********
Aligning
********

These options allow you to align and orient the view.


.. (todo) add negative/positive direction

Axes
====

Blender uses a right-angled "Cartesian" coordinate system with the Z axis pointing upwards.
*Left*/ *Right* corresponds to looking along the X axis,
*Front*/ *Back* along the Y axis, and
*Top*/ *Bottom* along the Z axis.

You can select the viewing direction for a 3D View with the *View* menu entries,
or by pressing the hotkeys. You can select the opposite directions if you hold
:kbd:`Ctrl` while using the same numpad shortcuts.

These operators change the view to be aligned with the specified global axes:

- Top :kbd:`Numpad7`
- Bottom :kbd:`Ctrl-Numpad7`
- Front :kbd:`Numpad1`
- Back :kbd:`Ctrl-Numpad1`
- Right :kbd:`Numpad3`
- Left :kbd:`Ctrl-Numpad3`


Align View Menu
===============

Align View to Active
   The options in this menu align your view with specified local axes of the selected active object,
   bone, or, in *Edit Mode* with the normal of the selected face.

   Hold down :kbd:`Shift` while using the numpad to set the view axis.

Center Cursor and View All :kbd:`Shift-C`
   Moves the cursor back to the origin and zooms in/out so that you can see everything in your scene.
Align Active Camera to View :kbd:`Ctrl-Alt-Numpad0`
   Gives your active camera the current viewpoint.
Align Active Camera to Selected
   Points the active camera toward the selected object; based on the direction of the current viewpoint. 
View Selected :kbd:`NumpadPeriod`
   Focuses view on currently selected object/s by centering them in the viewport,
   and zooming in until they fill the screen.
Center View to Cursor :kbd:`Alt-Home`
   Centers view to 3D-cursor.
View Lock to Active :kbd:`Shift-NumpadPeriod`
   Centers view to the last selected active object, overriding other view alignment settings.
View Lock Clear :kbd:`Alt-NumpadPeriod`
   Returns the view alignment to the view align settings before use of *View Lock to Active*.


View Menu
=========

View Selected
   See above.

.. _3dview-view-all:

View All :kbd:`Home`
   Frames all the objects in the scene, so they are visible in the viewport.