You can navigate scene views (SceneView or LocalSceneView) by:
- Using built-in navigation, such as panning, zooming, and changing pitch.
- By programmatically changing camera position.
Built-in navigation
The scene views have a number of built-in gestures that allow you to navigate a scene using the mouse, touch screen, or keyboard.
Basic navigation
Navigation for scene views is essentially the same as navigation for a map view. Navigation in a scene view moves the position of a camera in 3D space and therefore has some subtle differences. The following table summarizes the built-in navigation capabilities of the SceneView and LocalSceneView control.
| Navigation | Mouse | Touch | Keyboard |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pan | • Hold left button and drag | • Drag 
• Flick 
| • ←↑→↓: Move the camera in the direction of the arrow• Shift+←↑→↓ (iOS only): Move the camera in the direction of the arrow when in full keyboard mode |
| Zoom in | • Scroll wheel forward | • Spread 
• Double tap 
| • +: Zoom in on the view center• J: Lower the camera elevation |
| Zoom out | • Scroll wheel backward | • Pinch 
| • -: Zoom out from the view center• U: Raise the camera elevation |
| Rotate | • Hold right button and drag right or left | • Multiple fingers drag left/right 
| • A: Rotate camera counterclockwise• D: Rotate camera clockwise• N: Reset heading to north• Alt+←: Rotate camera counterclockwise• Alt+→: Rotate camera clockwise• Alt+↑: Reset heading to north* On Mac, use Option rather than Alt |
| Change pitch | • Hold right button and drag up or down | • Multiple fingers drag up/down 
| •W: Pitch up• S: Pitch down• P: Reset pitch |
Navigate with touch
Navigating a scene view on a touch screen warrants some additional details.
There are three navigation modes available using touch: pan mode (single finger), zoom and pan mode (multiple finger), and rotate and pitch mode (multiple finger). For single finger pan, place one finger on the screen. For pan and zoom mode, spread, pinch, or drag two or more fingers. For heading and pitch mode, place multiple fingers on the screen and move with a consistent distance between your fingers. The following list describes the touch gestures used to execute navigation operations in each mode.
- Pan mode (single finger)
- Drag: Pans
- Flick: Pans
- Pan and zoom mode (multiple fingers)
- Spread: Zooms in
- Pinch: Zooms out
- Drag: Pans
- Pivot: Rotates
- Heading and pitch mode (multiple fingers)
- Drag up and down: Changes pitch
- Drag left and right: Changes heading
Programmatically change camera position
Your applications can programmatically navigate a 3D scene by creating a new camera and setting it to the view you are working with. A camera defines the location from which you are viewing the scene.
The camera is shown in this image for illustration purposes; when you set camera settings (location, pitch), think of the camera class as a real-life camera you're adjusting the position of.
Set the camera
For example, to point the camera to toward the Snowdon mountainside, use these values:
- For 3D location, use 53.06 latitude, -4.04 longitude, 1289 meters above sea level
- For heading, use 295 degrees
- For pitch, use 71 degrees
- For roll, use 0 degrees
var snowdonCamera = new Camera(53.06, -4.04, 3289, 295, 71, 0);
You now have a new camera to apply to the scene view. You can apply it immediately using Set as shown in the code below for a SceneView, or the camera can be animated to the new position using one of the asynchronous methods.
MySceneView.SetViewpointCamera(snowdonCamera);