in 3D, and pan to fine-tune your viewpoint.
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Your avatar's eyes and head track your camera's focus point, providing visual cues as to where you're looking. Just like in the real world, staring at people can be considered rude, and you may wish to become familiar with Second Life' cultural sensitivities.
Once you're comfortable using the onscreen camera controls, try their shortcut keys equivalent for greater proficiency. It's sort of like playing a musical instrument, because you'll find yourself "chording", or pressing several keys simultaneously.
Camera Controls shortcuts
Use the Alt (Cmd ⌘ on Mac) key to zoom and orbit your camera around a single point. With practice, you can use the camera movement to observe almost anything from any angle.
To start, hold Alt. Notice your cursor changes to a magnifying glass. Click the avatar or object you wish to view, and your view centers on it. If the avatar or object you're viewing moves, your camera follows it, too.
Try the following key combinations, which are equivalent to the Camera Controls above, to click and drag your camera into almost any position:
- Alt-drag - Zooms in when you move the mouse up and down. Orbits the camera around the focal point when you move the mouse left and right.
- Ctrl-Alt-drag - Orbits the camera around the focal point when you move the mouse at any angle.
- Ctrl-Alt-⇧ Shift-drag - Pans the camera up/down/left/right right parallel to the plane of your screen.
You can also press the above in tandem with the movement keys. For example, Ctrl-Alt-⇧ Shift-← pans to the left.
Press Esc at any time to snap the camera back to your avatar (same as View > Reset View). Moving your avatar also resets the camera.
Finally, with so many different ways of doing the same thing, there are also camera controls in Tools > Select Tool > Focus, which opens the build tools for object editing. It also lets you zoom, orbit, and pan without holding down the modifier keys. If you're already adept with View > Camera Controls and the keyboard shortcuts, Focus isn't needed.
Scroll wheel
If your mouse has a scroll wheel, roll the wheel up to zoom in, and roll the wheel away to zoom out. If this doesn't work as expected, check your mouse's instructions for a system control panel you can change. Mice like Apple's Magic Mouse have gestural systems with their own equivalents for these movements.
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Avatar mouse steering
Another way of changing your camera view is to click your avatar, and while holding the mouse button, drag your mouse around. Not only does your view change, your avatar turns to face that direction. You can use this to your advantage by navigating with your mouse while moving forward with your keyboard.
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Zooming the Camera View Angle
There's another way to zoom in and out which produces different results: View > Zoom In and Zoom Out. These change your field of view, decreasing or increasing what you see at any one time. For example, if you Zoom Out several times, it functions like a wide-angle lens, but this also means your perspective will be stretched. When you want to reset your zoom, select View > Zoom Default.
This video shows you more, but note that you can't zoom out to such distorted angles anymore:
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You can also set this zoom in Preferences, and it persists across sessions:
- Go to Edit > Preferences.
- Click Input & Camera tab.
- Next to Camera Options, change the Camera View Angle slider. Dragging it to the right increases the angle, the same as Zoom Out.
- Optionally, change the Camera Follow Distance slider. Dragging it to the right positions the camera further behind your avatar.
Again, for your viewing pleasure, an appropriate video:
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See also
- Mouselook - See Second Life in 1st-person view.
- Snapshots - As the name indicates, taking pictures in Second Life benefits from mastering camera controls.
- Making movies - Camera controls are also useful for filming machinima and other videos.
- Flycam - A SpaceNavigator or other control device can be used to achieve cinematic walkthroughs and more shots difficult with a mouse and keyboard alone.
- Open Source Documentation: