Hi All,

Just a basic question, I enter camera mode in the 3d viewport by pressing the 0 key on the number pad. What I would like to do is to be able to dolly and pan around in the camer view without having to go to another view, select the camera object then enter grab mode and finally position the camera. This seems so very awkward to me. In 3DS max, you can pan and dolly in perspective mode then press ctrl-c to map that view to any camera. Is there a way to do that in Blender?

All the camera controls work the same while you are looking through it. So no need to change views to move the camera, just select it and press G while looking through it. Pressing G then an axis will allow you to move it only in a certain direction. Pressing G then pressing the axis letter TWICE will move it along the cameras local axis. Example, G Z Z will zoom in and out while looking through the camera. Shift-F while in camera view will allow you to pan around.

For a quick look at all the camera controls, go to Help>Hotkey and MouseAction Reference, then click Search and type in camera.

Yeah,

I see what you mean with Shift-F. It reminds me of the airplane mode in Mojo world. It feels out of control, and that is the last place where you want to lose conrol, in camera mode. It needs to be more precise.

But thats not what I want or the way it should work, in my opinion.

When I hold down shift and middle click in the camera viewport, it should apply my mouse moves as translation to the camera directly, not the viewport itself. There is a slight difference and it speeds up work flow tremendously.

Do you know what i mean? Have you used this feature in max or maya?

I'm sorry, I havent used either of those programs.(ignorance is bliss?) While looking through the camera, though, pressing G and moving the mouse will give you the same affect as holding down shift and middle click. Pressing R R will give the same control as Shift-F and feel less out of control.(tighter)

Just move your view with MMB, or shift+ MMB or Alt+ MMB, when you have your desired view just press Ctrl+Alt+numpad 0, hope this is what you want.